Strange (to me) wood. Can anyone identify?

[Tim Browne]

I'm making something for my grandson out of a block of mystery wood I bought at Woodcraft a few years ago. It was wax sealed and in the bargain bin outside. I can't figure out what species it is. The colors are rendered fairly acurately. It turns well and is about as hard (or soft) as purpleheart. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

possibly elm?

[Fred Perreault]

It looks a lot like what I have been told is a kind of mahogany.... Honduras mahogany

[charlie knighton]

could be chinaberry, in the mahogany family I believe

[Dan Hunkele]

I second Fred's description.....

[Brian Brown]

These are always hard to be certain, but it looks a little like Cebil, aka Curupay. if you bought it at a WC about 2-3 years ago, they had a large shipment that ended up in most stores. I saw some in at least 5 stores. I bought some because it had an interesting end grain, and I was making end grain pendants at the time. It looks a little plain on the store shelf, but it's not too expensive. It is a nice turning wood, even in end grain orientation, and it is very nice looking finished. You can see some samples images here. DubDubDub.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/curupay.htm As you can see, it varies a lot from tree to tree, but I thought of Cebil because of the color, grain characteristics and the end grain shown in your samples. Please remember, my guess is worth exactly what you paid for it.

[Prashun Patel]

I vote for red elm

[Tim Browne]

Thanks for the replies, you guys are terrific. I looked at hobbit house and you could all be right. Maybe, when it's done, I'll tell him it's red mahoganelm curuberry.