Wood ID help needed

[Pat Scott]

I got this piece of wood at the AAW Symposium in KC. A local had brought in some wood for one of the demonstrators, and this piece was left over. I don't think the local wanted to carry it back home so he gave it to me. I asked him what kind of wood it was but he didn't know. I'm guessing Pear based on the light grain and slight pinkish color, but that's just a guess. Sorry for the cell phone pics. Thanks.
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[Tim Leiter]

In my opinion it could be Maple. Some of the Maple I have has a bit of pink on the interior.
Tim.

[Allan Dozier]

The bark looks like plain old red oak. Did it have kind of a sour smell?

[George Guadiane]

In my opinion it could be Maple. Some of the Maple I have has a bit of pink on the interior.
Tim.

Looks like maple to me too.

[Thomas Canfield]

Sure looks like a bunch of Bradford Pear wood that I have that has air dried without being sealed. The bark also looks like the pear. I think you will find darker wood with fine grain when you turn off the weathered surfaces. The bark inclusion line shown in the 4, 5, and 6 photo also look familiar.

[Dale Miner]

Pear based on bark, grain, and color.

[Harold Balzonia]

I turn a lot of Bradford pear and that is a sure thing... it's easy to turn but usually needs a subtle highlight. FullSizeRender 11.jpgFullSizeRender 2.jpg

[John K Jordan]

I got this piece of wood at the AAW Symposium in KC. A local had brought in some wood for one of the demonstrators, and this piece was left over. I don't think the local wanted to carry it back home so he gave it to me. I asked him what kind of wood it was but he didn't know. I'm guessing Pear based on the light grain and slight pinkish color, but that's just a guess. Sorry for the cell phone pics. Thanks.

Wood and bark often look similar. Minimize the wild guesses by shaving a tiny area of the end grain and looking at it with a small hand magnifier. (The instructions are on the wood ID page of the Wood Database.) You can first see if the wood is ring porous, diffuse porous, or something in between. By comparing what you see to photo of candidate species in the Wood Database, you might eliminate a lot of guessing. I make a hobby of this so if you want to try it and have trouble just ask.

Or just do what lots of people apparently do: just turn it and write cherry or maple or oak on the bottom and move on.

JKJ

[Pat Scott]

Or just do what lots of people apparently do: just turn it and write cherry or maple or oak on the bottom and move on.

LOL John, I thought about doing that too!

I turn a lot of Silver Maple and I know it's not that. Maybe it's a different kind of Maple, but for what I'm used to the bark and grain are not the same. It's not Oak either. I'm going with Pear like Thomas, Dale, and Harold said. I've only turned Pear once before and this piece reminds me of it exactly. I've roughed out the blank, cored it, and waxed it. It turned like butter and has a nice pink hue without bold grain lines. Thanks for the responses!

[John K Jordan]

Or just do what lots of people apparently do: just turn it and write cherry or maple or oak on the bottom and move on.

LOL John, I thought about doing that too!

I turn a lot of Silver Maple and I know it's not that. Maybe it's a different kind of Maple, but for what I'm used to the bark and grain are not the same. It's not Oak either. I'm going with Pear like Thomas, Dale, and Harold said. I've only turned Pear once before and this piece reminds me of it exactly. I've roughed out the blank, cored it, and waxed it. It turned like butter and has a nice pink hue without bold grain lines. Thanks for the responses!

The effort put into identifying the wood depends entirely on how important it is! If you take the effort to mail off a sample the US govmt Forest Products Lab will ID up to 5 wood samples per year for each citizen. Simpler is shaving and comparing the end grain but that takes some experience and reference materials.

If you know a forestry person they can often recognize the wood by the bark, the look, and the smell.

I'm thinking of going with "Tree Wood" on those I can't identify positively. (Posted this before, sorry, can't help myself.)

cartoon_wood.jpg

JKJ

[Mel Fulks]

John,thanks. Did not know that was free there! I once paid about $50 for an independant ID and the guy KEPT the sample.
Called and demanded the piece,which was part of a fine antique,and he relented and sent it back. He had been reccomended by a well known museum house!

[John K Jordan]

John,thanks. Did not know that was free there! I once paid about $50 for an independant ID and the guy KEPT the sample.
Called and demanded the piece,which was part of a fine antique,and he relented and sent it back. He had been reccomended by a well known museum house!

Mel,

Info and links to the full instructions are at the bottom of this article (before the comments):
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...ication-guide/

Note the FPL also will not return the samples. But all they need is a tiny piece which you can usually cut or chisel from a hidden place on furniture.

Years ago not long after I got into this wood ID hobby someone on a forum was very interested in identifying some wood she had. She sent a small piece to me and sent another to the FPL. I prepared and looked at it with my lens and microscope and decided it was Elm. After a week or so she got a one-word response from the FPL: Elm. Yes!

BTW, I use a stereo microscope to look at these samples just because I have one, but this is hands-down my favorite hand lens - lighted, good optics, and CHEAP! I bought several to keep handy in different places and to give as gifts.

magnifier.jpg
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CMDIOBK

Seeing cross sections like this is the goal:

elm.jpg white_oak.jpg red_oak.jpg

I got interested in wood ID years ago when I read R. Bruce Hoadley's book, "Identifying Wood", and the companion book, "Understanding Wood" (a MUST READ for anyone who works with wood and strives towards literacy, IMO)

https://www.amazon.com/Identifying-W.../dp/0942391047
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding.../dp/B004WYO862

JKJ

[Dane Riley]

Is this magnifier achromatic? (Does it show colored lines on a black white boundary?) Pincushion distortion is to be expected, but achromatic drives me nuts. Usually it takes a cemented or airspaced doublet or triplet to fix achromatic distortion.

[andy bessette]

Taking a fresh cut and smelling the wood might give you a hint.

[John K Jordan]

Is this magnifier achromatic? (Does it show colored lines on a black white boundary?) Pincushion distortion is to be expected, but achromatic drives me nuts. Usually it takes a cemented or airspaced doublet or triplet to fix achromatic distortion.

Dane,

I examined only one of the half dozen or so I have. The lens was not perfectly achromatic: when viewing a grid of fine black lines on white it did have some chromatic aberration toward the outside of the lens, a faint blue line where black met white, very narrow compared to what I've seen in other inexpensive lenses. There is some pincushioning.

Neither of these seem important for looking at wood samples since high contrast sharp-edge black/white edges are nonexistent in wood.

I cannot detect any coating. The built in lighting is excellent as is the wide field of view. It has scales along the edge of the view. The focus is a tiny bit past the plane of the scale mount which allows for focusing on details on surfaces not perfectly planar. It comes with batteries and a nice zippered hard case.

All in all, I thing this magnifier/loupe is well worth the $13.75 investment. I have tried several and I like this one the best.

JKJ