# Another mystery



## barry richardson (May 30, 2015)

I picked this up yesterday at the wood dump as well. I thought it was mesquite when I grabbed it, since the outward appearance of the bark is a dead ringer. But when I trimmed the ends, not mesquite. Very thick bark, orange cambium, thin ring of white sapwood. The heartwood started weeping dark brown sap almost immediately. This chunk is very heavy for it's size, even with all the thick bark. It is about a foot diameter including the bark, no distinctive smell. Sorry Paul, don't think I can sand down the end grain right now cause it's too sappy. The down side of my wood dump source, is there are never any leaves, just random chunks of wood that have been dumped off. Pretty easy for me to identify the usual suspects, but this one has me stumped.... look familiar to anyone?

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 5


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## Kevin (May 30, 2015)

Wow! Man that *is* a mystery never seen anything like it. It sure does resemble skeet except for the cambium. If the cambium was not distinguishable then I'd say mesquite with unusually thick bark. I've also never seen a cambium layer that thick. 

@phinds can cambium take up mineralization and be colored by that like some sapwood can? I know it happens with ERC.


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## phinds (May 30, 2015)

barry richardson said:


> Sorry Paul, don't think I can sand down the end grain right now cause it's too sappy.


Yeah, I that tried once, hoping against hope that I could get it done but it's just a waste of sandpaper.


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## phinds (May 30, 2015)

Kevin said:


> @phinds can cambium take up mineralization and be colored by that like some sapwood can? I know it happens with ERC.


Good question but I have no idea. This is one for @mrpeet (hm ... can't seem to get the system to tag him ... space, no space, doesn't matter)


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## Kevin (May 30, 2015)

phinds said:


> (hm ... can't seem to get the system to tag him ... space, no space, doesn't matter)



He uses a period behind "Mr" @Mr. Peet . . . . he is a very formal kind of guy you know.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## DKMD (May 30, 2015)

Looks like a natural edge bowl waiting to happen!


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## barry richardson (May 30, 2015)

An NE bowl would be great, except it's a pretty small piece so it would be a mighty small bowl, but I might figure out some way to show off all the layers and bark


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## phinds (May 30, 2015)

Kevin said:


> He uses a period behind "Mr" @Mr. Peet . . . . he is a very formal kind of guy you know.


Gads. I'm gonna have to talk to that boy ! 

Thanks


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## Tony (May 30, 2015)

I think making a lazy Susan with a slice would be cool. Pretty wood whatever it is!


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## Mr. Peet (May 30, 2015)

I think your on call with "Mesquite". I would ask you to return to the dump and look for more. Leaves are a big help. The number of leaflets per leaf can reduce the number of choices. My first choice was "Chilean mesquite", _Prosopis chilensis_. They often have white thorns. Did you find any thorns? Of the 40 or so possible species, start with your 3 native mesquites, honey, velvet and screwbean. If you discount them, move onto "Chilean", "Argentine" and the various others offered in the landscape trade in your area. No thorns, look for the inermis landscape varieties offered in your area and the areas around you. And to frustrate you more, 50 + hybrids are offered in Tucson and Phoenix.

I have often seen Honey Mesquite with wide (1 inch or a little thicker) sapwood, but none that resinous.


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## barry richardson (May 30, 2015)

Sorry, leaves ain't gonna happen where I got it from.... I'm pretty hip to all the mesquites, have worked with pretty much all of them. If this is mesquite, it is an anomaly, regardless of the flavor. I'm thinking I can cut a thin cross slice and quick-dry it, then maybe I can sand it up and give you and Paul more to work with...


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## phinds (May 30, 2015)

Hey, Barry, I like your new icon


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## bench1holio (May 31, 2015)

I thought Myall (Acacia Pendula) when I first seen the pic. but the bark is too thick..
That weeping sap is occasionally seen in a few Acacia species when freshly cut.... Myall , Brigalow, Gidgee, Yarran


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## barry richardson (May 31, 2015)

Thanks Ben, very possible it could be one of those since lost of Aussie trees have been planted here.....


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## Mr. Peet (May 31, 2015)

Good day Barry, another option I have done is put it in a plastic bag and in the chest freezer over night. Then in the morning, pull it out and use your scraper to pop off the resin runs if they have hardened. If they brake clean, then hit it with your big chop saw, swing saw or radial arm saw. If none are big enough, go right to the belt sander for end grain touch up. Once the belt starts gumming up, stop and freeze. Repeat the process with finer sandpaper until you reach your desired finish. This has worked for me on 6 of 7 times. The fifth checked in the freezer. Moisture may have been higher than I thought.


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## DKMD (May 31, 2015)

I was gifted a blank of something labeled 'camel thorn' that looks similar from what I can tell. Here are a couple of shots of the blank I've got:



 


 


 

PS. Try chucking up a piece and cutting the grain with a sharp skew or shear cutting tool of your choice... That's what I did with this piece.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Way Cool 1


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## barry richardson (May 31, 2015)

Thanks Doc, just googled it and it seems like a very likely candidate, your pics will come in handy for comparison when I get my piece cleaned up..


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## DKMD (May 31, 2015)

barry richardson said:


> Thanks Doc, just googled it and it seems like a very likely candidate, your pics will come in handy for comparison when I get my piece cleaned up..



