# Exotic Wood ID



## BassBlaster

This is a recent box of exotic blanks I traded for with member JMC. Most of these blanks will be used for pens that I plan to sell so I'd like to know the species of each. I know some of the obvious ones (well, I think I do, I could be completely wrong) but most I have no clue. Any thoughts? I numbered each one to make it easy. Thanks!

http://i964.Rule #2/albums/ae127/BassBlaster29/WoodID.jpg

01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.


----------



## JMC

To the best of my knowledge.
2. Purple Heart
5. White Limba
6. Rosewood
7. Ipe (Brazilian Bean)
8. Figured Padauk (No Kevin not the peice you wanted, still got it)
9&14. Same species grain direction changed
12. Black Walnut
13. Burl from my ID burl post
15. Black Walnut
18. Cherry
18. Osage Orange


----------



## BassBlaster

JMC said:


> To the best of my knowledge.
> 2. Purple Heart
> 5. White Limba
> 6. Rosewood
> 7. Ipe (Brazilian Bean)
> 8. Figured Padauk (No Kevin not the peice you wanted, still got it)
> 9&14. Same species grain direction changed
> 12. Black Walnut
> 13. Burl from my ID burl post
> 15. Black Walnut
> 18. Cherry
> 18. Osage Orange



Thanks JMC. The Paduak piece looks awesome and #17 looks sweet. I'd really like to know what that one is. Number 9,14 and 16, I believe are Lacewood but I'm just guessing.


----------



## phinds

17 maybe Honduras rosewood
I agree that 9, 14, 16 are either lacewood or leopardwood or a combination

on #6, the id of "rosewood" is meaningless. I can name 100+ species that have "rosewood" as all or part of one or more of their common names.

If any remain unidentified, post end grain shots


----------



## JMC

[attachment=1306]
Paul, the 1 on bottom left is the same type Rosewood and I beleive 6&17 may be the same just 17 has very little cream color to it.


----------



## phinds

lower left in this pic also looks like Honduras rosewood but #6 does not seem to. I'd have to see a better shot. End grain closeup would help


----------



## Kevin

JMC said:


> ...
> 8. Figured Padauk (No Kevin not the peice you wanted, still got it)
> ...



Oops! 

Sorry brother what am I sending you for it? Money or wood either way let me know so I can get it to you. 



.


----------



## Kevin

I wonder if 16 is lacewood.



.


----------



## JMC

Kevin said:


> JMC said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...
> 8. Figured Padauk (No Kevin not the peice you wanted, still got it)
> ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oops!
> 
> Sorry brother what am I sending you for it? Money or wood either way let me know so I can get it to you.
> 
> 
> 
> .
Click to expand...

I'm just saving it til I get enough stuff to be worth mailing to you, then I'll see what I get back, other than all the great work you do here.


----------



## Kevin

JMC said:


> I'm just saving it til I get enough stuff to be worth mailing to you, then I'll see what I get back, other than all the great work you do here.



Awww, you gonna make me blush.  

Thanks. 


.


----------



## BassBlaster

Heres what Ive come up with so far based on some research and some of your posts. Theres still several I havnt figured out though. I dont have a scanner and I'm pretty sure my camera is not gonna take the best end grain pic but I can try. Which ones specifically do I need to take an end grain shot of?

1. ?
2. Purpleheart
3. ?
4. ?
5. White Limba
6. This one looks very similar to some Zebrawood I allready have.
7. Ipe
8. Padauk
9. Lacewood
10. ?
11. Holly?
12. Walnut
13. Mulberry Burl?
14. Lacewood
15. Walnut
16. Lacewood
17. ?
18. Cherry
19. Yellowheart? Osage Orange?
20. ?


