Wood Identification

[Ed Weingarden]

Anyone know what kind of wood this is.

 

[Dean Center]

Definitely the classic "Spiderwood".

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Kinda looks like butternut. Is it very soft? The lidded box below the lid is the only thing I have done with it side grain and the end grain box itself is turned with the pith.

 

[Gord Cameron]

Looks like it could be olive wood.

 

[Ed Weingarden]

@Don Wattenhofer - it's not very soft, and the color is more of a golden brown. Thanks for your thoughts.

Spiderwood - I like it

 

[Richard Coers]

Looks like olive ash to me.

 

[Michael Anderson]

I agree with Richard. Olive Ash

 

[Ed Weingarden]

I'm not familiar with Olive Ash. Is it Ash that looks like Olive, Olive that looks like Ash, or something else?

 

[Michael Anderson]

I'm not familiar with Olive Ash. Is it Ash that looks like Olive, Olive that looks like Ash, or something else?

Check out the hardwood database for a bunch of information about Olive Ash: https://www.wood-database.com/olive-ash/

Basically, some Ash trees have grain patterns/colors in their heartwood that is reminiscent of Olive wood.

 

[Russ Braun]

Check out the hardwood database for a bunch of information about Olive Ash: https://www.wood-database.com/olive-ash/

Basically, some Ash trees have grain patterns/colors in their heartwood that is reminiscent of Olive wood.

Twice in the same month…olive ash! Having never heard of it in the last 40 yrs, that’s numerous to moi, lol!!

 

[robo hippy]

Olive ash is used to describe the heart wood when, more so in older trees, it turns an olive brown color. Only had it once and the bowls would fly off my shelves at the shows! I am not sure if that is olive ash or not. the grain just doesn't look right to me. Maybe because our western ash has different growth rings and the eastern stuff grows more slowly. I had some butternut once. It was green, and smelled like vinegar. The branch growth rings were scalloped, which I heard was typical for butternut. Made for a very nice spider web pattern in the bowls.

robo hippy

 

[Richard Coers]

I'm not familiar with Olive Ash. Is it Ash that looks like Olive, Olive that looks like Ash, or something else?

I'm not familiar with a lot of wood species, but I am familiar with a lot at the same time.

 

[Ed Weingarden]

@Michael Anderson - thanks for the link and the info.

 

[John K Jordan]

If it matters, one option for ID is to take a small offcut with end grain (doesn't need to be large), make a smooth cut with a single-edged razor blade to get a clean look at the end grain, and see if it looks like one of these (or one of the other species in the Wood Database - all somewhat similar (big surprise!) - keeping in mind that every tree is unique in some ways, depending on how and where it grew.

Look for the earlywood and latewood pores, and, annual boundary, and the rays (almost invisible). If it's Ash, the earlywood pores will be open (empty).

The Wood Database includes more species but I just pulled out, er, pilfered these four. It's recommended to use a 10x magnifier. More instructions are on the Wood Database in the wood ID article, section 7.



If this is hard to do, perhaps someone in your club has such experience.

JKJ

 

[Ed Weingarden]

@JKJ - that's an interesting idea, but I don't have anymore of the wood. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[John K Jordan]

@JKJ - that's an interesting idea, but I don't have anymore of the wood. Thanks for the suggestion.

Ah, unfortunate. Maybe next time cut off and save a corner or something. All that's usually needed is a piece with about 1/2" of end grain.

JKJ