Plank identification

[whiskywill]

Before I test it I would suggest that it is Cocobolo. Have a look at the examples here http://luthiercom.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=2938

 

[custard]

Will, I'm intrigued, "test", "full analysis", all sounds very scientific. Exactly what are these tests and this analysis that you'll be conducting?

I've known a few botanists identify timber from samples, but all they needed was a clean sliver of end grain to mount on an microscope slide (which is also basically the procedure Hoadley follows), however you've requested a "large sample", I'm interested what you'll be using that large sample for?

 

[JanetsBears]

...however you've requested a "large sample", I'm interested what you'll be using that large sample for?

My guess is an executive table top!

Chris

 

[MIGNAL]

Lol.
You can't identify from a photo. If you really want to be sure you will have to send a piece off for analysis.
I can't direct you to anyone specific though. Someone like Timberline will be well connected.

 

[dickm]

Have a look at the TRADA website https://www.trada.co.uk/about/contact.html. It doesn't specifically mention wood identification, but it's possible that among their members they can direct you to someone relevant.
Whoever is doing the identification would certainly need a sample, but since the process usually relies on microscopic examination, it's unlikely they would want the whole board :lol: .

 

[custard]

...however you've requested a "large sample", I'm interested what you'll be using that large sample for?

My guess is an executive table top!

Chris

...however you've requested a "large sample", I'm interested what you'll be using that large sample for?

My guess is an executive table top!

Chris

Well one thing's for sure, a potentially valuable piece of timber has just become a bit less valuable!

Just to give one example of the commercial impact of all this, hack a "large sample" off and bang goes any chance of anyone buying it for a "live edge" design.

Top quality rosewood today can only be exported as a "manufactured product", so you never find a top quality waney edge rosewood board anymore, only "pretend" skirting boards that are four square with a pathetic little routed moulding down one edge. That's one of the things that make (made?) this board special. Given that a defining characteristics of rosewood is a very slender, highly contrasting sapwood band, which this board has (or rather had), it was crying out for the full George Nakashima live edge treatment.

Or what about bookmatching? It's a two inch thick board so you could bookmatch for a one inch thick by 20" wide table top. Oops, not any more, now there's a hole in the bookmatch!

 

[JanetsBears]

Custard, did you miss the joke where whiskywill was offering to take the plank and return what was left after the 'testing' in a stamped addressed envelope?

I can do a full analysis and identify the wood. Just send it to me and I'll get you the answer in a couple of days. Unfortunately, the sample has to be large to be absolutely sure so, if you also send a stamped addressed envelope for the bit that's left, it would keep things simple.

I don't expect for one second that the plank has been in any way damaged

Chris

 

[custard]

Phew! Wood like that doesn't grow on trees.

 

[JanetsBears]

I think if it had been lurking in the back of my workshop for decades, it would be going back there for a few more decades while I gained the confidence to do it justice!

A friend at work was fortunate enough to find some nice wide elm boards while clearing out his father-in-law's attic but all I found in my attic was chipboard and spiders

 

[jce123]

Custard, rest assured, it has not been cut down just yet!

 

[wills-mill]

Slightly off tack - when I was at school there was a timber merchant in Liverpool that listed greenheart 2'6" x 2'6" ... by eighty feet!!

I think that's still feasible. I re-milled some 18 x 18 offcuts of greenheart for a local engineering firm who were doing pier repairs (actually they went bust and I'm still out of pocket for a whole £25). From memory the beams had originally been 8 metres long, and they'd been freehand ripped/ milled with a chainsaw to an impressive accuracy, you could see the marks of the saw nose.

They were also FSC, I know that because someone had written it on the ends with a paintbrush

 

[whiskywill]

Will, I'm intrigued, "test", "full analysis", all sounds very scientific. Exactly what are these tests and this analysis that you'll be conducting?

It would involve slicing it into thin bookmatched pairs, which over a few (many at my pace) years, would be turned into stringed instruments. They in turn would be tested and compared with known cocobolo instruments to positively identify the wood. As with all serious testing a lot of samples would be required.

Do you have any wood that needs checking?

 

[jce123]

That's great Will, thank you. How many violins do you think you can make for me from the plank?

In the meantime, I have had an offer to have it scientifically analysed in a lab for the bargain price of £480. Think I may go down that route instead.....NOT!

 

[MIGNAL]

Not Violins but guitars. It should produce around 14 sets, retail could add up to a lot of money dependent on exactly which wood type it is. That £480 could put a serious dent in it though!

 

[jce123]

Ok cool, guitars it is. I'm beginning to think we'll never know the wood type for sure......

 

[whiskywill]

Ok cool, guitars it is. I'm beginning to think we'll never know the wood type for sure......

Great news. For the sake of putting a name to it let's call it Sapele. I'll have four guitar sets at around £15 a time, please.

 

[dickm]

Just been reading a book about Kew, and they seem to have a department that does timber ID, primarily for identifying illegal imports of CITES species, but from the book, it sounded as if they would do IDs for individuals too. The persons named in the book were Lydia White and Peter Gassons, so it might be worth trying them. Apparently Lydia White has microscope slides of sections of an enormous number of species.
Might help if you are an RHS member!!

 

[Mr_P]

Think I've remembered this correctly.

A few months ago I was watching an antiques road trip programme or similar on BBC2 and they bought a 1970's rosewood table. He then discovered the 1947 problem so he bought some kind of kit and tested it, turned out to be Indian so he could sell it.

Might be worth ringing a few antique shops / hunting for the kit.

Edit

Another Useful Trick
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-artic ... rosewoods/

 

[Claymore]

that dog is a real cutie

 

[HOJ]

Bit of a long shot, but as your in Norfolk , try North Heigham Sawmills in Norwich.

http://www.timbernorwich.co.uk/north-heigham-sawmills.html

Owned by Cushions Timber now, but they keep an extensive range of timbers in the store, and they may be of help to id the "sample".