Wood ID

[Wend]

Hi folks,

I've had some reclaimed stair treads sitting around for a while, and thought I'd try making a simple lyre out of one. That got me wondering what sort of wood they're made of. Has anyone got any thoughts please?

Here's a complete tread:

and I cut a bit off the end and planed it a bit:



Thanks for any insight!
Wend

 

[paulrbarnard]

I’d guess mahogany

 

[niall Y]

For joinery, such as this, my guess would be Sapele.

Would be interested to see what sort of lyre you will be making.

 

[Wend]

Thanks all!

Would be interested to see what sort of lyre you will be making.

I expect I'll make a thread on it at some point, but I don't think it'll be too exciting an instrument. I'm curious to know how it will end up sounding, though!

 

[Keith 66]

Iroko.

 

[Ttrees]

+1 for iroko, and only judging so from this picture, as I can't see the face grain in the others.

It's very noticeable with iroko's course grain.

Looks like the stain has penetrated about an inch down, but that's likely oil or whatever from the
saw, either way that's a thorough job was done.

Your last picture (of the top side in photo) shows the typical colour one might expect from a paler example.
The side facing the camera has still got stain showing and is a sapelle colour.



Great stuff if you can plane it well, i.e use of the cap iron, having two planes for the job and all that.
Horrible to work otherwise, and as mentioned recently prone to give allergies to many,
and a sensitizer at that, see wood toxicity chart.

Just don't be huffing sawdust, fumes from drilling, and/or sweating it out scraping the stuff
(should your workshop be very cozy)

"I just can't get enough of the stuff!"

 

[Owd Jockey]

+1 also for Iroko

 

[rst rob]

Defo Sapele have used this loads fantastic timber mainly use for painted joinery unfortunately but polishes up lovely.
Have loads of old cills in Sapele from my old job.
Still cutting them up now when people what small bits made.

 

[recipio]

Sapele probably. Another candidate would be Bubinga but that would have been very expensive for a stairs. The grain is a little too coarse for mahogany.

 

[paulrbarnard]

@Wend do you know when the stairs were originally built? That might offer a bit more of a clue. It still looks like Mahogany to me but if it’s a newer property for sure it won’t be. I’ve always thought of Sapele being a wood that became more widely used in the 60’s.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

This is definitely mahogany, my mother bought sixty feet of it for £1 a board foot in 1975. Not too different to the OP.

 

[Doug71]

Looks like Iroko, nasty stuff, wear a mask.

 

[the great waldo]

https://www.wood-database.com/utile/

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It looks like mahogany, but because it was used for stair treads it's probably more likely to be utile than that or even sapele.

 

[Wend]

@Wend do you know when the stairs were originally built?

I'm told it was 1959/1960.

 

[paulrbarnard]

I'm told it was 1959/1960.

Right on the cusp of reasonably priced Mahogany. I would not expect Mahogany stairs from that era. Does still look very like it though