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Thread: Mystery Timber

  1. 4th April 2009, 04:27 PM #1
    Seventh Wood
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    Default Mystery Timber

    Guys,

    I recently picked up a few pieces of timber from a local roadside (another of the drought's victims) and did some preparation and rough turning on it while still fresh. The end grain was quite brown but when I split the timber, it came up light in colour. I then roughed out a bowl with it still light in colour and plastic bagged it to take up to the house to show SWMBO, and went on with a couple of hours of other turning.

    When I finally pulled it out to show it off, I was amazed to find an orange bowl! The orange colour seems to be only where end grain is cut (the blank in the first photo shows almost no orange along the grain).

    A quick Google indicates Alder as a candidate but can anyone identify the timber? The bark is prunus-like and the diameter is about 200-250 mm. Is the colour change only while the timber is unseasoned and will it still change colour when the rough bowl has been seasoned?

    Cheers,

    7th Wood
    Last edited by Seventh Wood; 4th April 2009 at 04:31 PM. Reason: Added missing photo - originally file size too large
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  2. 4th April 2009 04:27 PM # ADS
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  3. 4th April 2009, 04:59 PM #2
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    Birch perhaps, by the look of the bark .....there are many species though???
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  4. 4th April 2009, 05:08 PM #3
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    Sounds like Alder, I've seen this with "goes orange" when Alder is turned green
    Cheers

    DJ

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  5. 4th April 2009, 05:42 PM #4
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    Woodwould
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    Default

    It looks like Alder to me too. It definitely isn'y birch. I used to have acres of both in Ireland.
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    I know you believe you understand what you think I wrote, but I'm not sure you realize that what you just read is not what I meant.

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  6. 4th April 2009, 06:53 PM #5
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    looks like avacado to me

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  7. 6th April 2009, 03:47 PM #6
    Gil Jones
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    Your bowl looks like it will finish up very well, and be a looker.
    I know our woods do not always compare, but the bark looks quite similar to our Bradford Pear, and BP does turn orangeish(sp) when cut green (at least the fresh cut surface does). The dry wood is a creamy color, with a tone of pink hear and there. Your wood has a lot more visible grain than our Bradford Pear, but ?? This pic is a natural edge bowl from Bradford Pear.
    If it is BP, it turns like cutting butter.
    Cheers,

    -- Wood Listener--
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  8. 6th April 2009, 06:16 PM #7
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    Default Toorak gum...

    Bark looks like "Evergreen Alder". Sold a lot in the 80's and 90's as a nature strip/feature tree but they get huge, especially if you give them plenty of water.
    Notorious for dropping limbs in prolonged heat if the water is not kept up.
    "Rotten to the Core"
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  9. 8th April 2009, 07:28 PM #8
    Seventh Wood
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    Guys,

    Thanks for the help and suggestions. The concensus seems to be alder but the other suggestions have been noted. I will use some more of the timber and see how it comes out and also leave some to season before I turn it. It will be interesting to see what it does when it is seasoned, or whether it is just the fresh wood that changes colour.

    Cheers,

    Seventh Wood
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  10. 9th April 2009, 01:14 AM #9
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    I haven't handled it myself, but doesn't Boxelder have that characteristic red "stain?"

    Cheers,
    Joe
    Of course truth is stranger than fiction.
    Fiction has to make sense. - Mark Twain
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  11. 9th April 2009, 12:16 PM #10
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    Sure does Joe...red streaks goin' through like it was struck by lightning
    Cheers,
    Ed

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