----------



## BassBlaster

BassBlaster said:


> Heres what Ive come up with so far based on some research and some of your posts. Theres still several I havnt figured out though. I dont have a scanner and I'm pretty sure my camera is not gonna take the best end grain pic but I can try. Which ones specifically do I need to take an end grain shot of?
> 
> 1. ?
> 2. Purpleheart
> 3. ?
> 4. ?
> 5. White Limba
> 6. This one looks very similar to some Zebrawood I allready have.
> 7. Ipe
> 8. Padauk
> 9. Lacewood
> 10. ?
> 11. Holly?
> 12. Walnut
> 13. Mulberry Burl?
> 14. Lacewood
> 15. Walnut
> 16. Lacewood
> 17. ?
> 18. Cherry
> 19. Yellowheart? Osage Orange?
> 20. ?



Nevermind. Ive tried and tried to take end grain shots and no matter what I do, they are so fuzzy you cant see the grain. To get it properly focused, I wind up with a pic that isnt close to being a close up. Sorry. Thanks for the help anyhow!


----------



## Kevin

Take a picture of the end grain of the ones you are sure, that you are sure you don't know what they are, from a distance that you are sure is focused, and email it to me. Don't resize it or worry about how long it takes to send. 



.


----------



## phinds

also, if you have a scanner, they do wonders with end grain scans


----------



## BassBlaster

phinds said:


> also, if you have a scanner, they do wonders with end grain scans



No scanner but I emailed the pic I took to Kevin. I dunno what he has up his sleeve but maybe were gonna make some progress here soon!!


----------



## JMC

All else fails I'll send Paul a box.


----------



## Kevin

Dennis,

That picture was fuzzy too. I think the problem is that you're getting too close, and also your camera is focusing on one spot of the picture so only one end grain is actually in focus, but even it was a little fuzzy when cropped down because the camera is too close. 

I'm far from a camera guru but those are my thoughts. You might try taking a picture of one single piece from a little further away, but take only the end grain don't allow the lens to see any of the top portion of the wood. It focused on that more than the end grain itself.


----------



## phinds

Here's something I do for focus on thin pieces. Balance a book or a box or something so that it has a surface that extends the surface of the end grain, then your camera will focus on the box but the end grain, being in the same plane, will be in focus and you can crop it out of the resulting image.

[attachment=1368]


----------



## BassBlaster

JMC said:


> All else fails I'll send Paul a box.


Thats not necissary, unless you just want to send him some blanks!!


Kevin said:


> Dennis,
> 
> That picture was fuzzy too. I think the problem is that you're getting too close, and also your camera is focusing on one spot of the picture so only one end grain is actually in focus, but even it was a little fuzzy when cropped down because the camera is too close.
> 
> I'm far from a camera guru but those are my thoughts. You might try taking a picture of one single piece from a little further away, but take only the end grain don't allow the lens to see any of the top portion of the wood. It focused on that more than the end grain itself.



I'll single out the ones that we have no clue on and try and get some individiual shots this weekend when I have some time. Thanks for trying!



phinds said:


> Here's something I do for focus on thin pieces. Balance a book or a box or something so that it has a surface that extends the surface of the end grain, then your camera will focus on the box but the end grain, being in the same plane, will be in focus and you can crop it out of the resulting image.



Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a try when I snap some more pics!


----------



## phinds

Got the box, sanded down (not to worry James, if you want these back, the amount I took off was tiny) and here are the trivial ones right off the bat. I didn't think (common with me) to keep them in order so I don't have a reference to either the first or the 2nd pic you posted.

[attachment=1443]
1 90% sure this is leopardwood, not lacewood
2 and 3 goncalo alves
4 Honduras rosewood
5 osage orange
6 walnut
7 purpleheart
8 padauk

Nothing new here, except definite ID on the goncalo alves and the distinction of leopardwood not lacewood.

A couple of the others were also easy but I want to show better pics of them so it will be obvious.

Then there are some that will take time for me to poke around a bit and then a few that I'm not likely to get, but I'll see what I can do.

SO ... more to come ...


----------



## phinds

Here's the rest of the easy ones.

