Wood ID help please *pics*

[Bill Stevener]

This is where I go when I am looking to identify some wood. But I'm not looking. I'll bet you will find it hear.
If its not hear, it ain't wood.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/person...indextotal.htm

[Bill Stevener]

Bill, The photo didn't come through.

Jason

comes up in my window????

[Bill Stevener]

I will try it again. Honey Locust. The bark is worse than the bight.

[Jason Clark2]

Mack, Manitoba Maple is usually referred to as Box Elder here in the states. I've turned more than my share of Box Elder, it's not Box Elder.

Jason

[Kevin McPeek]

Maybe that is on a less mature tree.
That looks nothing like the bark on the tree we got that was identified as Honey Locust.
Here is another picture with different bark, but more representitive of what we are seeing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Honey_locust.jpg

However, I don't believe it (mystery wood) is Honey Locust, having seen both fresh cut. Another type of locust maybe?

[Mike Vickery]

I don't mean to sound argumenative so I will apoligize in advance if I do. I was with Jason when he cut this so have seen it in person and also got some of the honey locust from the Arboreum and have turned Honey locust I got from Oregon before.
I am with Jason I would tend to take experts at their word unless I had a good reason to doubt them. So I would have no reason to doubt that the Arboreum knows what a Honey Locust is and the second pictures he posted is in fact Honey Locust. The pictures of the mystery wood does not appear to be the same wood to me. It also does not look like the Honey Locust I got from Oregon.
It can be very difficult to identify many of the tree's in Arizona since many of the species are not native to the US and are not often seen in other parts of the country. I know for a fact that Jason is familiar with many of the common species that are seen here but their are many trees that are not common but can be found from time to time.
To be honest I have no idea what the mystery wood is. By looking at the growth rings and sap wood even though this was a fairly large tree (for AZ) it looks to have been a fairly young tree that got quite a bit of water and grew very fast so it very well might look different then it usually would.
I would go with the local arborists guess of Willow (weeping) Acacia for now since I think he would be most familiar with local trees. I have no first hand knowledge with positive ID'd Willow Acacia to doubt him though he very well may be wrong. I will note Sean Troy on this board also guessed "some kind of Acacia" and I know that he is very familiar with our local trees.
===== Useless information most people wont care about=====
To make thing more confusing Acacia have over 1300 species and in 2005 it was agreed that they will break Acacia's into 5 different genra's though as far as I know a list of the break up has not been publishes so all are still considered Acacia. Also Black Locust which several people on a different board Id'd the mystery wood as is often called False Acacia even though it is not realted in any way.
So even among experts the question "what is an Acacia?" is in doubt.

So if you write the name of the wood on the piece, you might want to write it in pencil ;-)

[Sean Troy]

It's good looking wood, looks like it turns well and probably doesn't matter if it's ever figured out but you could have a contest at the Az. Woodturners meeting and see who can positively identify it to the satisfaction of a picked panel and give the winner a 25.00 gift certificate to woodcraft or something. Just a thought.

[Martin Braun]

{For those that don't know, Sean was our President [and a darned good one to boot]}

I think it's acacia too, but as Mike said, with so many different species and the unique watering schedules and environment in the desert, we may never really know which. We do know it looks good though!

[Dick Strauss]

Kevin, Mike, and Jason
You are 100% correct in saying that it isn't honey locust. The coloring is all wrong with both the sap and heartwoods. It is definitely not box elder either. Shaggy hickory is the first wood that comes to mind but it might be a bunch of other things as well. I'm sorry I'm not more help!

Take care,
Dick

[TYLER WOOD]

I have turned pecan, black, and honey locust. None of them resemble this, I would wager large ammounts of money against it being any of these. The coloration and bark is not typical of pecan. He stated no smell, so to me the locusts are out as they have a distict, pleasant aroma when turning. Honey locust is a warm yellow, to dark orange heartwood. Black locust coloration is close to my experience, but the bark seems wrong as well as the odor. Willow could be it, the bark looks correct, grain looks to be interlocking. coloration is close to my recollections. The only thing is, the willow I turned smelled like cat pee. Could be where it was growing, not sure. But if other turners could say if their willow smelled the same, that would rule out willow too. JMHO, not expertise! So we could be back to the beginning of not knowing anything other that it makes for great turning wood!