Thread: Assistance with Identification

The pics are too small to be useful Feckit. If you do an edit, click on them and choose bigger image (not thumbnails) it would help greatly.
If Australian, it could be a Flindersia sp (Chris knows these well) although they are generally not as dense as this.
Its a beautiful wood with high luster & nice figure. There are a few imported species eg ex Sth America that are dense and creamy-white like that .. I will have a look and provide some possibilities later.
Euge

Thanks Euge,

Click on the thumbnail and it gets bigger.

Hi Feckit,

As promised here are some ideas. It looks a bit like Silver Silkwood* (Flindersia acuminata) from NQ. I include a pic I took in my workshop of a planed small board with a bit of figure but no finish. Its creamy white and glossy ie with a natural luster. BUT the density of this species is too low. My measurement on my board gave 0.58 and another published value is 0.55. Yours is around 0.72 I think. There are a few other denser white species it could be but most don't have that lustre. If I think of others Ill bring them up, or others can.

As for imported dense species creamy white with a luster and high density, two come to mind....

Amerello (Sth America) .. and
Pau Marfin (Sth America)

Cheers Eugene

Here below is the pic of my silver silkwood, also called Silver Maple; White Silkwood; Silkwood, visually a reasonable match don't you think?

Silver slkwd.jpg

Always difficult to identify timber without knowing its provenance...obviously leaves/bark and bole form are a huge help too.
Silver Silkwood,or Putts Pine/Paddy King Beech is a fairly obscure species these days,originating from the Wet Tropics of Northern Qld.
Only ever milled one specimen, from Lake Barrine,Atherton Tablelands,many moons ago...absolutely delightful stuff!
Silvery cream colour and fine grain ...often with lovely figure too.
My first thought was Rose Butternut on account of the figure.
Butternut often has caramel/pink hues but course grain...but is isn't a very heavy timber either...similar to Qld Maple
I'll have a guess and say Flindersia Xanthoxyla...Yellowwood Ash or Long Jack...as it is around 700kgm3 and grows within your region of gympie...MM

Is it slightly greasy? If so my pick would be Damson - Terminalia sericocarpa. It seems to be quite variable in colour & grain. I have many samples supplied as "damson" some of which is very similar to your samples in 3rd & 4th pics. Nice wavy grain and some chatoyance, works easily, hand planes like a dream. Near to your 720 at 640.

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/indu...timbers/damson

Thanks Euge

I suspect that while the silver silkwood is close, it appears to have a slightly more open grain and is lacking a a bit of yellow. Having checked some images of Pau Marfin I'd say that visually it's closer, it also matches the average expected density on the nose. The following link has some more details about it so I'll check that out a bit later. pau marfim

Thanks MM

On balance Yellowwood Ash makes sense considering the proximity and subsequent availability. Currently struggling to get any images or info about it, I'll keep trying.

Thanks M

I wouldn't describe it as greasy.

It's a piece from the Idunno Tree. Woods have anatomies like fingerprints.
Radial, transverse and tangential sections at 15 microns, some sort of a contrasting stain
and have a look with any old 100X compound microscope.
Then, you will have a legal opinion.

Rare but I've found some Canadian Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) which shows a little ribbon like that.

It's a piece from the Idunno Tree

If anything I think you'll find it closer to the Scottish native, the Idinnaeken or possibly even the Naeidea.

Smell like apricots by chance?

Here's a pic of Yellowwood Ash
Similar colour and figure...MM

Originally Posted by John.G

Smell like apricots by chance?

If the apricots smell like wood, then yes, the wood smells like apricots.

Thanks MM. Yeah I also came across that one yesterday. You didn't happen to stumble on any endgrain images by chance?