Yet Another "Identify this wood" Thread

Here we go!
http://4gp.tw/bat/1344042595867.jpg
I thought it was ash, but on closer inspection, I'm not sure. Does not have that ash smell, definitely not oak, grain is too dense, maybe some sort of hickory?
http://4gp.tw/bat/1344042204552.jpg
Heres whats left of the bark. Not much to go off of but it may help.
http://4gp.tw/bat/1344041685386.jpg

Grain close up. Had to change the settings on my phone to get the close up. The color is a little darker in this pic than the wood itself. Color in the first two pics is more accurate.

Can't really describe the smell, but it is a very light scent, and that is a fresh cut. What say ye, Tele Land?

Funny thing is the first two pics don't work. XD I don't know a lot. Walnut? lol.. idk

Sorry guys, I had the pics all messed up. Working from my phone, not as easy as I'd like it to be. All fixed now.

I vote northern ash.

I vote northern ash.

I can tell you that the tree this came from was cut down in southeast texas. I have no idea if northern ash grows here. I got some other ash from the same guy and it's definitely ash, highly figured and you can smell it for days after working a piece. You may be right, I have read that northern ash is less figured than swamp ash.

I can tell you that the tree this came from was cut down in southeast texas. I have no idea if northern ash grows here. I got some other ash from the same guy and it's definitely ash, highly figured and you can smell it for days after working a piece. You may be right, I have read that northern ash is less figured than swamp ash.



Tree ID isn't one of my specialties... the wood looks maplish on the face...

White Ash:
Fraxinus americana is a species of Fraxinus native to eastern North America found in mesophytic hardwood forests from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota, south to northern Florida, and southwest to eastern Texas. Wikipedia

This guys good. Oh.. you used the wiki... :lol:

I thought it looked a little like maple too, and I did get some maple from my supplier as well, but it's too light to be maple. Im pretty sure you've got it right with the northern or "white" ash.

I don't think that's maple bark, though. . .

Hmmm, almost looks like elm, but kinda hard to tell :confused:

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h323/kamerawerk/wood.jpg

Hmmm, almost looks like elm, but kinda hard to tell :confused:

I wish it was elm, but I highly doubt it is.

I think it definitely looks like guitar wood!

The bark doesn't look like ash to me - ash has those repeating patterns where the ridges come together to form 'V' shapes. It does look a bit more like elm. I haven't worked with much elm, but the pieces I did use were a lot less heavily pored as compared to ash.

I think it definitely looks like guitar wood!

Yep, that's the stuff :smile:

The bark doesn't look like ash to me - ash has those repeating patterns where the ridges come together to form 'V' shapes. It does look a bit more like elm. I haven't worked with much elm, but the pieces I did use were a lot less heavily pored as compared to ash.
yah, sorta like oak? or walnut.
(use google images)

Can you get a shot of the surface of the board? From the end grain you can see there are no rays, so it’s not an oak. It is ring porous so it’s not a maple. It’s not walnut. The grain of elms have sort of a feathery look. The grain of white ash looks like baseball bats did before they went “Ping”.

I'll guess its a Cherry.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/ash,%20white.htm

Bark is not right for most of the guesses so far.

My guess is it is a variety of Cottonwood/Poplar. Probably Populus deltoides.

It's going to be a top for the explorer thingy I'm building. I'm going to surface plane one side of it later today and ill post some pics of the surface when I do.

Bark is not right for most of the guesses so far.

My guess is it is a variety of Cottonwood/Poplar. Probably Populus deltoides.

Well I use a lot of poplar and that doesn't look like any I ever used. :-)

Maple.

Ill have some better pics of it later today. Taking it to the mill in the morning and having it sawn in half lengthwise. Gonna make some bookmatched tops.

Well I use a lot of poplar and that doesn't look like any I ever used. :-)

Absolutely looks like a variety of Cottonwood native to the center of the US. Older Cottonwood has deep bark like that. Some Cottonwoods/Poplars have smoother bark, like Aspen and Silver Poplar, but the large native varieties tend to have the same bark as the photo.

My educated guess is still Cottonwood.

http://4gp.tw/bat/1344370734167.jpg

So here it is, ash after all. Ive already made one top out of it. Ill post more pics when the glue dries...

Heres the top

http://4gp.tw/bat/1344385305474.jpg

The edges of the body are still very rough. I need to fix my drum sander, our build a bigger one.

http://4gp.tw/bat/1344385597777.jpg

Pretty wicked grain, if I do say so myself.

That's not looking like ash. I wanna say birch or soft maple now :-)

Really? I thought for sure it was ash when we cut it open... I wish my phones camera was better so you could see the pores in this thing. They only appear in the lighter registers of the wood. The darker grain is as smooth as glass after sanding with 100 grit. I am not familiar with soft maple. I have a maple in the yard and the bark looks nothing like what was on this piece, but Im not sure what kind of maple it is anyway. All the other maple I've worked had zero pores, so again I just don't know. It remains a mystery at this point.

When it's done, it's not going to matter. You're going to have a rockin' guitar, so who cares!

I'd like to be able to tell the dude what his guitar is made of :)

I like your abstract horse sculpture. I thought you were going to make a guitar? :mrgreen:

Lol. Like I said before, it someones take on an Explorer. I am not particularly fond of the shape, but its for a friend and they like it so I cut it up. Does kinda look like a horse, though...

I like your abstract horse sculpture. I thought you were going to make a guitar? :mrgreen:

I laughed! :lol:

Lol. Like I said before, it someones take on an Explorer. I am not particularly fond of the shape, but its for a friend and they like it so I cut it up. Does kinda look like a horse, though...

I quite like it. Just preempting the purists.

Tell me it'll have a Floyd on it!

Oh yeah! Gotta have a Foyd Rose. Gonna do all black hardware, I even found a pickup selector switch all blacked out.

Oh yeah! Gotta have a Foyd Rose. Gonna do all black hardware, I even found a pickup selector switch all blacked out.

Me likey! Some nutso strong humbuckers too...

Would that grain look great with a black stain, or is that the bogan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogan) in me talking?

There's a non-bogan part?

The bark looks like Walnut. The color would have to make it Butternut, which is basically white walnut. The book matched top does look like butternut. If it is lighter than ash and heavier than Black Walnut and carves easily, it may just be Butternut. Butternut is known for its ease of carving and is in high demand by carvers. I don't know the range of Butternut, but I think it extends down to east Texas.

Butternut grows here, but it is rare. I need to get a good close up pic of the grain and post it here.

I was going to say butternut as well. It's porous, has the right color and grain patterns, isn't as ridiculously heavy as northern ash tends to be, etc.

I've got butternut here and I think it is darker than that. Butternut looks more open pored to me than that.

No way is that ash, from your post-shaping pics. I'm thinking madrone, largely from the bark.

a very enjoyable thread indeed, funny too !

No way is that ash, from your post-shaping pics. I'm thinking madrone, largely from the bark.

Madrone is a west coast tree. This wood came from east texas. Also madrone bark looks like this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Image-Pacific_Madrone_Arbutus_menziesii_Branch_Fork_2120 px.jpg/220px-Image-Pacific_Madrone_Arbutus_menziesii_Branch_Fork_2120 px.jpg