Another wood ID question.

[chaoticbob]

I took a chance on a reclaimed school science lab bench top advertised on eBay without any info about species, but the seller said it was a heavy dark wood so I thought it might be worth a tenner (starting price ) or more. I hoped that it might be teak, but having got it home (#10.50 - my wife started the bidding, but I won!) I think it more likely sapele or something related. This is the unfinished underbelly:

I know that it's hard to identify wood from photos, but I'd be interested in guesses - I haven't seen that sort of open grain in the teak I have.

It doesn't matter too much, I'll make something nice out of it, just curious.
Robin.

 

[Trevanion]

Similar grain to Iroko but hard to tell so close up, there are a few timbers that look like that especially after aging for a long time.

 

[Ttrees]

From that photo it looks more like sapele to my eyes,
Do we get to see some more pics?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Looks like rosewood, but it's highly unlikely to be that.

 

[Yosarian]

Very likely to be Iroko. It was a popular wood to make lab bench tops from.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

 

[peter-harrison]

You could try taking a shaving. Iroko has a very particular smell quite unlike any other wood I've ever used.

 

[Keith 66]

Iroko for sure, i have a pile of them just like it.

 

[ED65]

End grain Bob! Although it doesn't always help it's the only way to rule in or rule out many species because the long-grain surfaces can fib but the end tells another story.

Normally an ID is more of an "I'm just curious..." type of thing but some members find iroko unpleasant to process so you may want to know either way before you do much work with the wood, especially anything that generates fine dust.

 

[chaoticbob]

Thanks for replies and apologies for my delay in acknowledging.
It would be rather wonderful if it were rosewood, given the price the stuff goes for, but that would be surprising!
The consensus on the basis of my closeup of the long grain and experience of reclaimed lab benches seems to be Iroko - that seems likely. Not had a chance to plane / smell yet, but this is the endgrain as bought:

Obviously detail obscured by machining marks, but best I can do for now.
Whatever it is , I'm happy with a 2.5x0.6 metre slab of hardwood for a tenner!
Robin