Help with wood ID

[Cliff Holmes]

This is some very old wood and I'm curious what it is. When cut it has a very strong pine odor, but it's heavier and darker than any pine I've seen. It may not come through on the picture, but it's got a reddish tone rather than yellow.

[John Coloccia]

Based on the grain pattern and the dark color, I would guess it's heartwood pine. If you look at the end grain, you'll probably see some very distinct, round growth rings, getting straighter as you get out towards the edge of the board. That's why the board looks practically quarter sawn on the right edge, and flat sawn at the left edge. Because it came from the center of the tree, it essentially is a mix of flat and quarter sawn.

Without knowing anymore about the board, that's my guess. Sometimes I'll find a nice piece of pine like that and use it because it looks neat when it's book matched and stained.

[Paul Girouard]

Looks like Ash to me. It's been a long time since I milled any Ash but that big loopie grain looks like Ash to me.

[george wilson]

That's heart pine. We used it all the time in Williamsburg.

[Cliff Holmes]

Yeah, I thought it might be heart pine. When my dad retired from the Marine Corp, we moved back to grandparent's land. My dad had inherited a portion that had a huge old barn and stables that my great-grandfather built around 1900. This wood is from that barn.

The barn was old and run-down and my dad didn't want to chance it collapsing while tearing it down, so we just set it on fire and burned it to the ground. There were huge beams and heavy floors made of this wood. I bet we burned 5-10 thousand board feet of it. I hate to think what it would be worth now.

[Roger Benton]

[QUOTE]I bet we burned 5-10 thousand board feet of it. I hate to think what it would be worth now./QUOTE]

i pay around $3.25/bf for it from a reclaimed lumber yard, they probably pay half that for it. great stuff.

[george wilson]

Williamsburg pays a lot more than that. I don't know where they get theirs.

[Danny Hamsley]

The variable width growth rings would indicate cypress. There is a way to definitively tell the difference between heart pine and cypress. If you look at a smooth end grain surface (like sliced smooth with a razor blade), you will see little round pores or openings scattered out across the growth ring. These are resin canals. They can be visible to the naked eye, but easy to see with a hand lens or magnifying glass.

Cypress, on the other hand, will not have visible resin canal, even with a hand lens or magnifying glass.

The old heart cypress was called Tidewater Red, and had a red tint. Check out the end grain and let us know if you can see the resin canals. It is either heart yellow pine or heart cypress. From the pic, I lean toward cypress, but the resin canals will tell the story.