Can anyone identify this timber please?

[Dilbert]

Hello, I've been lurking here a while so I know using a picture is not the best way to identify timber but, hopefully someone can make an educated guess. The wood is hard, dense and planes very smooth. The colour is a little more brown/less grey than it appears in the picture.

 

[MikeG.]

Well that looks just like oak to me.

 

[worn thumbs]

I feel fairly sure its oak.

 

[LancsRick]

American white oak.

 

[Dilbert]

Thanks all, I thought it might be oak but, have not seen any oak that looks like that before.

 

[MikeG.]

If you want confirmation, Dilbert, soak some steel wool in some vinegar for a minute or two, then wipe it on the wood. Report back.

 

[RobinBHM]

Looks more like American White Ash -brown

Definitely ring porous

 

[thetyreman]

it looks more like light coloured american white oak to me, I've had pieces like this before, oak colour varies a lot.

 

[Trevanion]

Looks more like American White Ash -brown

Definitely ring porous

You don’t get the darker brown flecking in Ash as this piece has.

Definitely American White Oak.

 

[MikeG.]

Thanks all, I thought it might be oak but, have not seen any oak that looks like that before.

it looks more like light coloured american white oak to me, I've had pieces like this before, oak colour varies a lot.

I don't see anything out of the ordinary in it at all. It looks like every piece of AWO I have ever seen.

 

[RobinBHM]

Looks more like American White Ash -brown

Definitely ring porous

You don’t get the darker brown flecking in Ash as this piece has.

Definitely American White Oak.

Good point, AWA doesnt show flecks in the spring growth, only the occasional brown marking which are often more curly not a straight fleck.

 

[custard]

Small chance that it's Sweet Chestnut, far bigger chance that it's Oak.

 

[Cordy]

American white oak..... just like this

Planes all nice and shiny ; like silk

 

[Inspector]

Dilbert do you have a picture of the end grain? It will answer the question as to if it is one of the oaks, which I suspect, or something else.

Pete

 

[Dilbert]

I'll got on to it soon.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I find it interesting the number of responses identifying the wood, with a fair degree of certainty, that it's American white oak. Apart from being reasonably certain it's a white oak I would never claim to be able to distinguish between one of the many American white oaks sold commercially and any of the most common European oaks, e.g., Quercus robur or Quercus petraea.

The only way I know to positively identify a random white oak sample from an unknown and unidentified source is via thin slices mounted on a slide which is then microscopically examined in order to match specific known characteristics that are particular to a specific oak species.

Interestingly, I've come across quite a number of people who have claimed an ability to tell American white oak from European oak, but when I've had the chance to put a selection of oak samples, the source of which is known to me, under their nose to see, touch and smell (if they like), the best anyone has ever achieved is a roughly 50% - 70% success rate, probably about the same as choosing heads or tails when tossing a coin, ha, ha. Slainte.

 

[Dilbert]

A picture of the end grain.

 

[custard]

I find it interesting the number of responses identifying the wood, with a fair degree of certainty, that it's American white oak. Apart from being reasonably certain it's a white oak I would never claim to be able to distinguish between one of the many American white oaks sold commercially and any of the most common European oaks, e.g., Quercus robur or Quercus petraea.

+1

I agree, but it's a long established woodworking practise to claim that a species from one specific location is inherently different from the same species hailing from a different location. And on some occasions those two locations can be within the same continent or even within the same country!

I guess there's just a deep rooted unwillingness to acknowledge that there's a wide and random variation in the characteristics of most timbers that will always confound our efforts to generalise.

 

[Inspector]

That is an oak and the tylosis are full and not open then if it came from the US it would be one of the white oaks. If the tylosis were open it would be one of the red oaks. I don't know if your English or European oaks have open / closed tylosis or both.

Pete

 

[RobinBHM]

I find it interesting the number of responses identifying the wood, with a fair degree of certainty, that it's American white oak. Apart from being reasonably certain it's a white oak I would never claim to be able to distinguish between one of the many American white oaks sold commercially and any of the most common European oaks, e.g., Quercus robur or Quercus petraea.

+1

I agree, but it's a long established woodworking practise to claim that a species from one specific location is inherently different from the same species hailing from a different location. And on some occasions those two locations can be within the same continent or even within the same country!

I guess there's just a deep rooted unwillingness to acknowledge that there's a wide and random variation in the characteristics of most timbers that will always confound our efforts to generalise.

I agree, in my joinery shop we hold both -so my guys write A on the Americna oak -its the only way to tell. I often supply AWO for skirtings, door liners etc -I tell customers what it is, nobody can ever tell. The colour variation overlaps so much its impossible to know. AWO tends to be more bland, generally.

I often get customers saying they want French oak, or English........