# Can you please help me identify wood species on some older furniture?



## katilicous (Oct 26, 2011)

I am helping a friend of ours list some of her father's wood furniture as her mother just passed and she's selling the house. Her father made some really cool pieces and you can go through the house and kinda see how he made a piece of furniture to match something iconic or recognizable for the period. There are a few I am stuck on and she calls it mystery wood. Most of it is an orange red shade and I think he wasn't big on staining so he picked nice wood and kept it natural.
I think some teak, some mahogany and possibly redwood and maple but not necessarily in that order. I'm a novice wood enjoy-er and would love the opinion of anyone who might care to educate me a bit here. 
*1. Here's a bookcase*








*2. A dresser*








*3. A headboard*








*4. Another dresser*








*5. A desk*








*6. A chair*








Theres a few others but dont wanna hog up the bandspace. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

#1 could be vertical grain redwood. It looks like a conifer.

#2 carcass feels like birch, but it might be a mixed piece since the drawer fronts look like several species like birch, walnut, and mahogany.

#3 headboard is mixed species. Looks like a bunch of different ones. I see ash, sycamore, cherry, walnut, and maple for sure.

#4 is definitely mahogany.

#5 is hard to tell. Could be cherry, or stained birch or maple.

#6 Can't tell much about this one.


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## katilicous (Oct 26, 2011)

Wood Mizer - 
OK, thats what I was thinking. 
No, actually I had no clue that many different woods were present in his pieces. 
I have some other pics of these that might help nail down ur opinion if u wouldnt mind offering one again. 
Thanks for responding. I cant wait to share this with his daughter. Much appreciation. Looking at wood species dentifier sites is just no match for someone who knows wood. 
1. Bookcase (is there any chance this is teak?)








5. Desk. He def layed veneer on this desk bc its started to peel a bit in one spot. Maybe an up close will help.








6. This is a cool chair he made a table that matches the base.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

The desk is walnut. I cannot tell much about the bookcase.


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## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

These are some tough ones because there looks to be mixed types within some of the pieces. The surest one to is the #5 desk. I agree with the Wood Mizer, walnut. There looks to be a lot a mahogany in the pieces. Mahogany can have a lot of color variance, but it is possible there are some pieces have mahogany and another type or two. Also agree the #4 dressers looks to be all mahogany. The bookcase in the first picture is very nice, tough to say on the wood, but a quality piece for sure.


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## katilicous (Oct 26, 2011)

Cool, walnut. 
The bookcase kinda seems dangerous to me. Maybe i just dont get it. 
Wood Mizer LT 15, thanks for taking the time to respond.


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## katilicous (Oct 26, 2011)

ShaneA- right on. Thanks for the reply. I have to agree with you on the quality factor. Oh man, this guy loved working with wood. You can look at the projects he took on and see the love. 
His wife always had cats and they treated the cat like the cat thought it should be treated. His daughter gave my bf and I the cat bed he made for us to share with the 3 felines who run our house and chase the dog and it is the coolest thing i have ever seen. He did the wood and she sewed the cusions and the quality and care are so obvious. My lil stinker hopped in and didnt move for.5 hours when we brought it home.
Check this thing out. The only adjustment was to the leather webbing bc it stretched out. 


























Thanks again. I think the different mahogs make sense. The. First dresser def has some different looking woods on it.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

He was very talented.


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