Great! Maybe you can tell me what in the hell it is 'cause I don't have a clue


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## GeauxGameCalls (May 31, 2015)

I have a large block of camel thorn and it's an interesting wood to work with. You would think it would tear a lot but it really didn't..


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## Mr. Peet (May 31, 2015)

"Camel Thorn" usually refers to _Acacia erioloba_. Recent research indicates a possible name change to _Senegalia erioloba_.


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## phinds (May 31, 2015)

barry richardson said:


> Thanks Doc, just googled it and it seems like a very likely candidate, your pics will come in handy for comparison when I get my piece cleaned up..


There is a whole page of acacias on my site, including camel thorn so you might check it against them if you get the end grain cleaned up.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## barry richardson (Jun 2, 2015)

I sanded down a piece of this wood and took the best pic I could. The first pic is mine, below is the pic Doc provided which he thinks is Camel thorn. His has rays, as does the sample on Paul's site.... so mine is probably not Camel thorn. I looked up Acacia Pendula, which Ben mentioned, the general description sounds very much like it, but I could find no end-grain shots to compare. I included a file pic of Acacia Pendula bark, very similar. The thickness the bark on mine may be due to the burl bulge which mine has, the cambium is quite spiky. Both Camel Thorn and Myall are used here as landscape trees... I will keep looking for an end grain pic of Myall, got any @bench1holio ?


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## phinds (Jun 2, 2015)

Barry, I agree that his looks like camel thorn (and some other Acacias ... they impossible for me to tell apart generally) and most likely yours isn't, but I'm not so sure about you statement that yours doesn't have rays. Are you basing that on looking with a 10X loupe or are you basing it on the picture? If they're there, they are faint, but based on jus the pic I wouldn't rule them out.


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## barry richardson (Jun 2, 2015)

phinds said:


> Barry, I agree that his looks like camel thorn (and some other Acacias ... they impossible for me to tell apart generally) and most likely yours isn't, but I'm not so sure about you statement that yours doesn't have rays. Are you basing that on looking with a 10X loupe or are you basing it on the picture? If they're there, they are faint, but based on jus the pic I wouldn't rule them out.


Yea, just basing it on my pics and my eyes when I look close at the actual wood. Been putting off getting a loupe, going to order one right now from Amazon while I'm thinking about it...


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## bench1holio (Jun 2, 2015)

@barry richardson Im sure I have some somewhere, all my timber hoard is spread out around 4 different propertys ATM as we have just moved and I have no workshop/timber Storage. I will have a look this arv.


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## barry richardson (Jun 2, 2015)

bench1holio said:


> @barry richardson Im sure I have some somewhere, all my timber hoard is spread out around 4 different propertys ATM as we have just moved and I have no workshop/timber Storage. I will have a look this arv.


no worries, only if it is convenient...


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## bench1holio (Jun 8, 2015)

Hey @barry richardson ,
Im sorry this has taken me so long to do, but I finally found time to photo a piece this weekend.
Im no photographer but hopefully the pics will be helpful.
The piece has been sanded to 320

 

 

 Probably should have sanded this face also......(chainsaw cut).



This piece only had a small amount of bark left on it.

The more I look at your pics im pretty sure it is Myall, when its dry you should have a really pleasant sweet spicey smell (a bit like Violets) when working it.
And from the look of the end shot on your log it should be ring figured!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (Jun 8, 2015)

barry richardson said:


> I will keep looking for an end grain pic of Myall, got any


http://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/ser...,NCSULIB~102~3,SCDRLUNA-UAPC~102~3&mi=0&trs=1


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## phinds (Jun 8, 2015)

bench1holio said:


> The more I look at your pics im pretty sure it is Myall ...



"myall" is a common name used by at least a dozen different Acacias so doesn't pin it down too much. Did you have a particular species in mind?


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## barry richardson (Jun 8, 2015)

Acacia Pendula is what Ben said earlier in this thread. They call it weeping Acacia around here. I think your right Ben, thanks for posting the pics and taking the trouble to clean it up! BTW Paul, I got my loup, and I screwed up and ordered a 20x model. I find it difficult to work with since you only see a tiny area. Guess I will have to get a 10x too.


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## phinds (Jun 8, 2015)

barry richardson said:


> Acacia Pendula is what Ben said earlier in this thread. They call it weeping Acacia around here. I think your right Ben, thanks for posting the pics and taking the trouble to clean it up! BTW Paul, I got my loup, and I screwed up and ordered a 20x model. I find it difficult to work with since you only see a tiny area. Guess I will have to get a 10x too.


Yeah, I've tried those and find them pretty much unusable. 10X is best, I think.
Just to make sure, you DO, I hope, realize that you have to hold the loupe right up against your eye and bring the wood very close. If you just hold the loupe away from the wood and both far away from your eye, you can hardly see anything.


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## barry richardson (Jun 8, 2015)

phinds said:


> Yeah, I've tried those and find them pretty much unusable. 10X is best, I think.
> Just to make sure, you DO, I hope, realize that you have to hold the loupe right up against your eye and bring the wood very close. If you just hold the loupe away from the wood and both far away from your eye, you can hardly see anything.


Thanks for the tip! Works much better now.... I wasn't sure what the best way was, although I have seen jewelers use the technique now that I think about it. Another cool thing learned on Woodbarter.....


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