Shopsmith Forums

I'm not sure of this but it was suggested that this might be western hemlock, some kind of bark maggots cause the color? Well it doesn't really matter I guess but I wish they had more of it. Have to keep watching the bins.

Ed

Hemlock has been my guess. Bark maggots? Not necessarily. Those are what we have called "live knots" as opposed to dead knots - that are loose knots.

If the Mill was proud of these boards, it seems they would have branded "Hem-Fir", but who knows? Maybe the HTC in the brand means something like Hemlock Top Cut. Only a call to WWPA will tell.

By the way, Him -Fir brand would refer to the true firs, such as white fir, alpine fir, grand fir, etc. Not to Douglas fir.

RE: Not the knots but the dark streaks in the wood would be the bark maggots, sorry for the confusion.

Ed

Looks like the same thing that causes birdseye in maple.

I know this is an old thread. But I saw the wood in the first post and decided to chime in. It looks very similar to some Ponderosa Pine I have. I pulled this off a chain 40 years ago. This particular pattern was called Catspaw pine. Another Ponderosa Pine in my collection has a Birdseye look. Second sample.
The mill I worked in dealt with Pine, White Fir and Douglas Fir. The last sample is Douglas Fir, which has a burl or Birdseye look. It was even rarer than the first two.

If this was a Rorshach (?) test, I saw an owl in the light area.

years ago I had a opportunity to tour a wood mill that made the dash board veneer's for very high end automobiles ,you wouldn't believe the designs they find in some of the trees that they couldn't use . The fella said th owner wont sell some of his finds and some go for large sums of dough. IMO that was a good find for a big box store. to me it resembles western hemlock ,jmo