# Big unknown wood.



## shortyz (Feb 13, 2015)

Hi guys, ive been cruising around the wood working forums trying to figure out what i have here exactly. I found these few pieces in an old barn thats been sitting for a long time, they are around 8ft in diameter and 4" thick. Someone told me they were hand sawed in the 40's, but who knows. Anyways ive gotten different opinions on exactly what these are. Burl? flame maple? cypress? redwood? i dont know bcs i know nothing about this stuff. Anyways they weigh around 300-400 lbs each. heres some pictures, any help would be great. everyone that sees them is shocked.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 13


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## Schroedc (Feb 13, 2015)

@shortyz , those are way cool and while I'm not sure what they are I'm sure someone here can help with ID.

But we do need you to read and follow the rules. Threads just to gauge interest are not allowed. And any transactions need to start and end in an open forum and not just by private message. Also please make sure to complete an introduction post in that area of the forum.

Thank you and we look forward to your contributions to the site!

Reactions: Like 3


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## shortyz (Feb 13, 2015)

ah sorry man, im not a dealer or anything just looking for some expert advice.

after reading the rules on photos i dont know if mine are up to snuff, please advise me :)


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## phinds (Feb 13, 2015)

photos are pretty good, thanks. Looks to me like some kind of curly or just "figured" maple (if you don't know what else to call it, call it "figured" ) but when things are this big the size is going to matter because it's a clue to what kind of tree it's from (lots of species just don't get that big), so I'm hoping some of our sawyers will have more of a clue than me because these "tree" things are a puzzle to me and I'd need more of a grain close-up.


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## shortyz (Feb 14, 2015)

dont know if these help but ill give it a go. The first 12" of this thing has like 150+ growth rings, and is a different color.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 3


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 14, 2015)

Do you know if they were sawn local to where you live or do you happen to know their origin if they were sawn elsewhere?


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## phinds (Feb 14, 2015)

Can you get the original of that very last pic and post it maybe 1000 pixels wide instead of 500 ?

I still think it's maple but would like a better look at the grain.


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## barry richardson (Feb 14, 2015)

I'm curious if the wood is that color throughout . Over time wood can change color a lot. A fresh cut piece might tell a lot...

Reactions: Agree 1


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## shortyz (Feb 15, 2015)

i have no idea the origin of the wood, only that it was cut a long time ago, but even that information could be false.

heres the bigger pic, if this is maple wouldnt it be far heavier then what it is? also even for a bigleaf maple this size would be incredibly rare wouldnt it?


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## phinds (Feb 15, 2015)

Still looks like maple. Can you get a rough estimate of lbs/cuft ? When you ask about size, you are going back to those "tree" things, about which I know approximately nothing. I do remember that they have "leaves" but that's about it.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## JR Custom Calls (Feb 15, 2015)

It does have the big lead maple appearance... But I know nothing about how big they get or anything.


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## shortyz (Feb 15, 2015)

The current national champion bigleaf maple is located in Marion, Oregon. It has a circumference of 25.4 feet (7.7 m)—or an average diameter at breast height of about 8.1 feet (2.5 m)

They do exist but how common are they? The area the trees grow matches my location.

I calculated the volume to be about 12-13 cubic feet. I am going to try to get this beast on a scale this week and i think that will give us a clearer idea of what it might be.

Reactions: Like 1


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## shortyz (Feb 17, 2015)

440lbs


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 17, 2015)

I have been sitting back watching this one with 2 guesses. Guess one is bigleaf maple guess two would be redwood. I see some characteristics of redwood bark in the natural edge. I also see the color of the maple. The color is different in most of the pix so it leads me to think lighting is different in each pic or the camera isn't picking up the true color of the wood. So based on the weight if the slab is maple there should be roughly 155 BF in the slab if it is redwood there should be roughly 203 BF in there. Have you done a calculation or a best calculation possible for the BF of the slab you weighed?


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## phinds (Feb 17, 2015)

shortyz said:


> 440lbs


Well if that's spread over 3 board feet, that's damned heavy wood, but if it's spread over 30,000 board feet, it's balsa.

Should we guess?


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## JR Custom Calls (Feb 17, 2015)

Roughly 36.6 lbs per cubic foot if your guess is close... Which would be just over 3lbs a board foot. If that helps narrow down species


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## phinds (Feb 17, 2015)

JR Custom Calls said:


> Roughly 36.6 lbs per cubic foot if your guess is close... Which would be just over 3lbs a board foot. If that helps narrow down species


That would be just right for soft maple. Does anyone know if any of the soft maple species grow that big?


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 17, 2015)

phinds said:


> That would be just right for soft maple. Does anyone know if any of the soft maple species grow that big?


Silver maple easily can get that big, it is common to see them 5-6 feet in diameter here in WI.


