Any idea what this is?

[Tom K]

So how old is "old" and out of interest when was Iroko first imported to the U.K were there substantial amounts of it being used in say the '30's.
Looking at that grain it reminds me a lot of exterior grade ply :lol:

 

[DangerousDave]

...My problem would be in finding some veneered MDF that matched it!

:wink:

Cheers
Dan

That was my thinking! I think the mantlepiece was the one originally put in by the builders (house was built 1987), so it's prob the cheapest stuff they had available. I know that I don't have to know the species; it looks nice and thats good enough. But for some reason it really annoys me not knowing what timber it is ... :?
Thanks for the input anyhow, chaps

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

What you have there is "far eastern hardwood" either meranti or shorea.
Definately not Iroko, or Sapele.
I go through hundreds of metres of the stuff in my workshop

 

[Nick Gibbs]

My first instinct was afrormosia, but I'm willing to bow to it being iroko. From memory (I haven't used it since I was a lad!), afrormosia is 'creamier' and less dusty. But I might be wrong. It also tends to be greenier, I think. It could be meranti, but I don't think so.

Nick