What be this Timber?

[GizmoDuck]

Hey, all

I went to grab one of my scrap/reclaimed shelves today. I assumed it was stained pine, but it's not, it's hardwood, which is exciting, as I never get to play with hardwood.

What is this? Could it be sapele?

 

[worn thumbs]

Might be sapele but could equally well be meranti.

 

[Ttrees]

Sipo/utile from the quartersawn edge grain flecking, would be my guess.

 

[Ollie78]

Agreed I vote Utile

 

[GizmoDuck]

Thanks, all.

Never heard of utile before.

 

[isaac3d2]

First impression was Sapele, but could be Utile.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'd go with sapele, the utile I've seen has been coarser and redder.

 

[GizmoDuck]

I'd go with sapele, the utile I've seen has been coarser and redder.

It is very brown and looks sepele-y to me, but I don't know.

It's got a shiz-tonne of hard reversing grain on it, though. That's fun...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A very sharp plane used cross grain or diagonally helps.

 

[Blister]

It may be Iroko

 

[Against_The_Grain]

Cuban Mahogany.

 

[worn thumbs]

It may be Iroko

Doesn't look yellow enough for iroko.

 

[Ttrees]

Good excuse to sort yer cap iron out, so you can take straight shavings
and treat all timbers the same as you see in any Charlesworth video,
No tricks required, as the timber becomes hassle free thereafter.
Charlesworth provides the basics of using a plane, with no bad habits, no question the very best info to be seen, but when you encounter timber like so, then you'll need to involve the cap iron also into this repertoire.

Couldn't find the woodcentral article, so you'll have to watch the long version.
Basically three rules to abide by
1 No tight mouths, 2 No rounded corners of the cutter, 3 Cap iron honed to at least 50 degrees.
Look up Weavers lousy term coined "directed pressure" for getting the corners symmetrical,
so you don't get caught out with a hustle.
Enjoy

 

[mancmc]

Agree with “worn thumbs” it could be meranti!
when every man and his dog has made a suggestion, it is from the mahogany family.

 

[HOJ]

What do you intend doing with it, whatever it turns out to be?

 

[GizmoDuck]

What do you intend doing with it, whatever it turns out to be?

Going to try and turn it into a box.

I know everyone starts making boxes, but I've only ever made one box before I learnt Furniture, so I fancy a box.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can't speak for the others, but sapele reacts with steel and vinegar and goes blue/black like chestnut and oak.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Agree with “worn thumbs” it could be meranti!
when every man and his dog has made a suggestion, it is from the mahogany family.

You're not inadvertently suggesting meranti, (genus Shorea) is a member of the mahogany (genus Swietenia), are you?

I rarely get involved with trying to identify a wood species via photographs on a forum because it's a bit of a mug's game, but GizmoDuck's photographs are quite good and I'd say a good candidate for the species is sapele, with utile also being a more remote possibility going by the appearance: the photos don't indicate any overt iroko characteristics that I can see. Slainte.

 

[Adam W.]

I've no idea what it is.

 

[Inspector]

I've no idea what it is.

Can't be wrong then.

Pete