Mystery wood

[Tkrocky]

Which of you ol wizards can tell me what kind of wood this is? It's quite hard and heavy. I got it in a lot with some other handle wood

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Nearly impossible to tell from the photos. Maybe end grain sucupira?

 

[S.Alexander]

If you sand it to a fine grit and wipe a bit of oil on it, it may be easier to identify.

The colours look like birch, but that's just a wild stab.

 

[Tkrocky]

Yeah sorry about the photos, I forgot to wipe oil on it.

Here it is at 400 grit with the surface wetted

 

[lukus]

Not a wood wizard or anything, but it kind of looks like a palm wood to me. Except I don't think you get growth rings with palm.

 

[DanH45]

Too hard to even guess from photos.

The US forestry service will ID wood from a sample. Free for citizens (up to 5 samples per year).

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/centers/woodanatomy/wood_idfactsheet.php

 

[A.McPherson]

Dan, that's an awesome tip! thanks for putting it out there!

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Its not Palm wood but I can't tell from that end grain cut. It could be many.

 

[Willie71]

I have some black walnut that looks like this. Just a guess though. The transition from heartwood to sapwood can look like this.

 

[T.Saslow]

Call me crazy, but those large pores makes me think it is Mahogany. It looks very similar to a block of the stuff I have. Just my .02, I'm sure there are better guesses out there

 

[Robert Erickson]

Wild guess: mesquite

 

[DanH45]

My best guess would be mahogany. Mesquite is also a good guess.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

is it heavy for its size? Does it feel hard? or kind of like a stiff foam. The texture is off but the pattern almost looks like rubberwood

 

[Burl Source]

This is probably wrong but it might be Bubinga.
While bubinga heartwood is usually reddish, sometimes it will be kind of dirty orangeish.
What makes me think bubinga is the end grain and the sapwood/heartwood contrast.

Here is an example bubinga photo.

 

[D Morgan]

I think its Myrtlewood.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

I think the texture is all wrong for bubinga

 

[Burl Source]

I took a close up photo of Bubinga endgrain and put it next to the op photo to show why I was thinking maybe bubinga.

Best way to find out would be to call the supplier and ask them.

 

[Tkrocky]

I will call my uncle who gave it to me tomorrow and see who his supplier was. I am leaning towards the mahogany suggestion, although the bubinga comparison picture does look very a similar!

 

[Burl Source]

Be sure to let us know what you find out.

 

[Jonathans]

Ditto, ditto, and ditto on that it is one of many mahogany strains. Perhaps a curly Honduran.
My guess is that it is not too heavy for its size.