Thread: What Timber is this..PLEASE

Hi Skot

To me the blank looks like bkack heart sassafras I've seen narrow strips of purple/lilac and pink in it but not as much as in the finished bowl hope this helps.

Cheers Tony

Gidgee? I really don't have a clue and the square sections don't look like the same wood as the bowl. Was there a purple line between the heart & sapwood? If so it could be purple gidgee... but I really don't have a clue

corbs,
I don't think it's gidgee...too soft. I understand that gidgee is as hard as iron.

Tony, I'll have a look for sassafras on the web. The pic of the polished outside makes it look a dark brown colour but in person it is deep purple.

Gidgee will never be confused for a soft wood... let the search for the wood species continue

Hey Skot

I don't think it's black heart sassafras as Tony suggested. I turned a piece of BHS during the week and it certainly didn't behave like you describe. What started white stayed white and what started brown/black stayed that way too and there was not a hint o purple anywhere.

Sorry but no suggestions as to what it could be though.

WH

It might be Queensland walnut. Pale yellow sapwood and brown heartwood with darker brown bands seems to fit.

cheers
Michael

What about Burdekin Plum. I've never used it before so dont know what it is like to work with.
But I can remember seeing purple, brown, orange colours in a slab I saw once. Cant remember what the sapwood was like though.
Just a thought.

Hi Skot,

If you where here on the other side of the big water I would say its American Black Walnut or one of the hybrids. You get all kind of purples and colours in Walnut when its air dried.
Was walnut ever imported in to Australia?

Trevor

I was just checking on the net using the suggestions from the wonderful helpers on this forum and I am leaning towards a walnut, although it is very easy to turn and not sure if walnut is easy to work. The bandsaw ate through it with no probs and the turning was a breeze.

Doesn't look like BP to me, you would have commented that it was heavy if it was BP.

Looks a bit like raintree.

Does the end grain tear out easily?

Qld walnut is very abrasive on the tools.

Cliff, this wasn't hard on the tools...count Walnut out
Not too much tearout on endgrain either..

Maybe I should stop wasting the formulites time here and accept it as a nice bit of timber and probably better to wait until Maleny Wood Show, take it with me and ask one of the merchants. I understand that it is difficult to guess with a pic and best to see it in person to see the colour and grain.

Could it be Purpleheart? Similar description to this site Species Spotlight: Purpleheart | Tom's Workbench

Where did you get the timber from? Is it a local timber?