# more pallet wood



## lvstealth (May 10, 2017)

i thought this one was very pretty. the board is warped, but has usable parts. 



 


 
y'all are the greatest! - Lisa


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## Tony (May 10, 2017)

I'd say that's walnut as well. Tony 

@phinds

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## lvstealth (May 10, 2017)

here they are side by side...


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## lvstealth (May 10, 2017)

hahaha... i just read your signature! i love that!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (May 10, 2017)

based on what I can see of the end grain I'd say there's no possibility that this one is walnut but I have to idea what it IS.

Lisa, I think you're going to have to send me cutoffs of some more of your mystery wood, but let's keep trying here first. The big thing is to get that 200 and 400 grit sandpaper and really go at the end grain.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## lvstealth (May 10, 2017)

ok, i am off to the store, 200 and 400 grit sandpaper is on my list.


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

is this walnut also? or if not, any ideas?


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## Tony (May 12, 2017)

Lisa, try taking a little off the end and smell it. Walnut has a pretty distinctive smell, to me at least. Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

ok! it is a rainy day today, and i dont have a garage or shop, so i pull everything outside each day. i cant today, pout! i guess it is house cleaning day today. sigh


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## Tony (May 12, 2017)

That is no fun at all! Use some of that plain pallet wood to build you a little lean to or something where you can work!


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## phinds (May 12, 2017)

lvstealth said:


> is this walnut also? or if not, any ideas?


As I said, based on what I can see of the end grain there is no chance this is walnut.


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

yeah, i went back and read, oops! i was just cleaning up a bit and wanted to write the type and put it away. i see that the ball is in my court, i sanded it, but i have to get a camera to take a decent pic. it will be a few days. it is safely in the "i dunno" stack, and i moved that indoors for the rainy days. 

any ideas on what it might be? i have been reading your great resources, and i bought a loupe and 400 grit sandpaper. i have several rainy days to research. i just need a shove in the right direction, say narrow it down from a google (10 raised to the power 100) to a gazillion.


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## phinds (May 12, 2017)

I'll wait to see what the cleaned up end grain looks like.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

i sanded it with the 400 grit (enough? need more?) and i read about using a scanner, so i tried that. this is about 1.5 inch. not sure this will help any.


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## phinds (May 12, 2017)

Good sanding and good pic, but weird in that before you sanded it, it clearly had strong rays, now it has very weak rays. 

The problem now is that it is diffuse porous, which is the largest (by far) group of woods and thus the hardest to pin down. This is likely one where you are going to have to send me a cutoff so that I can take it to 1200 grit and see if there are any identifying tissue groups.


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

ok, i will send it in a couple days, im out in the country and i try not to go to town on holiday weekends, i am allergic to dummies. hehe


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

@Mr. Peet any ideas? thanks!

ill send it after mothers day is over. i try not to go into town when it is stormy and it is a holiday weekend. people act dummer on holiday weekends!


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## phinds (May 12, 2017)

I was thinking we'd wait and see what other woods you have that can't be identified here on the forum, but send it individually if you want.


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## lvstealth (May 12, 2017)

ok, i can do that!


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## Mr. Peet (May 13, 2017)

phinds said:


> Good sanding and good pic, but weird in that before you sanded it, it clearly had strong rays, now it has very weak rays.
> 
> The problem now is that it is diffuse porous, which is the largest (by far) group of woods and thus the hardest to pin down. This is likely one where you are going to have to send me a cutoff so that I can take it to 1200 grit and see if there are any identifying tissue groups.


@lvstealth 
I believe the picture up top was a close up Paul, higher mag, so yes, those rays were clearly visible, so walnut was out for me too. Once again, is this pallet wood? If so, country of origin is a very big help. When the world market has nearly 10,000 tree species covered in the commercial and craft trade, knowing origin can surely help.


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## phinds (May 13, 2017)

Mr. Peet said:


> @lvstealth
> *I believe the picture up top was a close up Paul, higher mag*, so yes, those rays were clearly visible, so walnut was out for me too. Once again, is this pallet wood? If so, country of origin is a very big help. When the world market has nearly 10,000 tree species covered in the commercial and craft trade, knowing origin can surely help.


Judging from the size of the yearly rings I estimate the two pics to have roughly the same magnification, so I have to disagree on that. Lisa, what say you?


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## Mr. Peet (May 13, 2017)

Maybe, on my screen the first picture has growth rings 5/8 to 3/4" inch. On the second they are 1/4-1/2" inch so clearly smaller. Off to lunch, be back tomorrow...


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## lvstealth (May 13, 2017)

well... after i did a whole lot of pallet disassembly, i started noticing some woods that felt distinctly different from the norm. i set these aside. i built with other things till i got a bit more comfortable using tools in general. i am new to all but a hammer. i have never even hung a picture or built a birdhouse. 

so, now i have started cleaning up that wood. i am not sure what country. from when you said that before, i have taken pics and made notes and started a spreadsheet of where and what each pallet came from (both location i got it, and pallet codes). im sorry to say, this piece is from the tile place, but no idea what country. could be mexico, i took several apart from mexico in the beginning. this piece was warped, so cleaning it up was not high on the list. then one day i sanded the crud off and thought, wow! that is pretty! 

there is only one piece of this, which is odd... there are 2, 3 or even 4 stringers on a pallet. this, in many i have taken apart, means it was repaired along the way, so could have been repaired in a totally different country, with just about anything. 

sorry, i cant tell you more about the country of origin for the pallet.


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## lvstealth (May 13, 2017)

i will take another picture, 
this is an inch from corner to corner...


 
this is a little closer and a different spot, i turned up the contrast on this one. so the color is a bit vibrant. i posted the stock one too. i just thought there might be more detail available with the contrast up.


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## phinds (May 13, 2017)

AAAKK ... now the rays are back. You're going to have to send me a piece of this one for sure.


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## Palaswood (May 15, 2017)

poplar

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## lvstealth (May 15, 2017)

oh? hmmm... i have some that is poplar, and it is not like this. but who knows!


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## phinds (May 15, 2017)

Palaswood said:


> poplar


I doubt that, based on the prominence of the rays, but I wouldn't bet money against it just yet.


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## bamafatboy (May 16, 2017)

Hi Lisa, and welcome to WB, this piece in question could be either mahogany, or a rosewood, judging from the end grain it could be either, the end grain looks like Mexican rosewood, I just finished turning a small bowl for a piece of mahogany and it had a red tint to it, however I have also turned rosewood that looked very similar to the end grain of the piece in the pic. This is just my observation, could be off. Any way it should make for an interesting wood to turn.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (May 16, 2017)

Mahogany is a possibility but the chances of it being rosewood are zero. Dalbergia spp. just never looks like that. I refer you to:

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_anatomy/diffuse porous/rosewood/_rosewood.htm

Reactions: Informative 1


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