Thread: Can anyone identify this

Originally Posted by IanW

OK, I recant & retract & apologise to all!

I was taken in by the "ray fleck" looking much more prominent than I'm used to, but I guess I was fooled by the scale - I don't look at a lot of pen-blank sized samples & my mind made the pieces look a lot larger than they are.

So for some comparative scale, here's a pic of 3 pieces cut radially, top Qld Maple, centre Tulip Oak, bottom Silky oak (G. robusta):

Attachment 502925

When I first looked at the pics my mind played tricks & calculated the size of the medullary rays as being the size of those in the centre sample, which is why I agreed with Jim's suggestion of Tulip oak. Now I've got the proper scale, I can see it fits perfectly well with Maple.....

Cheers,

Ah, the perils of wood ID from a photograph. As many have said in the past it's a mugs game but we are suckers for a challenge,

I must admit I had a slight advantage. I make a lot of pens so handle a lot of pen sized blanks plus ..... & its also a big plus ..... I have plenty of Mapleman's nice timber including QLD Maple pen blanks. Because I'm always chasing contrasts in my lamination work I also pay quite a bit of attention to "micro grain" and colour.

I have also worked with Nth QLD woods since I was a toddler - but that is in no way any sign of expert wood knowledge - I just know enough to be dangerous.

One dead certain giveaway to differentiate QMP from Tulip Oak will be the smell of fresh cut or planed wood - QMP has a very distinctive smell, which is also pretty consistent across a range of samples - "Turkish Delight" as John_g describes it when milling iirc. Tulip Oak also has a pretty distinctive smell & when you are familiar with both - they are very different. Smell is quite under rated as an ID "tool" - like QLD Walnut, Northern Silver Ash vs other Flindersias etc.

I agree (red / brown) Tulip Oak was a serious consideration imo, however the medullary flecking and the striations in the grain is common enough in QMP. The striations in particular were a distraction as I'm more familiar with it not being so "straight."

Even with the wood sample in hand its still a mugs game most of the time for all but the very "common" woods that each wood worker is familiar with. Australian Red Cedar (RCD) is a prime example where even smell can vary considerably, and density can be up to twice the range from lightest to heaviest samples of wood at the same EMC.

I have a range of samples of RCD from a range of sources from the Windsor Tableland down to Northern NSW (Cedarworks & Dinky Di purchased at Maleny WE) that vary considerably in age, source (old growth - plantation - landscape), colour, grain, density, smell and would confuse most with a reliable ID. Then throw in Pencil Cedar, Saurian Cedar, even "exotics" such as Western Red Cedar etc to confuse the least experienced and the tyro wood worker.

Then there are the "silky oaks" - arrrgh! They all share a pretty similar medullary ray structure, though as IanW says - at quite different "scale." Most wood workers can't even differentiate between Northern or Southern Silky Oak.

Then throw in the many other Australian Proteaceae species - i.e. Grevillea hilliana and all the bloody common names (White Silky Oak; Oak, White Silky; White Yiel Yiel; Silky Oak; Grey Oak; Hill's Silky Oak; OAK, Hill's Silky; Oak, Grey) etc
ONLY 493 potential Proteaceae species formally described in Australia, with many yet to be described I suspect.