What every club should have.....

[robo hippy]

Have you ever been to a gathering of woodturners/wood workers, that didn't have some one bringing in a piece of wood for identification????

I think all clubs, and the AAW as well, should have a swatch book of samples. Say maybe 3 by 6 by 1/4 inch pieces of woods. Finished, with one side blank, and the other with Latin name (family, genus, and species) along with common names. If you want to get fancy, then piece would have bark, sap wood and heart wood. Maybe even leaf, flower, fruit, and a picture. Fun to see how many you can identify.

I will be off in Ontario Canada pursuing Walleye and Northern Pike for a week, totally out of touch, but want to see how this turns out.

Swatch exchanges?????

robo hippy

 

[Bill Boehme]

Sounds like a great idea, Reed, although the question of wood identification does not seem to come up often at our club. Either everybody is very knowledgeable about ID'ing wood (not too likely), too shy to ask (more likely), or just uses the fallback ID of FOG wood (found on ground). A lot of turnings at our club's show and tell are made from FOG wood.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Pretty much the same story as Bill. Very few people mix up the indigenous woods. Imports rely on the importer identification, and the common name problems that can carry. Might be of use for locally cultivated imported or invasive species where the possessor has both bark and leaf to help the identification. On a city lot you might find almost anything. In the woods, different story.

 

[Jake_Debski]

Oft-asked.....

R H such a resource would be welcome. I turn mostly "found wood". While I recognize most domestics I am on occasion surprised. By what I thought I had identified did not turn nor look inside as I expected. You can bet as soon as it is placed on the show and tell table someone will ask; what Kind'a wood is that? Then it begins, as has been mentioned, guess's good or bad pour forth from the members careless enough not to admit they also don't know.

 

[Marvin Hasenak]

A starting point http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood-sample-packs/

 

[robo hippy]

Well, I got to fishing camp, and there was a package with my name on it. Inside was a gift from 2 of my sisters. It was an old veneer sample box from Constantine and Sons from New York, with maybe 50 sheets in it, starting at Alder, and going to Zebrano. Really cool start to the collection.

Oh, yea, the fishing was great, and now I have about 5 extra pounds of camp food, mostly walleye, to work off.

robo hippy

 

[MichaelMouse]

Oh, yea, the fishing was great, and now I have about 5 extra pounds of camp food, mostly walleye, to work off.

robo hippy

Nah, walleye isn't fattening. It's the breading and the beverages that put 'em on. Not sure which is the tastier fish - walleye or its cousin the perch. But only out of COLD water.

Save the cheeks?

 

[Brad Harding]

not quite the same as wood in hand, but a very good wood ID site:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/index.htm

Brad
HardingPens.ca

 

[John Torchick]

Michael Mouse forgot to mention the fries and dessert.
robo hippy, sounds like a great week. Always good to get away and relax.

To the original thread topic- with all the types of wood out there, wouldn't a sample collection be rather large?

Marvin and Brad, thanks for the links. I saved them on Favorites for future reference.

 

[Jake Gevorgian]

thanks robo... nice reminder to go to our woodturners club (haven't been there at least 6 months now) too busy @ work

 

[robo hippy]

Well, it could get large. Some 5,000 species of hard woods. Ideal for me would be a glass panel. Inside, quarter sawn swatch, rift swan swatch, both with bark. Leaf sample, flower/fruit/seed samples, and picture of tree and natural range of the species. I may have to start a tree museum.

robo hippy

Food was as good as the fishing. Had to be the walleye, plates piled high. Couldn't have been the deserts, never empty cookie jar, or fried foods......

 

[Rob Wallace]

Some suggestions about a reference collection....

During my "Wood Identification" demonstration I did at the AAW Symposium last year in St. Paul, I suggested that turning clubs generate a small reference collection of the woods (common and not-so-common) that they are likely to encounter if sourcing turning stock that would need to be identified. While it would be helpful to have various surface sections (cross, radial, tangential) for comparison, and the examples of flowers, fruits, bark, etc. to assist with identification, the most important sample of each wood species in a reference collection is to have the ability to look at end grain under magnification, and to determine cellular characteristics for comparison to the unknown being identified. You do not want to only set up a reference collection for confirmation of visual RECOGNITION of a wood being 'identified', but to have the ability to use identification keys and other references to do a true IDENTIFICATION where alternative possibilities are systematically eliminated by using keys, and emphasizing cellular characters of the unknown and any wood reference samples used. This is how a real wood identification is done, rather than just "matching" a face grain appearance to a picture or sample.

You may want to have a read of Bruce Hoadley's book, Identifying Wood [Reference HERE] which gives detailed suggestions on how to go about the process of wood identification correctly, and in developing your own reference xylarium.

My advice is to design a reference collection based upon the ability to do actual identification procedures, rather than just recognize and match superficial characteristics without the ability to examine cellular characteristics of the known reference specimens.

I have a small personal reference collection of commonly encountered woods, since I am frequently asked to identify unknown woods, and the ability to look at freshly-prepared end grain surfaces is the most important feature of the wood samples used for comparison. ("Been there, done that....")

Rob Wallace

 

[MichaelMouse]

Well, it could get large. Some 5,000 species of hard woods. Ideal for me would be a glass panel. Inside, quarter sawn swatch, rift swan swatch, both with bark. Leaf sample, flower/fruit/seed samples, and picture of tree and natural range of the species. I may have to start a tree museum.

When my eldest was in Cub Scouts we had a tree and electricity badge project for the local Jamboree. Match the bark to the leaf/needle to wood samples and light up the name. Think there were only about ten species on the two boards, not 5K, but the boys had fun with bars, clips and wires. Learned a bit about trees as well, since they gathered all the samples.

Did another two years down the line when we rediscovered the boards stored behind the Pinewood Derby track. Lots of fun!