Is this Keruing?

[seventhdevil]

when the end grain of the little block was cleaned up, it became extremely smooth. I cut the end grain with a chop saw with a well used blade, then touched the block against a belt sander at 120, then a light rub with 180/240/320/400 and it was as smooth as velvet.

Les

this describes a fine textured timber as a coarse one would not give the finishes you described. that points back towards greenheart les. keruing is a coarse timber and does not give a good finish.

[seventhdevil]

here are a couple of info pages on the species.

https://tropix.cirad.fr/FichiersComplementaires/EN/Asia/KERUING.pdf

https://tropix.cirad.fr/FichiersComplementaires/EN/America/GREENHEART.pdf


i'd be interested to see a few pics of the beam...


les, i'm going to stick to my guns on this one mate. so many things are pointing to it being greenheart that i can't see it being keruing really.

the pictures you've posted look like many a bit of greenheart i've seen or owned and i have no reason to doubt my own experience.

[seventhdevil]

how did the iron test go les?

[Les Symonds]

I put 2 wire nails into a scrap of the timber and gave it a good soak, then left it outside....no stain after 72 hrs.