Thread: timber ID thanks

Looks like pacific maple - nowadays 'meranti'

Does look a lot like PM, end grain looks about right too.

Was going to say meranti, but wondering about the heritage staircase info.

thanks

the grain i agree looks like meranti, but the weight? it's noticeably heavy. My experience with meranti has been on the 'lighter side'

what about red mahogany?

Red mahogany | Primary industries & fisheries | Queensland Government

looks a bit like some of this...??

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f187/r...thingy-120456/

I think it is durian. Any chance of a picture of a fresh cut of the end grain? If it is durian, it might have a distinctive smell when cut and the end grain should be full of tiny grain holes.

cheers
Wendy

here's a fresh cut.

the smell..well I'm no connoisseur, but it had a soft pine/sweet/wood smell.

I guess that description is next to useless.

By the looks of the end grain it seems quite dense, no holes that i can see.

the last pic is sitting on my next project, American Ash Guitar - just to give a colour comparison standard.

Wow - snappy return on the pictures

Based on this, I'd say it's not durian, but perhaps something from one of the plantation countries, eg Indonesia, Malaysia, South America??

considering the red colour in the latest pictures and the weight, I'd be guessing it's older growth meranti / Pacific Maple, as the older meranti is, the heavier and redder it gets.

Meranti for me. It can vary in weight a bit too.

Could you cut a bit through the radial face ie a tangent to the growth rings and let us have a look at the edge grain? Meranti will have a very distinct pattern of fine medullary rays.

Cheers
Michael

If it ...
.....came from an heritage staircase in Adelaide.....
is it likely to be meranti?
How long has meranti been used and is it likely to be found in heritage buildings?
Would be interested to know.
Cheers
SG

Hi all,
this doesnt relate to IDing the timber, but i found a few beams of merbau that came out of a building that was built in the 1940s. I thought they were jarrah, but they were stamped merbau.
They could have been doing the same with the PM

Pacific Maple I think has been used for many years, the Meranti tag came a later I think. The red sections of PM/Meranti can be very hard and heavy. The end grain, grain and the pic with that grey discolouration is very typical and you can't sand it out.
www.timber.net.au - The Australian Database of Timber - Dark Red Meranti

Originally Posted by mic-d

Could you cut a bit through the radial face ie a tangent to the growth rings and let us have a look at the edge grain? Meranti will have a very distinct pattern of fine medullary rays.

Cheers
Michael

I gave it a go. Pics show the cut line and the result. By the way the mangled piece of wood was a result of me rushing and not holding the wood correctly - it flew across the shed and hit the fence, glad i was on the other side of the blade!!

I regret to inform you I made a boo boo. I should have said cut perpendicular to the tangent of the growth rings. Sorry about that.

Cheers
Michael