Jim Matthews
My next project is an oversized night stand.

I'm using Sycamore with Poplar as the secondary wood.
The sides show, so I'm using something odd out of my stash.

It is bright, almost lemon colored. It's dense, but not particularly hard.
It Rip cuts beautifully but is difficult to Cross cut.

It is friable. It takes a beautiful finish off the plane but chiseling (particularly crossgrain) leads to splintering. The shavings turn tightly, against the grain and form a "corkscrew" with the grain. It is neither waxy, nor oily.

It smells distinctly like tobacco, while sawing.

Any ideas what it might be? I got it nearly 10 years ago, with lots of unmarked "orphan" shorts that Old Timers couldn't bear to burn.

My benchtop is local Ash with BLO finish.

http://imgur.com/gallery/SuakJMn