# reddish wood ID



## agnoeo (Aug 23, 2018)

Hello all.

I got a few pieces of a trunk from a felling, but can't tell the species. The tree was rotten quite a bit, so I think the brown sections may already have decayed some. Tree trunk diameter may be around 16".

What do you think?


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## phinds (Aug 23, 2018)

cherry

LATER EDIT:



 


Don't know what I was thinking of to not say plum in the first place. After Mike pointed it out (see below) it's obvious that while there is a (VERY remote) chance that this is neither plum nor cherry, if it's one or the other, it's certainly plum.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## agnoeo (Aug 23, 2018)

Thank you, @phinds. I didn't think it was cherry, because it didn't smell like cherry and it was so much darker and redder than another sample of cherry I have. I suppose that may have to do with the decayed state and the age of the tree.

- David


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## Mike1950 (Aug 23, 2018)

plum

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## phinds (Aug 23, 2018)

Mike1950 said:


> plum


I agree it certainly could be plum.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mike1950 (Aug 23, 2018)

phinds said:


> I agree it certainly could be plum.


The purple I see in plum a lot. But I do not remember it in cherry. Big plum

Reactions: Agree 2


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## bamafatboy (Aug 23, 2018)

Could it be pecan?


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## phinds (Aug 23, 2018)

bamafatboy said:


> Could it be pecan?


No way. Pecan is semi ring porous. This is a diffuse porous fruitwood. I agree w/ Mike that it's most likely plum, not cherry, based on the purple.

EDIT: well, I double-checked and I find that pecan is not as strongly semi ring porous as I thought and the Prunus species are diffuse porous but often verge on semi ring porous so that distinction is not as strong as the above statement would make it out to be. Still, this is not pecan. Color is way off.


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## agnoeo (Aug 23, 2018)

Pecan is unlikely, as I don't think that tree is planted here in Germany, at least not in a common garden if at all.

So I think it's safe to say it's some kind of prunus, likely plum considering the intense color. It would have been a rather large/old plum tree for what I'm used to here.

Thank you all for your insights.

- David


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## gman2431 (Aug 23, 2018)

I had some plum with that same color that looked like your 2nd pic. I only had a small trunk section but it was very hard to dry. I think I only got some knife scales and a couple call blanks outta it.


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## gman2431 (Aug 23, 2018)

Small piece I had handy

Reactions: Like 2


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## barefoot (Aug 23, 2018)

It does seem large for a plum. 
It's important that the tree popped up in Germany, which changes the quest considerably. Also, I think that bark is a bit unusual with the rivulets and scales; no obvious sap wood either; large, open pores too. It looks a bit like some birch and larch varieties which are probably too soft to qualify. When you consider that there are hundreds of varieties of rosewood, and ebony and such, the quest for a mystery wood becomes a treasure hunt!


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## phinds (Aug 24, 2018)

barefoot said:


> It does seem large for a plum.
> It's important that the tree popped up in Germany, which changes the quest considerably. Also, I think that bark is a bit unusual with the rivulets and scales; no obvious sap wood either; large, open pores too. It looks a bit like some birch and larch varieties which are probably too soft to qualify. When you consider that there are hundreds of varieties of rosewood, and ebony and such, the quest for a mystery wood becomes a treasure hunt!


There is no possibility that this is a rosewood or an ebony. Look at the end grain. When you say "large, open pores too" do you mean you think it HAS large open pores? I don't see how you could since it so clearly doesn't but I can't figure out what else you mean. Also, it clearly DOES have sapwood, and what it has is consistent with cherry and to a lesser extent plum. I don't think there's much doubt that it is plum.


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## barefoot (Aug 24, 2018)

phinds said:


> There is no possibility that this is a rosewood or an ebony. Look at the end grain. When you say "large, open pores too" do you mean you think it HAS large open pores? I don't see how you could since it so clearly doesn't but I can't figure out what else you mean. Also, it clearly DOES have sapwood, and what it has is consistent with cherry and to a lesser extent plum. I don't think there's much doubt that it is plum.


Paul,
Sorry that I wasn't clearer. To me it had an open grain, but I usually deal in woods so tight grained that you can't even see it--witness ebony, lignum vitae, etc. The remark about the many kinds of rosewood and ebony AND SUCH was to point out how many varieties and natural variations exist of almost any wood, which can make identifying them a treasure hunt. (It befuddles me that there are around 200 species of rosewood and , they say, ebony as well, yet most of them are endangered or embargoed--go figure.) I've never seen a piece of plum, nor handled one so I bow to your expertise, with apologies for the confusion I caused.


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## phinds (Aug 24, 2018)

barefoot said:


> Paul,
> Sorry that I wasn't clearer. To me it had an open grain, but I usually deal in woods so tight grained that you can't even see it ...


Ah. I get it. Point taken.


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## Mike1950 (Aug 24, 2018)

I have 4 plums growing in yard- 2 are about that size

Reactions: Informative 1


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