Thread: Black heart sassafras?

It's not Sassafras. Would need some better photos to help identify it.

The grain in Sassafras is smoother and less speckled looking than that. Not sure what that is however. Sassafras can also have shades of grey and even pink in it as well as the cream and black. Kind of hard to describe sassy but its never speckled looking.
Regards
John

The sapwood in camphor laurel can look like that.
Take a shaving and smell it - that will help
Cheers
Tom

With the mould below the sapline and the way the grain looks, I reckon Mango would be a good bet

I'm quite unfamiliar with sassafras, I've handled a grand total of two pieces, but they were certainly much more fine-grained than the unknown wood. It does look a lot like camphor on the side-grain, and the sniff-test should confirm that very smartly. A thought that I had on first glance was blue-stained jacaranda. Jacaranda has a very characteristic grain pattern on the flat-sawn face (similar to elm), but that face is not clean enough on the face of the sample to tell.

TTIT's suggestion of mango is also a good possibility, similar coarse grain, though most mango I've had was more yellow. But it is variable, & certainly highly susceptible to blue-stain.

Life would be easier if we could only remember to clearly label all our precious samples before squirreling them away. I've wasted hours of my life scratching my head over some piece of wood or other trying to remember/figure out what the heck it is! I do label many, but it's always the bit I really want to identify that I leave anonymous....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Life would be easier if we could only remember to clearly label all our precious samples before squirreling them away. I've wasted hours of my life scratching my head over some piece of wood or other trying to remember/figure out what the heck it is! I do label many, but it's always the bit I really want to identify that I leave anonymous....

Cheers,

I'll second that.
Only yesterday I worked out what a piece of timber was that was sitting in my bits rack.
I have been staring at it over and over for months trying to remember what it might be.
Finally lifted it up and looked on the other end - where I had years ago written - Beech
I think I'm getting old
Hahahaha
Tom

Well, I've recently had a very similar experience, Tom. A piece I picked up & examined several times trying to identify it, I eventually took outside in strong light to get a better look. Lo & behold, the better light showed a very faint label in pencil. That's why I said "clearly label"!

It's not just the memory, it's the eyesight that isn't so good.....

Cheers,

Right, it arrived, and I put it over the jointer.
Smells like a medicine cabinet.

24ED1677-5BFD-40AA-99EF-A35753EA905B.jpg

Originally Posted by rogerwilco

Right, it arrived, and I put it over the jointer.
Smells like a medicine cabinet.

24ED1677-5BFD-40AA-99EF-A35753EA905B.jpg

Yep - camphor laurel for sure
Tom