Timber I.D.

[honey badger]

Hi all.Igot given some planks from a salvage yard today. It was part of an abandoned cargo with Canadian connections. It is harder than pine and reasonably heavy.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Sorry, I'm useless on this without being able to smell it. Are you trying to ID it so that you can get more, to be able to do a whole big project with the same stuff?

[honey badger]

yes mate.I will be using it as decking slats for my next project a wharram narai.

[UNCIVILIZED]

You could always take it to a "specialty" lumber supplier like www.Edensaw.com or a custom cabinet maker/re-finisher to get an expert's input on what it is.
And it's an odd, random thought which just now popped into my head, but a lot of the time some damn fine woods get used to build & repair pallets. So they might be a help in ID'ing it, & also possibly knowing where to find more of it on the cheap.

[honey badger]

A mate reckons it's Canadian Ash. I wouldn't have a clue...sorry.

[Cormorant]

My wildass guess would be Douglas fir. Kinda like pine but hard and heavier. Does it seem resinous at all?

[boris]

Funny my first thought was Douglas fir, But I wouldn't say Douglas fir is heavy

[fahtcha]

It looks like maple to me.

[honey badger]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

My wildass guess would be Douglas fir. Kinda like pine but hard and heavier. Does it seem resinous at all?

no mate not resinous at all.

[honey badger]

Red Oak?

[fahtcha]

The grain is wrong for red oak. I have made a lot of furniture out of maple and red oak. While here is a chance it is ash, I still lean toward maple. If it is maple, be really careful using anywhere if may get wet.

[hellosailor]

Constantines constantines.com woodworking supplies probably still sells books, and sample kits of veneer slices, that can be used to identify lots of woods. A number of specialty wood suppliers have ID guides online, if you dig around.

If you look around the web there used to be sites hosted by lumber companies and trade groups that also offered large clear pictures and descriptions to help identify different woods. The pictures you posted seem a little fuzzy to me, you may do better seeing nice sharp ones online.

[IdoraKeeper]

It looks like ash. Ash is quite heavy. Out west we dont see them that big often. it could also be maple.

[Randy]

Plane it to see the grain clearly. It appears to have some beech characteristics that would be highlighted with a clean surface.

[Kokanee]

"Fairly heavy" density and the colour in photo's aren't very good clues but judging from the grain, I'd guess maple.