View Full Version : who knows what wood this is?
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: http://www.advisaris.nl/IMGP0421.JPG
Thanks in advance for any help!
Kind regards,
Lennart
not got much experiacne - but my initial thought was maybe maple....
Looks like very nice work though ;)
Ranger Bob
17-08-2005, 19:10
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, ).
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
http://www.advisaris.nl/IMGP0420.JPG
here's the leftover bit of wood
http://www.advisaris.nl/IMGP0422.JPG
and here's a top view of the leftover piece of wood
http://www.advisaris.nl/IMGP0423.JPG
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
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 (http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showpost.php?p=100301&postcount=6) on his WS Woodlore Micarta, I'm experiencing a whole new fetisj, so everything is curly birch for me ;) :D :p
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 :eek: ;)
Just found this site via Google: nice pics on it www.plantphotography.com
Abbe Osram
18-08-2005, 08:49
your left over wood looks much like pine to me.
cheers
Abbe
C_Claycomb
18-08-2005, 09:45
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 :rolleyes:
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.
[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
18-08-2005, 10:48
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
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
18-08-2005, 12:12
From the bark, I agree with Abbe, its not Birch......this is a puzzle! Time to hit the books....
thats beautiful spoon too mate.
Laurence Dell
21-08-2005, 23:23
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
22-08-2005, 07:56
From my experience thats got to be Spalted Birch.
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
24-08-2005, 22:01
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.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/Hornbeam/Bushcraft/th_hornbeamlogs.jpg (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/Hornbeam/Bushcraft/hornbeamlogs.jpg)
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.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/Hornbeam/Bushcraft/th_splithornbeampost.jpg (http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b83/Hornbeam/Bushcraft/splithornbeampost.jpg)
Hope this provides you with your answer
running bare
28-09-2005, 17:19
could it be birds eye maple? never seen it in the raw myself but could it be a possibility?
I would say it was definately spalted birch. Used it a lot in decorarive pieces and the bark looks right aswell.
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
29-09-2005, 22:49
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
Laurence Dell
29-09-2005, 23:09
Are you talking about fresh cut Pine, it's fine if you don't mind getting covered in sticky sap :eek:
There's no way that spoon is Birch, spalted or otherwise. The original poster said that it was hard to carve. Birch is soft and easy to carve when fresh never mind when partially decayed:rolleyes:
It rots so quick you could probably carve spalted birch with a sharpened spoon never mind a spoonknife:D
Sorry to reopen a thread which is so old, but that looks really like sycamore to me, I have a load of it in my garage and my green house and the bark looks just about right.
gaz_miggy
28-07-2006, 00:05
the white it could be some sort of spolting
pierre girard
28-07-2006, 08:13
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: http://www.advisaris.nl/IMGP0421.JPG
Thanks in advance for any help!
Kind regards,
Lennart
Not sure on the wood, though like Abbe, the bark reminds me somewhat of a conifer. Absence of scent would quickly rule that out. The wood has the appearance of a hardwood, though I don't think it is maple or birch due to the bark. Whatever it is, the spots and lines show it is in a state of rot. Balsam fir that has lain for a time often shows similar markings and can be quite beautiful.
It doesn't look like our local (US) ash, or oak - not enough figure in the grain, though I don't know what european strains look like. I'm also not familiar with european walnut. Our walnut (black walnut) is much darker than that. From the checking and appearance of the end grain, my best guess would be a fruitwood. Another guess - from the appearance - would be iron wood, though that is ruled out by the fact you were able to carve it at all. I'm not familiar with hornbeam, so that could be a possibility too.