Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
Wood ID
Robert Cox
>Found this by the road in Calvert County Maryland.
Thought it might make good practice stock
Grey, smooth bark. Wood looks orange. Large piece is about 10" diameter, fairly heavy.
Any ideas?
It is the piece with the bark tear.
I don't know what the others are either.
Re: Wood ID
Robert Cox
>a small piece
Re: Wood ID
Robert Cox
>the end of the large piece.
It is wet, rain, but color is true.
Re: Wood ID
Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey
>Bob,
You have an American Beech. Classic identifier is the smooth grey bark. It is close grained and should turn quite well when wet. When dry, however, you'll wonder when the evil wood elves snuck into your shop and transformed your piece into concrete.
If I remember correctly, it tends to check by a lot of fine cracks so be prepared to dry it slowly. This might be neat to completely finish turn green,, and then see what you get when it dries.
Mark
Re: Wood ID
Leo Van Der Loo
>Looks like sycamore to me
Re: Wood ID
Duane C.Leach
>Robert This is Beech. Sure looks like it.I havent had much trouble turning it with sharp tools. Spalted Beech looks real good. Bright tan with black streaks. You might take the whole log home without cutting it up. Lay it under a shade and let it spalt.
Good luck.
Duane
Re: Wood ID
Robert Cox
>Once I had a clue I looked some more.
Beech it is.
The big chunk is 3'. There are 3 or 4 more down there.
I'll pick them up.
Re: If It Doesn't Work Out
Mark Mandell - Gone Round In Jersey
>It makes great firewood; lots of BTU's
Good Luck
So, we all agree it's beech...
steve antonucci in NW NJ
>The local sawyer won't cut it (hard, checks like mad...), but I have turned it once or twice.
IIRC, I turned a bowl to round ~1/2" thick, and it checked something aweful (1/2" wide").
Mark is dead on about hardness (as I now use it for mallets and handles when I get it). There's a great beech bowl in Tony Boase's book "Woodturning Masterclass". Bowl is 15" x 8" and weighs like 7 oz. Turned down to 1/32" or so... translucency like NIP.
Steve
Re: Wood ID
Brad Vietje
>I agree this looks like Beech, which turns fine, BTW -- just be sure to wax it and dry it sloooooly -- it does tend to move a lot and can check pretty badly if dried too fast. You'll also want to seal any cut ends pretty quickly, to prevent checks from forming. Beech is especially good for very thinturnings -- its plenty strong enough to turn down to a translucent thin-ness.
Just to keep us all confused, though, smooth gray bark and orangy wood does not always mean Beech, especially down in Maryland and W. PA. If you're really, really lucky, you'll someday come across an American Yellowwood, which is bright lemon yellow inside, and stays that way. It has smooth gray bark, and beautiful flowers a lot like Black Locust -- an absolutely be-u-ti-ful tree in flower. Am. Yellowwood is a fantastic turning wood, and rather rare.
Safe Spinning,
Brad Vietje
Thetford, VT
