need help identifying species

Looks like some sort of walnut…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

thats 1 opinion i had also, none of them are any darker then the 1 i showed tho… the darkest parts of the boards being in the swirls… i dont know how many kinds of walnut there are, and the 1’s ive seen are very dark on the majority of the boards …but my lumber knowledge is also limited..

my dad has some laminate floors based on apple, and look alot like it…. the wood is also Very dense.. any other different pics i could get to help? any other opinions?

-- Aint nothin to it but to do it!

How hard and heavy is it?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Looks like sweet gum to me. Here is a place with about a million pictures to compare samples. http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/indextotal.htm

An endgrain shot always helps in wood id too.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

It does look like a fruit tree to me. I’ve never seen apple that dark though.

-- Jeremy, Saratoga, NY

neighbor said he was told it was a species of pine… anyone know of any pine that looks like that? as far as weight goes, dunno how to describe the weight of it… its not quite as heavy as oak, but it is rock hard…

-- Aint nothin to it but to do it!

I does look like some kind of gum tree. It’s weight/hardness sounds about right.

What part of the country are you in? Knowing that would help.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

that is sweet gum. when you have a board that is all heartwood, that one is part heart part sapwood, it’s called red gum. it has more figure and color variations than any other north american hardwood.
I’ve got boards drying right now that are all heart wood and looks like walnut on acid.

-- Joey, Magee, Ms http://woodnwaresms.com

sweet gum seems to be the winner, thanks guys =)

-- Aint nothin to it but to do it!

What did I win?

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

I agree with red gum. It is beautiful wood.

Not real common to see, but in some vintage Milwaukee bungalows, the entire homes are done up with natural woodwork using red gum rather then the normal oak. Can be quite striking.

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Sweet Gum twists and bends if not held in check while drying. I assume you neighbors stash is all well dried.

The sawmill where I go uses it for railroad ties. I picked up a couple of boards and it has a cool grain but it warped like a corkscrew. I’ll get some real small pieces out of it after cutting, jointing and planing.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I think red gum. This is the veneer I used on the apron of this console table.(Sorry so small, I’ll post better pictures in my profile/projects.

”Sweet Gum twists and bends if not held in check while drying” What Karson said, twists/bends/cups…it is one of the hardest woods for me to get to dry flat (in my kiln plans I even call it “my nemesis”). I have to saw it thick, let it air dry and then resaw on the bandmill to even hope for any good lumber.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Check out http://www.woodworking.org/WC/woodsampler.html

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

the boards he has are very large and have been air dryed for around 2 years. the boards are 1 1/4” thick x 14”+ wide by 16’ long.. they have some warping issues but thats a big part of what i like about woodworking, is being able to straighten them out :) the wider boards i want to keep wide i hand plane the worse side as close to flat as i can then thickness plane the other, then joint and edge and TS rip the other..then back to the hand plane to smooth out anything left. the smaller boards i just rip into 6” wide and surface as normal.

once i strike a plane across a board and see swirls/grain like that i get excited, and makes all the hard work much easier. also pays off in the end IMO.

-- Aint nothin to it but to do it!