barn wood; doug fir? larch? other?

[phinds]

I got a couple of different 100 year old reclaimed barn woods recently. Three of the samples are clearly the same species (owner thinks so too) BUT, here's my problem

All 3 are exactly the right weight for Douglas-fir
All 3 are exactly the right color for Douglas-fir
All 3 have exactly the right earlywood/latewood arrangement for Douglas-fir
SO ... they are Douglas fir, right?

Well, there's just one problem. There is not a trace of a resin canal on any of them. Now I've seen small areas of Douglas-fir with no resin canals, but for 3 decent sized samples to show not a hint anywhere just doesn't seem likely.

I thought they might be larch even though the color looks much more like Douglas-fir to me, but larch ALSO has resin canals.

I'm flummoxed. Any ideas? Remember, this is 100 year old barn wood if that matters.

The samples are labeled 5, 6, and 7 and the end grain closeups are from the lowest ring count area of each and the highest ring count area of each.



sample 5 end grain



sample 6 end grain



sample 7 end grain


end grain closeups of all 3 (each of the areas is a 1/4" square end grain cross section) showing the lack of resin canals.

 

[Treecycle Hardwoods]

What area resin canals and could they break down over time?

 

[Mike1950]

I worked in a mill in the early 70's lots of fir and larch. Our framing material is fir and larch. I personally have a great deal of difficulty telling the difference and most will agree when looking at a stack of wood. That said larch usually is a little darker- deeper color. My guess is that is doug fir. But I also am clueless as to the resin canal issue.

 

[Schroedc]

It looks almost identical to my piece of Hemlock as far as color and whatnot goes but I'm not an expert. I posted it in this thread-

http://woodbarter.com/threads/i-thought-folks-might-find-this-interesting.21367/

Is that a possibility?

 

[JR Custom Calls]

I was going to ask if hemlock was a possibility. Not that I really know the first thing about it.

 

[Mike1950]

I was going to ask if hemlock was a possibility. Not that I really know the first thing about it.

Should be able to smell the difference?

 

[phinds]

It looks almost identical to my piece of Hemlock as far as color and whatnot goes but I'm not an expert. I posted it in this thread-

http://woodbarter.com/threads/i-thought-folks-might-find-this-interesting.21367/

Is that a possibility?

Good call. Looks very similar and hemlock seems to be much less prone to resin canals. I'll have to look into that. Thanks.

EDIT: OK, I just checked in Hoadley and hemlock doesn't have resin canals and that's one of the ways you tell it from fir. Looks like my mystery wood is much more likely to be hemlock than either larch or fir.

 

[phinds]

Should be able to smell the difference?

Sadly, I can't smell.

 

[phinds]

What area resin canals and could they break down over time?

You can find resin canals on the internet. That was my first question to the owner, but he doesn't know either and my belief is that no, there's no way resin canals are going to disappear over time.

 

[Schroedc]

Sadly, I can't smell.

I find that with the really old reclaimed lumber I've worked with here (Pine/Fir/Oak/Maple/etc) that by the time it gets that old I can hardly get any smell out of it when cutting or sanding unless I light it on fire I'm guessing a lot of the VOC's that might have been in the wood have evaporated over the last 100 years.....

 

[phinds]

I find that with the really old reclaimed lumber I've worked with here (Pine/Fir/Oak/Maple/etc) that by the time it gets that old I can hardly get any smell out of it when cutting or sanding unless I light it on fire I'm guessing a lot of the VOC's that might have been in the wood have evaporated over the last 100 years.....

Yeah, that's what the owner of those pieces said.

 

[Kevin]

Sadly, I can't smell.

Actually that is a blessing in disguise when you are in the vicinty of people from Central Mississippi and South East NC that don't have running water for showers and such.

 

[DKMD]

Every time I read a thread like this I find myself wishing I could sand my lathe projects as well as Paul does endgrain.

 

[phinds]

Actually that is a blessing in disguise when you are in the vicinty of people from Central Mississippi and South East NC that don't have running water for showers and such.

Actually the time when it was REALLY nice was when I lived in Japan in the early '50s and there were open wagons of human excrement ("night soil") that trucked around to farms and spread the nutrients around.