who knows what wood this is?

[DUCky]

Hi all,

I just returned from camping in France. Did a bit of spoon carving in the quiet woods of Aube (Champagne region). I used a bit of allready cut wood since there was quite a bit of that lying around.

When I started to shape the spoon the wood turned out to have a lovely grain. I think it is the most stunning piece of wood I have used so far for spoon carving (this spoon is my sixth effort). Problem is I have no clue as to what kind of wood it is. I was walking in a mixed forrest and nearby were fruittrees as well.

I am sure someone will be able to recognise the grain and tell me what it is......

here is a close up pic:

Thanks in advance for any help!

Kind regards,

Lennart

 

[andyn]

not got much experiacne - but my initial thought was maybe maple....

Looks like very nice work though

 

[Ranger Bob]

Maple would have an even colour to it (in my experience anyway).
I've encountered the dark lines in the grain in Lime, Alder and Birch.
However, I've only seen the variation between light and dark wood in Alder and Birch.
I would say its Alder or Birch (difficult to tell betwwen the two sometimes).
Perhaps you could give more information...i.e, what was the bark like, how easy was it to carve, what was the soil conditions of the woodland (e.g wet, dry, ).

 

[DUCky]

More pics might help and ..... I just remembered I kept a bit of the left over wood in my car......

here's the side/back

here's the leftover bit of wood

and here's a top view of the leftover piece of wood

Can someone also explain why I can't use the sIMG tag to resize the pictures to fit the screen? Sorry for the big pictures.....

Thanks again for any help...

Lennart

 

[Ahjno]

Birch is already mentioned and is a tree which is common in the Netherlands. The stains on it did me think off curly birch, but I'm not sure of it as I'm not a botanist And eversince Rapidboy made a lovely new curly birch knife handle on his WS Woodlore Micarta, I'm experiencing a whole new fetisj, so everything is curly birch for me

Don't you've got a leave from the tree mate? Would help

About the re-sizing: I host my pics at www.photobucket.com - Here you can re-size the pics to a decent size

Just found this site via Google: nice pics on it www.plantphotography.com

 

[Abbe Osram]

your left over wood looks much like pine to me.
cheers
Abbe

 

[C_Claycomb]

Yes, PLEASE re-size your pictures! Other than making the thread hard to read, the pictures are too big to be viewed on a monitor, they make it painfully slow for anyone trying to use a dial-up connection. Since I use such a connection at home this is a rather sore subject with me

As to the wood, not sure. Has anyone mentioned that whatever it is it appears to be spalted? The lighter blotches and dark lines are usually an indication of fungi in the wood. Maple and birch are the most common woods to find with spalting in this country, but other woods can too. I don't believe that soft woods get spalting, both because of the resin content, and because once they start rotting they really lose strength and just crumble.

 

[DUCky]

[I managed to resize the pictures to a more modest size]

Unfortunately the piece of wood did not have any leaves on it any more....

I know birch and have used it before. The bark of the left over piece of wood would seem to me to be too coarse to be birch and unlike the more white-ish bark of Birch I have used before (but perhaps this was a variety I am not familier with). If I take a look at the culry birch handle I do see a bit of a resemblance...

I can also see where the piece of wood does resemble a bit of pine, but there is no resin or any hint/smell of resin in the wood. I don't think it's pine.

The most telling would seem to be the in my opinion wonderfull color and tone of the grain. My wife described the pattern as being that of the skin of a giraffe (especially on the handle). The black lines running through the wood are also quite typical.

I have finished sanding the spoon now and gave it a coating of spoon oil. The grain and colour is showing even more now....... I love it to bits....

If anybody thinks they have the final verdict on it, I am all ears...

Lennart

 

[Abbe Osram]

the white spot come from a fungus, and i am sure it is not birch what you have there.



I still have my bets on pine.

cheers
Abbe

 

[torjusg]

What about ash, linden, poplar or aspen? When I see the picture with bark on it my guess would have to be ash (fraxinus excelsior or something). The smooth bark and seemingly rough fibres in the underbark points me in that direction. Other possible candidates could be walnut or chestnut.

Torjus Gaaren

 

[Ranger Bob]

From the bark, I agree with Abbe, its not Birch......this is a puzzle! Time to hit the books....

 

[Ruckus]

thats beautiful spoon too mate.

 

[Laurence Dell]

I could be wrong but it looks to me a lot like Hornbeam

It is the white patches on the dark colured bark prob left by lichen and the apparent vertical ridges in the surface of the wood that give it away for me. Hornbeam is also known to be one of the easiest woods to spalt.

Was the wood quite hard to carve and did it dull off your knife quicker than other woods?

I will try to post a picture of some hornbeam that I have of similar dimensions and decay as the piece in the photo. I will also try and bring some hornbeam with me to the Wilderness Gathering.

It is supposed to be very good for making gluts/wedges for splitting timber.

 

[Dave Barker]

From my experience thats got to be Spalted Birch.

 

[DUCky]

Laurence,

The wood was very hard indeed. When I picked up the brache I tried to make an indentation with my thumb nail to check the wood for decay. I could not make an impression of any kind.

If the white spots have to do with some sort of decay (can spalting be considered as some sort of decay?), it has certainly not affected the hardness of the wood.

Lennart

 

[Laurence Dell]

Here are the pictures I said I would post, the first picture shows a piece of fresh cut full round Hornbeam about 4"-5" diameter on the left and on the right is a half round piece of hornbeam cut last year. They have both been stored outside.



The pic below shows a piece of hornbeam cut over a year ago Notice the vertical ridges and the white patches that are left by lichens.



Hope this provides you with your answer

 

[running bare]

could it be birds eye maple? never seen it in the raw myself but could it be a possibility?

 

[TAZ]

I would say it was definately spalted birch. Used it a lot in decorarive pieces and the bark looks right aswell.

 

[JoshG]

Wow some serious Tree identification going on here. A lovely spoon, though!
Oh, and one more thing. Is scots pine any good for carving? I recently picked up a small log from a felled tree (there are tons of felled pine trees at a resevoir near be due to light competetition and wind) and was wondering if its any good for spoon carvement?
Cheers.

 

[running bare]

what reservoir is that mate? might have to have a look see? wor lass likes to whittle nd i think if i get her a big log it mite keep her quiet!!!!! p.s. If she should read this I was only joking hon,.... Honest. wot you doing with that skillet???? owwwwwwwwwwwwww now i know she's got a sense ov humour failure!!!
lol
tom