[attachment=1444]

9 quick look says hard maple --- I'll double check [EDIT LATER: yep, it's hard maple]
10 ipe
11 silky oak
12 iroko
13 oak burl (I'm not 100% on this ... I'm not so good on burls)

6 samples not yet ID'd. The spalted one, which a quick look said was beech, appears on closer examination to be ring porous, which mean it's sure not beech so it just about has to be oak, given the appearance. I'll check.

more to come ...


----------



## phinds

Here's a closeup of the "oak" burl in case anybody has a better opinion

[attachment=1445]


----------



## Kevin

phinds said:


> Here's a closeup of the "oak" burl in case anybody has a better opinion



I don't have the benefit of the end grain, but have you eliminated Pecan burl?


----------



## phinds

Kevin said:


> I don't have the benefit of the end grain, but have you eliminated Pecan burl?



Nope, I'll check it. Still have to do that end grain shot.


----------



## phinds

This is, for the moment, just a sandbox with the pic of the remaining 6. I haven't yet tried to figure any of them out but I'll fill in data as I get it

[attachment=1447]

14 thought it was beech but it's ring porous so maybe oak [EDIT LATER --- yep, oak. See next post]
15
16 first thought was chamfuta, but I think I've ruled that out ... I'm drawing a blank ... see post #32 below
17 I'm drawing a blank ... see post #30 below
18 probably cherry [EDIT LATER --- yep, cherry]
19 [NOTE: I overcorrected photo --- wood is not this dark]


----------



## phinds

#14 is definitely oak:

[attachment=1448]


----------



## Kevin

Looks like Sycamore but it is diffuse of course not ring, so my WAG based on that pic would be it is from what was a standing dead Red Oak.


----------



## Kevin

Whoa, I typed my reply before I saw the end grain. I said it looks like syc from the pic above but that end grain shot of course does not look like syc. 

I do still think it is from a standing-dead Ro. I have dropped and milled many of them. They seem to have a signature of spalting when they do so standing. I think they have more white blotches than do spalted RO wood from felled trees.


----------



## phinds

Yeah, I already edited the post to say it's oak


----------



## phinds

*#17*

Here's end grain and 2 contiguous sides on #17. Seems like it should be fairly easy, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

[attachment=1451]
This is a little over 1/2" square

[attachment=1452]
[attachment=1453]


----------



## Kevin

*RE: #17*



phinds said:


> Here's end grain and 2 contiguous sides on #17. Seems like it should be fairly easy, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
> 
> 
> This is a little over 1/2" square




The end grain looks very familiar. Can you show some better pics of the face grain?


----------



## phinds

*#16*

Here's the end grain and 2 contiguous sides on #16, for which I am also drawing a blank.

[attachment=1454]
this is about 3/4" square

[attachment=1455]
[attachment=1459]


----------



## phinds

Kevin said:


> The end grain looks very familiar. Can you show some better pics of the face grain?



best I can do is post the uncropped pics. I can maybe clean them up a bit better tomorrow. Maybe a slightly farther out pic would be more helpful?

[attachment=1460][attachment=1461]


----------



## JMC

They are yours to keep or whatever Paul, I threw the big chunk of Leopard in just for good measure. Thanks for your hard work on your web site.


----------



## phinds

JMC said:


> They are yours to keep or whatever Paul, I threw the big chunk of Leopard in just for good measure. Thanks for your hard work on your web site.



Good, thanks. That way, I won't have to worry about chopping a bit off the end of a couple of them to get better end grain shots.


----------



## BassBlaster

Thanks for the updates guys...and thanks JMC for going to the extent of donating some blanks so we can get all these IDed!!!!


----------



## Kevin

*RE: #16*



phinds said:


> Here's the end grain and 2 contiguous sides on #16, for which I am also drawing a blank.



When you get a chance, show the face grain for #17. I can't ID #16 but I might have a shot at 17.


----------