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## phinds (Feb 17, 2015)

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> Silver maple easily can get that big, it is common to see them 5-6 feet in diameter here in WI.


Unfortunately, "sifver maple" is one of those common names that is shared by Acer saccharinum (soft maple) and Acer saccharum (hard maple) but since it is used more with soft maple, I assume you are referring to Acer saccharinum. Very cool that it gets that big. Some day I'm going to have to learn something about those mythical "tree" things. 

Given that the density seems to be spot on and the color / grain / figure all point to soft maple, my story is that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...


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## shortyz (Feb 17, 2015)

ok guys didnt realize that the other side of the slab was way thicker then other, so after taking careful measurements and thickness into account i calculated 16-17 cubic feet of wood (204 BF). my intial estimate was way off due to inaccurate measurement pictures i went from.

So i think we can conclude that this is western red cedar or redwood. due to the location i am in im leaning toward western red, does this co-inside with the weird bark pattern on the live egde?

The density on redwood vs western red is quite a bit different and my weights drop right in between the 2 species..


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 17, 2015)

Based on my calculations that falls nearly perfect with redwood. The size fits also. Cedar bark tends to be stringy and generally will not fall off easily. I live way east of the growth range on the western red cedar and have only milled Tele poles made from it. As a result I have little to no experience with raw logs and their bark characteristics. I don't think what you have is cedar IMO.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 17, 2015)

phinds said:


> Unfortunately, "sifver maple" is one of those common names that is shared by Acer saccharinum (soft maple) and Acer saccharum (hard maple) but since it is used more with soft maple, I assume you are referring to Acer saccharinum. Very cool that it gets that big. Some day I'm going to have to learn something about those mythical "tree" things.
> 
> Given that the density seems to be spot on and the color / grain / figure all point to soft maple, my story is that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...


I had to look up the Latin name for it and your correct. In WI we have approx 10 different species of maple that grow here. Hard maple (aka sugar maple) is our state tree. Sugar maple is the only one I have ever know to be considered hard maple. All the other species is soft.


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## phinds (Feb 17, 2015)

Hm ... still looks like maple to me but it certainly could be Western red cedar. I don't think it's likely to be redwood, but I've been wrong before.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 17, 2015)

phinds said:


> Hm ... still looks like maple to me but it certainly could be Western red cedar. I don't think it's likely to be redwood, but I've been wrong before.


The weight of western red cedar and redwood vary about 3 oz per bf with redwood being the heavier of the 2. Maple isn't going to work based on the bf total and weight total. It just doesn't weigh enough to be 204 bf of maple. After doing a little more checking the redwood growth range does not go as far north as Canada, it might hit southern WA but that is sketchy at best.

Given the weight, size, and your location, combined with the growth range and growth size for the larger of the 2 western red cedar species I would say you have thuja plicada, which is one of 2 western red cedar species closer to the size of redwoods but not the common western red we see. The common western red has trunk sizes of only 1-3 feet in diameter.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wilson's Woodworking (Feb 18, 2015)

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> The weight of western red cedar and redwood vary about 3 oz per bf with redwood being the heavier of the 2. Maple isn't going to work based on the bf total and weight total. It just doesn't weigh enough to be 204 bf of maple. After doing a little more checking the redwood growth range does not go as far north as Canada, it might hit southern WA but that is sketchy at best.
> 
> Given the weight, size, and your location, combined with the growth range and growth size for the larger of the 2 western red cedar species I would say you have thuja plicada, which is one of 2 western red cedar species closer to the size of redwoods but not the common western red we see. The common western red has trunk sizes of only 1-3 feet in diameter.


Ok my only question is how many pen blanks will this make?


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Feb 18, 2015)

Wilson's Woodworking said:


> Ok my only question is how many pen blanks will this make?


About 22-24 per bf


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## Wilson's Woodworking (Feb 18, 2015)

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> About 22-24 per bf


Holly Cow!!!!!!!!!!
At 20 per board foot that would make 4080 pen blanks! and if they only sold for $3 each that would be $12,240!

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Mr. Peet (Apr 14, 2015)

Very beautiful slabs. Like Paul had said, a better end grain picture would have been nice. I had also thought Big Leaf Maple at first glance. Then the following pictures lead me to think Western Hemlock, based on color, ring shake / separation and old age. Large trees with well developed buttresses can have lots of figure expressed in this area because of curvature in the growth rings, and often having load wood (tension / compression). We have Eastern hemlock that often reach 5' feet in diameter and several that reach 10" or more, so I assume the same for the west coast cousin (excluding Mt. Hemlock).

After you square one up, I recommend sending the sliver removes to Paul for closer investigation. Between his keen book skills and my nose, I think we can answer the question.


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