So I stumbled on some free wood left over from an estate sale but i have no clue what it is. The boards are extremely dense and heavy when you tap them almost sounds like iron! Any ideas?
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Looks like red oak to me.
The grain seems a little tight for oak.
How much does it weigh? Maybe you can find an online calculator to give you some guesses based on that.
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There’s a book/web site on this:
https://www.wood-database.com/book/
Iroko (also known as ironwood) maybe?
If you could provide the dimensions and weight it would help a lot as @CullenS notes.
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Kind of a shot in the dark, but it looks a bit like some Cumaru that I worked a while back. Really dense stuff
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Thanks all for the ideas the board in the picture is 5.5in wide and 12" long it weighs 2.3lbs. And i agree with @CullenS the grain is super tight for oak but hey what do I know that is why I am reaching out. It cuts well on the miter and is very clean just want to learn a little because thinking of making some boxes or catch-all trays out of it and want to figure some feeds and speeds. Just dont know if the hardwood CC feeds and speeds are conservative enough for how hard this seems.
What ever it is it is rift cut and that will make a nice stable piece. Just from the picture it might be teak.
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With the pics and your description, it may be Chechen / black poisonwood / Caribbean rosewood.
Your wood is about 9.5% heavier than the listed average density of Chechen, but that’s not too far off with your rough dimensions.
Chechen density (lb/in^3) [yellow] = 0.0318
Your wood density (lb/in^3) [green] = 0.0348
Your wood density (lb/ft^3) [orange] = 60.2
Difference (%) [blue] = 9.5
Updated the table to include the density in lb/ft^3 to make it easier to search.
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How thick is it? I’m guessing less than 2" but more than 1.5", so a little less than 1 board foot at 2.3 lbs. That rules out Cumaru - which weighs in usually three times that much.
At that weight, it could be an African Mahogany, although the pattern doesn’t really support that
It’s too light for Teak, Iroko, or any of the Oaks. It’s more in the weight class of a pine (but obviously isn’t pine). It could be Hemlock.
Upon doing some comparisons I think you are right, it is an inch thick. And coloration is almost identical to chechen with using your link!
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Thank you all for the links and insight I think @MadHatter s guess is the closest that matches the grain!
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I never really take pics of the wood I buy until it’s almost ready to be finished, so I don’t have any pics of the full boards of Chechen I’ve picked up. I dug through my phone and server looking for a before / after pic set of a Chechen board that I knew I had somewhere.
I finally found it. That board you have is going to be beautiful when you put a finish on it.
Here’s a couple of Chechen boards before I finished them.
Here they are with just a mineral oil finish.
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I’m working with some sapele right now that looks very similar to that wood.
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You know the grain is very similar definitely could be I have never worked with Sapele how good is it?
I was thinking Sapele earlier but have only seen it a time or two and have t really worked with it so I am not that familiar with it.
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It’s like a dense mahogany. I haven’t done much with it either, look forward to machining it.
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Yup, Cumaru or Jatoba. Nearly positive.
From pattern only, I thought it was…but the weight is wrong - the piece he has is 1/3 the weight of Cumaru.
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From comparing the cut I have to cumaru, I really think it is that, also because it has grooves cut on the side loke for decking and noticed that ia one of the applications for it which leads me to believe that is what it is. Like I said i got it from an estate for free from a barn so who knows how long it has been in the elements!
Easiest question ever…send a sample to the USDA. They will ID it for you for free.
Wood Identification & Screening Center | US Forest Service (usda.gov)
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