Shopsmith Forums

Hi Guys

Could I please tap into your expertise to help identify the two pieces below? I picked them up at a carving show because they were cheap and looked interesting for making pens.

The one on the left - is that bug damage or spalting? I'm not really sure

The one on the right I picked up for the dramatic cathedral grain - thought it would look nice as a pen.

Id really like to know what they are... thanks a bunch for your help!

Geo


Species? by EagleTa2, on Flickr

eagleta2 wrote:Hi Guys

Could I please tap into your expertise to help identify the two pieces below? I picked them up at a carving show because they were cheap and looked interesting for making pens.

The one on the left - is that bug damage or spalting? I'm not really sure

The one on the right I picked up for the dramatic cathedral grain - thought it would look nice as a pen.

Id really like to know what they are... thanks a bunch for your help!

Geo


Species? by EagleTa2, on Flickr

I will climb out on a limb and say buggy red oak(weathered). Not easy to tell from the pix. I do not think there is any spalting.

JPG40504 wrote:I will climb out on a limb and say buggy red oak(weathered). Not easy to tell from the pix. I do not think there is any spalting.

Just to add, IF it is red oak. You should be able to blow on the end grain without to much trouble. Almost like blowing through a soda straw.

I would say they are both red oak. The one on the right was sawed from a log just below or above a crotch or big knot in the tree. If they are not rotted around the bug holes you can make some really nice turnings

Geez... I just cut up a couple hundred board feet of stuff like that today for firewood... Most of it out of a barn built about 120 years ago or so.
If I had cleaned it up and put it out for sale I wouldn't have sold a stick of it.


.

Hey Farmer...

Do you need me to PM you my home address???
I live in the desert - there are NO TREES HERE!

Not many that are worth woodworking anyhow!! Mesquite could be...if you have enough sawblades laying about!

Geo

I'll go with red oak also.
Hey George, My mesquite is so wormy that the saw is cutting air 30% of the time.

wormy, punky woods can be stabilized in a variety of fashions and manners.

Farmer next time you have barn wood, let some people know. That may be willing to take it of your hands. Reclaimed wood is gaining in popularity, you may have a gold mine and not even know it.

I'm definitely not an absolute expert on identifying wood species but I agree the one on the left does look like Red Oak. Difficult to tell though from the pictures though. You really need to look at the boards from all sides to match up the characteristics. Those are definitely worm holes. They are to uniform for spalting.

Old Barn wood/timbers being sought after really depends on availability and the area you live in. Here in Maryland old weathered barn wood goes for high dollar. Around here folks just can't get enough of that old weathered barn motif. Especially, considering how all the old barns around this part of the country are disappearing.

Not to hijack the subject though but Farmer's bringing up the barn kind of reminded me of something I saw on MPT the other night. They just aired a documentary on Maryland Public Television called Historical Barn's of Maryland. Evidently, there is a society here to protect and restore old barns. But anyway, it kind of went into all the different types of barn structures developed for the different agricultural practices. However, the part that caught my eye was their descriptions of the different materials and the building methods folks of that era used. I know not everybody on the forum lives in this area but I'm sure it can be goggled.

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