What wood is this?

[chettrick]

I am new so I hope I do this right. I got a piece of block from one of the local wood stores and it looked interesting. There was a light colored streak across the middle and two dark sections on surrounding the light streak. This was on the raw block on the face part.

There was no identifying label and the clerk at the store did not know what it was. So I bought it thinking of what to do with it.

I turned it down to a bowl and the dark streaks disappeared. Turns out it was just discolration from stain of something.

Now it looks like this and came out with a really cool pattern. Problem is, I don't know what type of wood it is.

 

[Randy]

Looks like Sycamore to me, could be wrong.

 

[underdog]

Wish we could see a little more of it.

It's definitely spalted.

I'm wondering if it's Cherry.

It has some lighter wood that looks like Cherry's sap wood, and then the darker wood is red like Cherry, with pitch pockets in it.

The only thing that seems to contradict that is the prominent ray flecks on the sapwood.

Cherry does have ray flecks though...

 

[MichaelMouse]

Not sycamore. The rays are much more prominent in sycamore. Not cherry, though I am now convinced by multiple sources that some southern cherry can spalt. Northern stuff is loaded with extractives and lasts for years. So many varieties of soft maples out there that I'd almost bet on that. Even within the same species and from the same log, you can get wildly different color and looks from soft maple.

 

[Dan Moore]

If it's not Sycamore then I believe it is either Beech or Red Beech.

 

[chettrick]

Here are a couple more shots of it....

 

[Steve Worcester]

I vote sycamore.

 

[Jim Ketron]

Its Maple!

 

[chettrick]

I might add that this is the original color, I only polished it with French polish so there should not be too much of a discoloratin.

 

[Andy Coates]

wood?

I'd go for Maple, too. Although I have to say that there are differences between US & UK woods, even of the same species, and my guess is based on UK grown Maple. And on that note it doesn't look like UK grown (spalted) Sycamore.

Andy

 

[MichaelMouse]

Second set of pictures will cause me to go toward sycamore, or Andy's "plane" tree. The ray figure is much more evident. The spalting doesn't follow the pattern I've come to expect from extensive firewood experience with American beech.

 

[Andy Hoyt]

It's Dunno Wood.

Comes in a wide array of colors and figures. Spalts too!

 

[Mark Mandell]

American Sycamore or (for our British cousins) London Plane Tree; same tree, different name. In fact, much of what we (US) call Sycamore is actually transplanted Plane. True NA Sycamore is slightly different.

Grain, rays, and even the spalting is very characteristic.

Nice piece. Especially for a "beginner."

m

 

[LANKFORD]

Could call it SycaMaple

 

[chettrick]

My wife found this link with some pics that show that it may be maple.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_spalted.htm

 

[underdog]

Definitely not Cherry. The second set of pix rules that out.

I don't think it's Maple either. The rays are too prominent and too big. I've seen Maple with that color before though.

Looks a lot like Beech to me. But then, I've never had any experience with Sycamore either (never seen it cut open).

 

[John Nicholas]

Wood Identified

American Sycamore or (for our British cousins) London Plane Tree; same tree, different name. In fact, much of what we (US) call Sycamore is actually transplanted Plane. True NA Sycamore is slightly different.

Grain, rays, and even the spalting is very characteristic.

Nice piece. Especially for a "beginner."

m

Definitely Sycamore. The grain is obvious. It changes as the bowl curve changes. The obvious pattern is the quartersawn grain of sycamore.

John

 

[robertcutler]

I'm pretty certain it it spalted sycamore. www.rjcutler.com

 

[Bob Herrman]

I think its Pecan.