Help with wood ID

[Brian Brown]

Not sure if this will be easy or hard. I bought a bunch of wood from a "retiring" wood turner, and he didn't remember what some of the pieces were. I can Identify most of the wood without too much trouble, but with this one I don't have a clue. He was a well known pen turner, and people form all over the world gave him wood, so it could be from anywhere.

Unknown.jpg

While knowing the exact species is not critical, it would be nice to have an ID in case it is known to cause an allergic reaction. Then I could take precautions, or toss it. For scale of the blank size vs the grain, the size of the blank is 5.75 X 5.75 X 2.75. Don't burn any brains cells on this one, but if you have a thought I can research, I would appreciate it.

[Earl McLain]

Long shot guess, but i'd probably start in the rosewood family (which is huge!!). With wax scraped for grain and close-up end grain shots, the guy at Hobbit House may be able to get close.
For sure don't burn it. If you just don't want to try it, i'd offer a fair price. The few woods i've reacted to didn't take long figure out i needed to stop!!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Wood Filter | The Wood Database

I see several possibilities before getting further than the E section on the Wood Database website.

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[Steve Demuth]

A bit more about the weight (density) of the wood and its current moisture content could help narrow the choices.

[Larry Litwin]

Seriously doubt any rosewood or bloodwood. It looks famialiar, BUT ... It could be leadwood, (false) lignum, or a ton of other wood species. You could send a sample to the US Forest Service Wood ID Section https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/fpl/identification. You get three free ID's per year.

[Brian Brown]

I had thought about the USDA test. Does anybody know if the sample has to go in with no paraffin wax on it?

[Brian Brown]

I'll see if I can get a weight and rough MC tomorrow.

[paul vechart]

It looks like padauk to me. The Padauk blank I got from Woodcraft was sealed in wax like this one.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

It does look like Padauk.

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[Dave Mount]

Don't believe any of the prior guesses are correct. A defining feature of that blank is the extremely large and irregular rays, which none of the suggested woods have. My guess would be sheoak, or something similar: https://www.wood-database.com/western-sheoak/

Best,

Dave

[Jim Morgan]

Don't believe any of the prior guesses are correct. A defining feature of that blank is the extremely large and irregular rays, which none of the suggested woods have. My guess would be sheoak, or something similar: https://www.wood-database.com/western-sheoak/

Best,

Dave

Dave, you may be correct, but how can you (or anyone else) see any detail in that murky, poorly focused photo? OP didn't really give anyone a fighting chance.

[Brian Brown]

I'm slow getting this information. Got buried in snow last weekend, and I just finished digging out. I don't know what this was sealed in. I don't think it's paraffin because it is so hard. It was terrible getting the wax off for better pics. You can see I didn't do a very good job. My original pic was a cell phone pic I use for my inventory record. Here are some updated, and hopefully better, pics. Also, the weight is about 1.6 lb. and the dimensions are 6" X 6" X 2.75 ". My moisture meter, though not to be trusted, says this is dryer than the Sahara desert. I know the person I got it from had it for many years.

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After Dave Mounts post, I looked up sheoak on the Hobbit House site, and Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, I think we have a winner. Congratulations Dave. Here a few pics form the Hobbit house site.

sheoak (baker's oak a torulosa) 1 end grain 2 closeup s25 plh.jpgsheoak (baker's oak a torulosa) 1a s25 plh.jpgsheoak 5 web.jpgsheoak, drooping 1 end grain s25 plh.jpg

Thank you everyone for the help.

[Brian Brown]

Good eye Dave, I think you nailed it.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The elusive Sheoak! Treebeard has been looking for eons! I am quick to jump in on these wood ID threads because I always learn something.