More wood identification please

[martin.pearson]

Someone brought this in for me a couple of weeks ago, it is really heavy & to be honest I thought it was just water logged but having just checked it it is at 14% pictures are as I got it, end grain after cutting a piece off & once it had been resawn & ran through the drum sander
Weighed a piece that was 287 x 150 x 72mm & it was 3.059Kg

 

[recipio]

There are a lot of African hardwoods that look like this but I'd suggest Afrormosia. It's a heavy and dense hardwood with 'dry season' dark bands. Like oak it reacts to ferrous metals so stainless steel fixings are recommended.

 

[Valhalla]

There are a lot of African hardwoods that look like this but I'd suggest Afrormosia. It's a heavy and dense hardwood with 'dry season' dark bands. Like oak it reacts to ferrous metals so stainless steel fixings are recommended.

Good shout

 

[martin.pearson]

Thanks, the guy that gave it to me has no idea where it came from, just that he had it lying around for a long time. Not sure much of it is going to be usable with all the splits & cracks that can be seen looking at the 2 pieces. Next thing is to find something to do with it lol, from what the wood database says it machines & works quite easily although it does say it has a habit of taking the edge off tools.

 

[Against_The_Grain]

I would personally say from my own experience that it’s Greenheart. Quite commonly used for good quality railway sleepers and sea defences, not the most pleasant stuff to work with.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Does it sink in water?

 

[Aligish]

Another for Greenheart.

I got a dozen boards which had lined a jetty - just don't quite know what to do with it...

Be careful while cutting it - always seems to have a lot of stress internally. I gather sawyers would, after cutting a third of the way through a log, chain the cut portion together before finishing the cut. They were very prone to springing apart...

It's not the prettiest of woods either...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If it's greenheart it'll sink.

 

[Distinterior]

Is Greenheart the wood they used to use as ballast inside the bottom of a ship...?....and make Jetty"s out of for the piles..?

A friend of my Father's gave me a lump of wood many, many years ago and it's the heaviest wood I've ever come across......Its got a deep purple sort of colour, is almost as dense as stone and is an absolute b u g g e r to cut in any way.
The guy that gave it to me used to make Croquet mallets and he was going to try and use it for that purpose but he never found a successful method to turn it.
I think he said it came from Australia...???

 

[martin.pearson]

Thanks I will have a look at that suggestion, like I said before the guy that gave it to me had no idea where it came from so could be anything lol
I had a fishing rod given to me when I was a kid which if I remember rightly was split cane with a greenheart tip

I haven't tried putting it in water but will try that.

 

[Against_The_Grain]

Is Greenheart the wood they used to use as ballast inside the bottom of a ship...?....and make Jetty"s out of for the piles..?

A friend of my Father's gave me a lump of wood many, many years ago and it's the heaviest wood I've ever come across......Its got a deep purple sort of colour, is almost as dense as stone and is an absolute b u g g e r to cut in any way.
The guy that gave it to me used to make Croquet mallets and he was going to try and use it for that purpose but he never found a successful method to turn it.
I think he said it came from Australia...???

The purple stuff would’ve been Purpleheart which is a very similar timber to Greenheart except that it is Purple though that mellows down to a muddy brown over time with exposure to ultraviolet light, it is quite often used in boat building. You can also get Redheart which is a brilliantly bright red colour when freshly cut, but like Purpleheart it will mellow to a bleached out orange colour with time. All three timbers come from South America.

 

[KimG]

Looks like Greenheart to me too, I find it's quite brittle in nature as well as very hard and heavy, be careful of the splinters, they go septic and the dust. One odd thing about it, if you turn it (I made a small box from it) when sanding, the dust is so heavy you can see it dropping straight to the lathe bed, it's quite odd to see.