Thread: Help with identifcation

Not super confident, but I think Brush box is a good guess

Way to many species fit that broad density wood figuring especially ID'ing it "digitally" from a photo. That's were our other senses, smell, taste often pick up on key "markers." Then there is all the close up visual keys, pore structure, grain, ......

Have you tried Bootle's old school "burning splinter test" as it can be helpful for discarding / narrowing some species. Then there is hardness, "tool friendliness" etc

Some woods have such a distinctive smell or taste that it can only be ...... like QLD Walnut etc.

Some "possibles" - perhaps not density wise - but density is often misleading.

Turpentine
a few Ironbarks??
even Red Mahogany

show that sort of figure

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Way to many species fit that broad density wood figuring especially ID'ing it "digitally" from a photo. That's were our other senses, smell, taste often pick up on key "markers." Then there is all the close up visual keys, pore structure, grain, ......

Have you tried Bootle's old school "burning splinter test" as it can be helpful for discarding / narrowing some species. Then there is hardness, "tool friendliness" etc

Some woods have such a distinctive smell or taste that it can only be ...... like QLD Walnut etc.

Some "possibles" - perhaps not density wise - but density is often misleading.

Turpentine
a few Ironbarks??
even Red Mahogany

show that sort of figure

Thank you MT for your detailed response
I will burn some splinters and report on the ash residue
Likewise I will plane a larger board to try and reveal more of the grain
The wood in question btw is very stable with no degrade tangentially or radially
Log Dog

Originally Posted by Log Dog

The wood in question btw is very stable with no degrade tangentially or radially
Log Dog

That is also a great ID key, and will rule out many "possibles."

I'm sitting here surrounded by many square metres of brush box floor. It's been laid in what you'd describe as a "super-random" pattern & has everything from plain straight to highly figured grain and every shade between deep brown & very pale brown mixed together. I can scan my eye across 20 boards & every one is different. And while some boards are what I would consider highly characteristic of b-b, others are not, so it can be both an easy & a difficult wood to id from a single piece.

As Moby said, you have to use every clue available to id a piece of wood. I don't recall any of the b-b I've worked with having a distinctive odour, so that's not much help. The description "planes easily" would not apply to any brush-box I've put a blade to to, it's a highly siliceous wood and usually takes the shine off an edge real quick. I once helped a friend make a set of dining chairs from it & although it's an attractive wood when finished, it was not a lot of fun to work with hand tools (& a little too dense for such furniture, imo). Your density figure of .7 to .8 is on the light side for b-b, and the grain looks a bit coarse in the pics, but it's hard to get a proper sense of scale from a photo. Taking all these factors into account, brush-box would not be high on my list of possibilities, but given its variability, I would not be too upset if that's what it does turn out to be.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

I'm sitting here surrounded by many square metres of brush box floor. It's been laid in what you'd describe as a "super-random" pattern & has everything from plain straight to highly figured grain and every shade between deep brown & very pale brown mixed together. I can scan my eye across 20 boards & every one is different. And while some boards are what I would consider highly characteristic of b-b, others are not, so it can be both an easy & a difficult wood to id from a single piece.

As Moby said, you have to use every clue available to id a piece of wood. I don't recall any of the b-b I've worked with having a distinctive odour, so that's not much help. The description "planes easily" would not apply to any brush-box I've put a blade to to, it's a highly siliceous wood and usually takes the shine off an edge real quick. I once helped a friend make a set of dining chairs from it & although it's an attractive wood when finished, it was not a lot of fun to work with hand tools (& a little too dense for such furniture, imo). Your density figure of .7 to .8 is on the light side for b-b, and the grain looks a bit coarse in the pics, but it's hard to get a proper sense of scale from a photo. Taking all these factors into account, brush-box would not be high on my list of possibilities, but given its variability, I would not be too upset if that's what it does turn out to be.....

