Wood ID

[LarryS.]

Was a counter-top from a Post Office, looks like a similar wood to that which my barbeque is made out of (but that isn't varnished). Any ideas :

Been given 6 pieces 7 foot in length all about a foot wide

 

[OPJ]

Particularly in that last photo', it looks like sapele to me. Could be a mahogany, I suppose?

If you were to flip the board from end to end, you'd see the lighter stripes turn dark and the darker ones become light! :wink:

What are you planning on making with it???

 

[motownmartin]

I was given some boards similar to this last year and we identified them as Sapele, it looks even better oiled rather than varnished.

 

[LarryS.]

Just held it next to a plank of sapele I've just bought and they look similar but slightly different, the unidentified planks have little black flecks in them which the bit of sapele I haven't doesn't. Just looked on the wood explorer database and its hard decide whether its sapele or mahogany, but considering its from a small post office I'd guess it would be the cheaper wood of the two.

No idea what to make with it, any ideas ?

Also been given 6 planks of Oak which are 2 inches thick, 10 inches wide and about 12 foot long (from a church that was demolished years ago apparently, so wood is likely over 100 years old). Whats best use ? Something big I guess.

 

[OPJ]

If you don't fancy giving it all to me then, you should store it and hang on to it until you come up with the right project - you will one day. It's often easier to pick the timber for a project than it is to get your hands on some timber and then find something to make with it (unless you're a woodturner or carver, perhaps).

Depending on its age, that "sapele" could well be a slab of mahogany... I'm assuming you don't know how old it is? It's very unlikey that, however old it is, you will have bought a new board today (last week) that would match the old one for grain and colouring anyway.

 

[LarryS.]

fair point about hanging onto the wood, the girlfriend is already moaning about the lumber yard dining room !

I may run one of the planks over the P/T to see if it reveals anymore

 

[mack9110000]

Many bank and P/O countertops were made from Afromosia,is this the correct spelling ?

 

[LarryS.]

just looked at afromosia on the wood explorer database, now I'm even more unsure !

 

[maltrout512]

If I had the money !!!! I would put it on being mahogany. Most if not all counter tops were made using mahogany

 

[big soft moose]

Just looked on the wood explorer database and its hard decide whether its sapele or mahogany, but considering its from a small post office I'd guess it would be the cheaper wood of the two.

you cant really judge on price today - as back in the days of empire a lot of tropical hardwood was very cheap and thus used in all sorts of banks, post offices, pubs etc - its amazing what you can find in skips when these places are being refitted ( I got a 12' by 24" by 3" piece of hyedua out of a skip when my local was being reffited - that much today , even assuming you could get it from legal logging would seriously expensive)

 

[Ironballs]

I'd agree, mahogany was almost used like pine years ago, so there's a fair chance that's what it is. Looks like it could be anyway

 

[Digit]

I'd agree, mahogany was almost used like pine years ago,

Makes you want to weep doesn't it?
I read once that Cuban Mahogany was so cheap and common it was used as a saleable form of ballast aboard ships returning to Blighty from the Caribbean! Sob! Sob!

Roy.

 

[Rob_H]

Looks identical to a board of afromosia I had.

 

[custard]

I've got two boards in my wood store, 12' x 27" x 1 3/8", they're each single planks of quarter sawn mahogany and we're bench tops from an Edwardian school laboratory. The dimensions are finished thickness after an energetic afternoon with a belt sander removing several generations of bunsen burner damage! I've had them for over ten years, waiting for a project that really justifies such an unrepeatable resource.

 

[Digit]

I've got a similar problem Custard, a Mahogany counter top, off the top of my head its nearly three feet wide one and half inches thick and six feet long.
I've sat on this timber for about five years now, if I don't find a use for it soon somebody is going to have a birthday 'cos it will have to go.

Roy.

 

[Richard Findley]

The Aframosia I've seen has a similar grain but is a very pale almost yellow colour. I'd go with Mahogany if it's from war time, anything in the last 10-20 years probably Sapele.

I'm sure you'll have fun whatever it is!!! :wink:

Richard