New mystery wood

Sassafras?

John Trant (Baltimore/WashDC)

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Re: Sassafras?

Carole in VA

>Don't know. Have only seen a Sassafras tree standing. Don't know what the wood looks like. Doesn't smell quite like it.

Re: Sassafras?

TomW In SouthJersey

>Carole

I just finished roughing 4 sassafras bowls. It doesn't look like sassafras to me. At least the sassafras I have is very "blonde" looking inside. I don't know if all of it is.

Of course what I have is very green. Maybe if this was around for a while it would explain the color difference.

Sassafras has straight, deep bark. Also it sure puts out a distinctive odor when cutting or turning it.

Well, that was certainly a maybe I don't know answer...

I finally bought the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees - Eastern book. (it can be had for a bargain on Amazon through the partner sellers program.)I saw 5 nice size logs roadside today and was able ot confirm it was sassafras. I decided to leave it. I have enough for now.

Tom

Re: Sassafras?

John K Jordan

>Carole,

If you don't have it, you might consider getting the book "Identifying Wood" by R. Bruce Hoadley. He is considered one of the most respected experts in the field.

He goes into great detail on wood structure and shows what to look for in a small sample of end grain to aid in identification. All you need is a razor blade and a pocket magnifier. He includes photos of many domestic and some exotics. Sassafras looks pretty distinctive in his photo. In the text, he describes it as having "a pleasant root-beer-like fragrance and taste." He also mentions that Black Ash is apt to be confused with Sassafras.

BTW, the roots are more fragrant than the wood and the wood can lose a lot with age. However, I cut into a sassafras roughed platter that had been air drying for about 10 years and I could still smell the fragrance.

JKJ in East TN

Re: New mystery wood

Duane C.Leach

>http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/forestry/hough/common.html

Give this site a try. It has pictures of hundreds of species wood.

Happy turning

Duane

Hough wood images *LINK*

John K Jordan

>Duane,

Is the database messed up for the Hough site? Sassafras, for example, brings up photos of American Elm (plate 33 instead of plate 32 in the original collection)

Note that if you back up a page, you can access the woods either by common or scientific name:

http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/forestry/hough/

BTW, you can buy a book with all these images: "The Wood Book, The American Woods" reprint of the original collection in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, London. The photos in the book are different from those on the web site, since the original 15 volumes of the "book" in the mid 1800s used thin slices of real wood so each set was different. However, it appears to me that the slices shown on the web page and those in my book were often taken very close to each other on the same tree.

It is nice to see the web version since it gives another sample of the same wood.

One caution, the printed book indicates that some of the wood names have changed. It presents itself more as an "art" or history book than just a wood reference.

I've been thinking of making my own very limited collection of slices (and photos of the bark) of woods I acquire for turning. These, plus a magnifier might be useful in the future.

JKJ in East TN


American Woods

Black Cherry

Jorge Castaneda ~ Downeast Maine

>The sasafras I worked with was a lot lighter, closer to ash, I think it is black cherry that smells very nice.

Re: Sassafras?

Ed in No.VA

>Catalpa? can't be cherry this is ring porus

Re: Hough wood images

Carole in VA

>What a great site, John! Thanks. I am leaning towards honey locust from those pics. Does that have an aroma?