Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
thrid mystery wood
DWFII
>This last one was given to me by another turner, but he didn't know what it was...I am prepared to beleive silver maple because ofthe bark is kind of silverish. the wood is fine grained like maple but seems to have some sort of ambrosia-like stain near the center.
DW
In the High Desert of Central Oregon
bark side #3
DWFII
>Any help on these three woods would be much appreciated
(How in the heck do you post two photos at the same time anyway?)
DW
In the High Desert of Central Oregon
Re: thrid mystery wood
Ace Foster in Ben Lomond 95005
>I could believe silver or Norway maple for no.3.
No. 2 might be locust from the look of the wood, but not the bark. Mulberry or osage orange would be my next guesses, but I don't know either one by the bark.
No. 1 could be any of a number of small weedy elms know colloquially as piss elm. It will turn all right, though, and some of us think it's reasonably attractive.
Ace
Re: thrid mystery wood
DWFII
>Thanks Ace,
I don't think number two is osage orange...I've turned a bit of OO and I know it. the wood seems too finely textured to be locust...at least based on what I know and have turned of black locust. The black locust is more coarse.
I've never had any experience with muberry but I've turned dogwood and they're supposed to be somewhat similar. The texture's right but the colour worries me. I didn't know mulberry would or could grow in the high desert. Well...something to think about.
thanks again...
DW
In the High Desert of Central Oregon
Re: thrid mystery wood
Gary Evans, Tallassee, TN
>DW,
I'm on the other end of the country, so am not familiar with any of the three that you are showing. Number two has the right color for the mulberry that we have here, but ours has a much rougher colored bark. Number three could well be a maple.
I just borrowed a copy of Hoadley's "Identifying Woods" so if you want to send me some samples, I'd be happy to take a closer look at them. I would think that 8"x8"x3" pieces would be sufficient. 8^]
Gary
Re: bark side #3
Brad Vietje
>Could easily be Red Maple or Silver Maple (the color of the bark is not a determinant here), but Norway Maple has bark a lot like White Ash -- so I'd rule that one out. Most "ambrosia" Maple is really Red Maple with a discoloration caused by a fungus carried by the ambrosia beetle, which bores into the wood.
Safe spinning,
Brad Vietje
Thetford, VT