Cheers,

Thank you for your reply Ian
Informative as usual
I agree with you that Brush Box is an unlikely suspect
Btw density more like 850kg
A little heavier than first thought
I will splinter burn some and report on ash residue as MT suggested
Log Dog

A couple of those pics are much better for enlarging, LD. I can see the grain structure much more clearly and that wavy, somewhat coarse pattern of the fibres is far more typical of a Eucalypt, imo. Brush box has a much finer grain. One species that comes to mind is Flooded gum, a pretty common species on the Atherton Tableland (where I hail from, originally). It tends to be less dense and quite workable, like mountain ash or alpine ash. However, from my experience it is mostly very straight-grained and somewhat bland, but like mountain ash, I guess it can throw up the occasional highly-figured individual...

Whatever it is, it's a nice chunk of wood, that at least, is certain....

Originally Posted by IanW

A couple of those pics are much better for enlarging, LD. I can see the grain structure much more clearly and that wavy, somewhat coarse pattern of the fibres is far more typical of a Eucalypt, imo. Brush box has a much finer grain. One species that comes to mind is Flooded gum, a pretty common species on the Atherton Tableland (where I hail from, originally). It tends to be less dense and quite workable, like mountain ash or alpine ash. However, from my experience it is mostly very straight-grained and somewhat bland, but like mountain ash, I guess it can throw up the occasional highly-figured individual...

Whatever it is, it's a nice chunk of wood, that at least, is certain....

Yes I am thinking Euc as well
It seems to be a durable wood also
Has spent a fair bit of time in the weather
Classic interlocking grain though
Some interesting colours too
I honestly have no idea what species it is
Log Dog

Flooded Gum = E grandis = Rose Gum. I've not seen Rose Gum that dark or figured but mostly the stuff I have knowingly used has come from plantation sources. There are some magnificent specimens all over the Atherton tablelands and I'm sure some may exhibit this grain & colour. I'm leaning more towards an ironbark or turpentine. So many Eucs out there that are simply bundled as mixed species. Hybridization is not uncommon either.

Moby, not sayin' your wrong, but neither Ironbark nor turpentine would often be described as "easy to plane", particularly the latter, unless you are referring to some species other than Syncarpia. I had a couple of nice wide boards the old pot cut on the farm a few years back, but the only things I've ever managed to make from them were a few cutting boards, & that was a struggle...

I've a feeling the true identity of this wood may remain a mystery, which is a pity, 'cos if Log Dog is a typical woodie, the first thought he probably had when he planed this bit up was "where can I get more of this?!"
Cheers,
Ian

Yes I agree Ian, but I've not experienced many highly figured woods with such grain figure that I would describe as "easy to plane." We all know some boards are a dream and others a real ba$tard, even coming from the same tree. It must have other properties such as slightly greasy etc that aids in working the wood. Like many of these "digital ID's" a challenge at best.

What ever it is - its a wonder wood - and I'll have some of what he's having.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

Yes I agree Ian, but I've not experienced many highly figured woods with such grain figure that I would describe as "easy to plane." We all know some boards are a dream and others a real ba$tard, even coming from the same tree....

True, & in general, that's been my experience too. I'm a sucker for highly figured woods and have sought them out for the last 40 years. Particularly in my early days, I came to grief many a time trying to bully highly figured woods into fine furniture or whatever, but I have slowly gotten better at choosing materials apprpriate for the job as well as getting a little better at using using planes & scrapers. I particularly like highly figured Qld Maple, which usually planes easily despite the wild grain. The figured stuff in my desk was no harder to work with than the straight-grained stuff on the sides (hand-plane, that is, I made a bit of a mess putting one board through my crappy chew-em-up & spit-em-out thicknesser! ):
Desk2.jpg

But I've struck a few boards of of highly figured Maple that had sections that were as hard as the hobs of hades, and tore out like blazes while the rest of the board was fine. Ditto for figured Blackwood. And I've had lots of surprises, like a bundle of mountain ash I came across with lovely figure, that worked as well as good Qld Maple. I made a built-in bookcase/cupboard with it

So I'm always up for giving a bit of nicely-figured wood a chance.....

Stunning Qld Maple Ian
The figure is first class
One of my favourite woods
Silkwood is beautiful too
I only mill the figured stuff these days
Why bother with ordinary?
Log Dog

Originally Posted by Log Dog

.....I only mill the figured stuff these days
Why bother with ordinary?.....

Well, there is a place for the straight-grained stuff - drawer sides, framing, parts that aren't normally seen - why waste the "good stuff"?..
Cheers,