Big unknown wood.

[Treecycle Hardwoods]

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.

 

[Treecycle Hardwoods]

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.

 

[phinds]

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.

 

[Treecycle Hardwoods]

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.

 

[Wilson's Woodworking]

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?

 

[Treecycle Hardwoods]

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

About 22-24 per bf

 

[Wilson's Woodworking]

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!

 

[Mr. Peet]

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.