Wood ID please

[Dave Wraight]

Hi. Two apples recently turned - the one on the left is Laburnum but unsure as to the one on the right. The piece of wood that it came from was part of a job lot that came from a deceased woodturner's 'horde' - probably bought 20+ years ago. Heavy and waxy to touch and sand.

[bodrighywood]

Probably laburnum as well?

Pete

[seventhdevil]

Probably laburnum as well?

Pete

no it isn't pete, the wood is very different.

Dave, if i'm not mistaken the the apple on the right will be very dense and the wood turned easily and should have had a nice scent whilst turning. if you answered yes to these questions then it looks like it is argentine lignum vitae to me.

[Dave Wraight]

Thanks for the info. The wood is certainly very different and you are correct the wood was very dense and so easy to turn - not sure about the scent since my mask and a cold seem to kill off any smell. I hadn't considered lignum vitae. I shall cherish the other piece I have - not big enough for another apple - probably enough to make a flattish box.

[John Plater]

I am inclined to agree with seventhdevil. I have bought the timber as palo santo (bulnesia sarmientoi) from Timberline in Tonbridge. Apparently the Argentinians are ripping out acres of the stuff to plant for palm oil and shipping it out to China as building material. They use it on their bbqs like the Greeks use Olive wood!
Previously it was only available for export from Argentina as finished items as it was not allowed for export as timber/lumber. So it was turned into cylindrical pieces and exported as such.
ATB John

[seventhdevil]

where did you hear that john???

most of the timber comes from paraguay at the moment but almost none is coming into the country.

[Dave Wraight]

And all I asked was the identity of the wood - the small piece I have was bought as a woodturning blank (by someone else)- about 8ins long and 3.25ins dia costing £5.50 over 12 years ago!

[John Plater]

where did you hear that john???

most of the timber comes from paraguay at the moment but almost none is coming into the country.

My post was a blend of information given to me by the guy who runs/ran (haven't been for a while) Timberline in Tonbridge and a lady who visited my stand at Art in Action in July 2015. I had a piece on my stand made out of palo santo and she saw it, picked it up and sniffed it. She is the only person in the last 6 years of showing to recognise the timber. She had recently returned from living in Argentina where, as a lover of wood, she had gleaned the information which she was happy to share with me.
ATB John

[seventhdevil]

bob smith is the guy you are thinking of and 2014 or 2015 was the last time i bought any from him but he old me he got his from paraguay. it does come from both countries though so he could have had a mix.

interesting to hear what the argentinians are doing to the species...

i used to use it for my skittle balls but we can't get more cylinders and it was getting stupidly expensive so i have changed to a timber called Angelim Vermelho (Dinizia excelsa) which is not quite as heavy but is a much bigger tree and available as beams.


Dave, was the cylinder green when you turned it?

[Linus]

Forgive my impertinence, being almost novice status, but could the one on the right be Strawberry tree(Arbutus)?  I turned some recently that looks remakably similar.

[seventhdevil]

i am familiar with arbutus unedo and can say for certain it's not that.