Help identifying wood

[Matthew Joe]

Just purchased from Craigslist...any ideas? Some pictures are wet w/ mineral spirits.

[Dave Avery]

African Mahogany or Khaya.....

[Chris Brault]

another vote for african mahogany

[Dave MacArthur]

the most I'll throw down with is that looks like oak behind it...

[Lee Schierer]

My first glance guess is Mahogany, but I can't tell you where it came from.

[Frank Drew]

I'm assuming these are boards, not veneers, since they're photographed standing up; that alone argues for African since S. American Mahogany boards as wide as those appear to be are hard to find these days. The third photo seems to show some of the tearout you'd expect from African Mahogany's interlocked grain, but just from the picture I could believe that photo # 4 is Genuine (i.e. S. American) Mahogany; I've certainly had boards that looked like that.

[Matthew Joe]

The color of the boards is somewhat redder/pinker than African mahogany I've purchased in the past, although I realize that natural variations may account for the difference. The boards are also heavier and denser than the other mahogany I've had.

For what it's worth, the two boards were originally a single 14' long board, 15.5" wide and 3/4" thick. I regretfully had to cut the board in half to transport it.

The pictures don't really show a white chalky substance resembling calcium deposits that is embedded in much of the grain, and comes off as a white pumice-like powder on your hand. The mineral spirits basically masked this powder, so I hope it won't show up in any finish.

Sounds like the consensus is some sort of mahogany, unless these additional facts suggest otherwise to anyone.

[Frank Drew]

Matthew,

What did the seller say about the boards? What did he think he had, didn't he give you an clues about their origin?

I haven't seen enough African Mahogany to know if it can have those white deposits in the grain, but I have seen them quite often in genuine; in my experience they do disappear once the first coat of finish goes on.

As for the color and weight, as you note natural variation makes definitive statements difficult.

[Dick Strauss]

It looks like some form of mahogany as others have said...

Possibly the white on the wood means it was dusted with borates. When the guy/gal sold the wood, they dusted off most of the powder but left some in the open pores of the wood.

[John Coloccia]

I'm going to be the oddball and say it looks more like Jatoba to me. Jatoba will be heavier and harder than mahogany.

edit: It's sometimes called Brazilian Cherry. I didn't know that. I just did a search on Jatoba because I was curious about cost, and just found that out.

[Peter Quinn]

To me it looks like cumaru. Are they VERY VERY heavy and dense? Do they smell vaguely like horse poop when you cut them? Some African is heavier/denser than other, but non of it approaches cumaru on either account. It makes white oak seem light and hard maple seem soft by comparison. Some of it looks very similar to what you have there. Most of the heavier and harder African Mahogany I have seen is also darker, more browns than reds.

[Frank Drew]

There are a LOT of tropical hardwoods out there, and many of them have similar graining, color, etc., so positive identification just from photos posted on the internet is tricky at best.

[Matthew Joe]

Seller said that it was a form of rosewood, but I was moderately sure that wasn't the case (and certainly didn't pay anything near what true rosewood would cost). The scent from cutting is sweet and similar to mahogany, not at all like horse poop. Then again, I've never worked with rosewood, so it may smell like rosewood.

[Chris Padilla]

Goncalo Alves?

[Frank Drew]

If it's one of the Rosewoods (Dalbergia) -- and that's a large family -- it's not one that I'm familiar with.