What wood?

[JimB]

I'd ordered a quantity of box (buxus sempervirens) to make up a set of chisel handles and added a piece of the following to make up the parcel. To me in Australia it's exotic but probably not for some of you blokes.

 

[KimG]

Not something I've ever seen before, look exotic to me too.

 

[Mike.R]

Is it Myrtle ?

 

[JimB]

Not myrtle. It does seem to have grown under stress with the way the grain is.

 

[JimB]

Not something I've ever seen before, look exotic to me too.

Native to Europe.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Hornbeam?

 

[Spindle]

Coniferous?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Poor picture, but not unlike ash.

 

[Grahamshed]

Ash was also my first guess but it seems a little 'warm' for ash

 

[KimG]

Poor picture, but not unlike ash.

I thought it was a poor picture too at first Phil, but actually it is in focus properly (look at the ferule) I think it is just the way the grain looks, sort of soft and slightly blurry looking, you can see medullary rays running through it in a kind of spiral pattern too, they are sharp enough.

That being the case, then "Ash like" isn't really true as the grain seems much more closed than Ash, which is pretty open & porous.

It's a puzzler!

 

[Neil Farrer]

Kim, you might be looking at this on a better screen than me but it's out of focus on mine! With the info that it looks greenish with wavy grain and came from Europe (although the species I suspect it is is native to the south east of USA and Mexico) I think it looks like a piece of robinia

 

[JimB]

I couldn't believe the complexity myself when I saw it. The photo is where two 'waves' run into each other. Hornbeam is the nearest so far in that it is native to England and Wales as well as mainland Europe. I've seen ash that has grown in windy conditions have similar but not so marked figuring. Here are a couple more photos, one in the rough (I dipped the ends in wax) and one made into an octagonal handle.

 

[JimB]

Spindle, no it's not coniferous, definitely a deciduous hardwood, fairly heavy too.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Sycamore?

 

[JimB]

Sycamore?

No. Can see why you'd think so. Actually I ordered it because I liked the name if that's any clue.

 

[Woodmonkey]

I've seen birch burrs that have a similar grain pattern to that... That's my last guess!

 

[JimB]

Not birch either. Mind you it might turn out that I was sold a pup.
Any more informed guesses before I let the wild cat out of the bag. (clue there)

 

[Spindle]

Tiger maple??

 

[JimB]

Never heard of it. Vegetable not animal, emphasis on the feral.

 

[Neil Farrer]

Kim, you might be looking at this on a better screen than me but it's out of focus on mine! With the info that it looks greenish with wavy grain and came from Europe (although the species I suspect it is is native to the south east of USA and Mexico) I think it looks like a piece of robinia

Back at home now, was looking at it over the weekend on my ipad where it was definitely a piece of Robinia, now I'm looking at it on a PC and there is no way it is Robinia!!!!