# Identifying reclaimed wood help, please



## JasonD (Jul 26, 2010)

A local print shop gave me a pallet today. I crosscut the decking pieces off and hand planed one down. Looks to be poplar. One of the stringers is obviously oak, but the other two are what have me stumped. Whatever they are, it's the same kind of wood. My best guess is ash. I've never worked with ash; so this is a shot in the dark.

Here's the decking (poplar):









The stringers (middle piece being red oak), not sure about the species two outside pieces:









Edge grain of one of the unidentified stringers:









I was really surprised how much usable wood there was. After I finish my current project (coffee table), I want to try my hand at building small boxes and this wood will be perfect for it. For the poplar, I've got 8 pieces of 5-1/2" x 1/2" x 18" and 10 pieces of 3-1/2" x 1/2" x 18" long. The oak and ? wood have more than enough usable sections for jewelry box handles, molding, etc.


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## Broglea (Dec 9, 2009)

I think you have three pieces of oak. Maybe all three are not from the same tree.


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## JasonD (Jul 26, 2010)

The texture on the two outside boards isn't like any oak I've seen before. It's not as coarse.

I'm no expert. So, I'm definitely not arguing whether it's oak or not; just explaining why I didn't think it was oak originally.


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## Broglea (Dec 9, 2009)

It may not be oak. Can't really tell from the pics. Once you run through a planer you may have a better idea of what you've got there.


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## McKinneyMike (Feb 11, 2011)

The outside boards look like they could be Ash.


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## carlosponti (Sep 9, 2008)

jason,

you might have two different species on the runners but closer pictures would be better to see. the one in the middle of the runners is almost unquestionably oak the two on the outside i would agree with mike they do look like ash. similar in how they look but ash tends to be lighter and doesn't have the short ray flecks through the side grain. the one runner on the right has a very ash like look to it. oak on the ends will have straw like holes along the grain. the decking parts i cant honesly tell what they are from the pictures without seeing more close up pictures.

edit: just read the line that you already knew what the middle runner was.

mckinney mike I may be posting some pictures soon of some wood I cant identify.


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## TerryFerguson (Feb 5, 2011)

Jason -
I have been using pallet wood for several years. The pallets come from many different locations in the US and abroad and
are made from locally available, low quality (rejected) wood. Some of the species that I can readily identify are red and white oak, poplar, willow, ash, maple, birch, fir, hemlock, northern and southern pine, cherry, and what looks like walnut sapwood. Pallets from Italy and china are a wood that looks like very soft maple. Occasionally I will get a fair quantity of some kind of mahogany and often I simply can't identify a species, so I just use it for it's own beauty.
Try looking on the internet for pictures of wood species. Here's one site: www.wood-database.com
I have been cautioned that foreign pallets have been sprayed or soaked in insecticide that may be a health hazard.


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## getlostinwood (Apr 11, 2011)

Im not sure of the eticate on piggy backing on a thread but I'm up against a similar issue and have some very interesting wood that Im curious what it is. It comes from pallets, I think from overseas. not sure if its asia or south america. Being in texas could go either way. All of these pieces come from the same pallet. I have roughly 300bf of the stuff, with all I can haul away still waiting. I am thinking maybe meranti, or some sort of mahogany. Thanks


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## Cornductor (Feb 5, 2011)

I was also thinking Ash.


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## McKinneyMike (Feb 11, 2011)

getlostinwood it is difficult to say what species this might be from the photos, but it looks a lot like Asian Narra to me from the color and grain. Again there are so many secondary species around the world that this wood could be that its tough to say.


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## EPJartisan (Nov 4, 2009)

Short ray flecks across the grain? sounds like Elm. Check the end grain, if it has a distinct wavy pattern, I'd say Elm.


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## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

To me, Ash is similar to Oak in grain, but much lighter, but identifying wood is my weak, uh, ONE of my weak points in woodworking.

Terry, I've NEVER gotten wood from a broad.


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## getlostinwood (Apr 11, 2011)

Update on the pictures I posted above. After consulting a couple different shops here in Dallas today it appears that the wood I'm reclaiming is Andiroba. I dont know much about it but we'll see how it looks as a box or two. Proof that it's better to be lucky than good


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## EPJartisan (Nov 4, 2009)

Andiroba.. another wood I have never heard of.. love it. Thanks.


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## Yupa4242 (Apr 12, 2011)

I so share your pain I've been collecting reclaimed wood over the year and since I'm new to this as well. When i see wood it's like good wood and scrap wood trying to made the decisions is a pain. I recently bought several how to books some that have photos and others that actually show you how to sample it under a microscope for patterns. I also recently aquired an old hobby shops stock of assorted carving woods and scraps I figure will be good for projects down the road.


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## getlostinwood (Apr 11, 2011)

I was reading a website that was covering a guy who was reclaiming wood and one of the quotes was "Life is to short to mess with bad wood, when reclaiming dont be afraid to burn or give some away, otherwise youll have a shop ful of wood and no room to work it."


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## jonnybone (Jul 14, 2010)

I live in an area where the Nailtree grows rampant. Planing them is a b**ch!


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## quartrsawn (Aug 8, 2009)

A little bit of pallet wood trivia: China will not accept any freight on wooden pallets for fear of importing wood borne pests. Any freight going to China must include a Shippers Declaration that there isn't any wood in the shipment.I know this first hand , I am retired from the airfreight industry.Meanwhile we accept wooden pallets from anywhere and we have imported the Asian Longhorn Beetle here killing our trees by the thousands…go figure.


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