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Help me ID this hardwood?

Started by 2bitaxe, December 01, 2012, 09:52:21 PM

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2bitaxe

I purchased 1000' BF of 4/4 hardwood at an auction for $250. It was air-dried and neatly stickered. I think it's oak, not sure if red or white. And what's up with the dark streaks?  Is this rot or mineral deposits? About 10% of the boards have this dark figuring. If I use it for flooring, will it take up finish, look decent and stand up to wear? Anyone have experience with this?

I guess it could be something other than oak. With my limited experience, the closest thing I've seen that it resembles is oak.

Here's a picture of it stacked in my garage.



I planed a piece and rubbed some linseed oil on it so you can see the grain. 


What do you think?

Thanks in advance.
Tom Jefferson
DIY Timber Frame
tom@diytimberframe.com

learner

Maybe spalted white oak?  Someone with more experience wood know.
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POSTON WIDEHEAD

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Jeff

Looks like maple to me. The dark streaks is spalting
Just call me the midget doctor.
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beenthere

And there may be more than one species in that stack.
The second pic shows a couple boards with ingrown bark and apparent rot/decay in the board between those two. Those should be removed if going into flooring, but might pass if paneling.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Okrafarmer

Quote from: Jeff on December 01, 2012, 11:16:09 PM
Looks like maple to me. The dark streaks is spalting

You are probably right on the maple. That is some beautiful spalting there. It definitely does not look like oak to me. Nor cherry. . .

Quote from: beenthere on December 01, 2012, 11:20:50 PM
And there may be more than one species in that stack.

Good point.  :)
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

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Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

clww

I think the spalted wood with the finish is maple, too. As written before, may be more than one variety.
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5quarter

can't tell what species, except that that type of spalt (pencil line) is predominant in hard maple, so maybe Jeff's right. Looks like you got a mixed bag in that whack of lumber. nice score.
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Okrafarmer

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

T Welsh

Oak will not spalt that much! I go with Jeff maybe Maple. Need a closer picture to really tell, with out oil on it. Tim

Okrafarmer

Make a clean new end cut and show us the end grain up close.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

WDH

I think that it is spalted sycamore by the ribbon striping on the top board of the pic where the lumber has been planed.  The interlocked grain of sycamore presents that striped effect.  Sycamore also spalts just like maple.  However, the whole stack might not be sycamore.  I don't think that it is oak, either.  A pic of the end grain with a clean slice to show the growth rings will tell the tale.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Jeff

Since 2bitaxe is from central Michigan, there is a slight chance of the lumber containing Sycamore, as it grows in that region in the river bottoms, but odds are, it's not, as it is simply hardly ever utilized commercially, at least with the mills I was acquainted with. If this was a farm auction odds go up, but I've seen a whole lot of old stickered maple piles over the years, and this looks like one. To me the give away is the board sticking out near the bottom of the pile in the first photo. Hard maple that ages in a pile will many times get that pastie looking brown cast to the heartwood.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

rooster 58

I dont think the planed wood is maple. The spalting looks like maple but the grain is too bold for maple

Jeff

If you are used to soft maple, you might think that, but Hard Maple very often has a pronounced grain.
http://www.mapleinfo.org/htm/maplumprop.cfm

If I was told the bottom photos were maple, one was soft (red) and the other hard(sugar) I'd say the bottom selection was the hard and not think twice that they were anything but maple. Its still pretty hard to be definitive from the given photos.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Okrafarmer

Quote from: 2bitaxe on December 01, 2012, 09:52:21 PM
I purchased 1000' BF of 4/4 hardwood at an auction for $250. It was air-dried and neatly stickered.

Here's a picture of it stacked in my garage.

It's in your garage. . .  and it's dry. . . . and it's stickered.  ???  Why did you sticker it when you put it in your garage? Won't hurt anything, it's just more work.

BTW, in that top picture where you say it's in your garage, I am seeing different colors in some of the different boards. That could mean several possible things. One is that some of the boards, being on the outside of the stack, were exposed to light over time (or other environmental factors, such as dust accumulation). Or it could be natural variation within a species. The third possibility that stands out to me, is that there could be multiple species represented there, as has been pointed out.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

Sawdust Lover

I have a pack of beach that looks like that. I'm gonna say beach.

Okrafarmer

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

Operating a 2020 Woodmizer LT35 hydraulic for Upcountry Sawmill, Dacusville, SC

Now selling Logrite tools!

Writing fiction and nonfiction! Check my website.

learner

Don't mind me.  I'm just drooling over the possability of Having some of the wood you men are talking about.
WoodMizer LT40 Super Hydraulic, MF-300 FEL, Nissan Enduro 60 forklift, 2 Monkey Wards Power Kraft Radial arm saws, Rockwell series 22-200 planer, Prentiss 210 loader

DDobbs

I would like to see some without anything on it. An as others have said end grain also edge grain would tell all very easy. Any bark left at all on any of them?
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Solomon

Where did you get it?   You guys don't think it might be something like sasafrass do ya?
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WDH

I don't think that it is "grainy" enough.  Sassafras is ring porous with large spring time earlywood pores and small summer latewood pores like oak and ash which when cut, the contrast is what we see as "grain".  Maple, beech and sycamore are all diffuse porous where the pores are all the same size, so the "grain" pattern is not as dramatic.  In some species like basswood, there is hardly any "grain" at all.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

2bitaxe

Quote from: Okrafarmer on December 02, 2012, 07:58:19 AM
Make a clean new end cut and show us the end grain up close.





And I found a few boards with some bark still on, which doesn't look like Maple to me:



Tom Jefferson
DIY Timber Frame
tom@diytimberframe.com

mikeb1079

i'm going soft maple all the way....(silver?)
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WDH

Forget those ill-timed comments I made about it not being "grainy" enough  :) :) ::).  That first board sure looks "grainy" and ring porous in the newly posted pics :).  I don't think that the boards are all the same species. 

That first new pic does look like sassafras, Mr Solomon!  I don't see the prominent rays of oak. 

Can you take a razor knife and make a clean end grain cut and take a closer pic?
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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