So I got this deal on some wood… From a custom milling operation going out of business. They would buy logs that people would bring in. Mostly Big leaf maple, some walnut, and then there was some new American chestnut – the woman thought that there were two different trees of the chestnut. However, now I’ve got it home and stacked in good light, these are clearly different species – the chestnut is pretty much as I would expect it to look, but the other wood she was claiming is chestnut looks almost pale green in incandescent light – sort of pale pistachio ice cream color. It is sawed very rough and does not have much visible grain at all. Any guesses as to what it could be?
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Replies
The color green brings Poplar to mind.
I've seen planed Poplar, but not raw. This is not grayish at all, and greener than at least planed Poplar looks.
I just looked through the front page of the hobbittown site, the closest colors are hackberry and smoketree, but these 8-10 foot planks are 8 inches wide, with no knots.
I've seen all sorts of colors in poplar. Blues, purples, grays, yellows, and some that were definitely greenish. What does it act like if you run a block plane over it?
If you build it he will come.
Kilroy,
Sassafras can be pale green in color, and looks very much like chestnut in its grain pattern. Is your mystery wood aromatic at all when you plane it? Sassafras smell goes away pretty quick, but is very fragrant when freshly worked.
Ray
I scraped a knife over it, it just smells like wood... No Sassafras smell to it. Now, the stuff that I am sure is chestnut, *that* smells kind of like cinnamon.
Kilroy
How about some photos? Is it an open grain wood (like oak) or a closed grain (like maple)? If its closed grain I would wager heavy that it is Yellow Poplar. The vast majority of Yellow Poplar that I have seen over the years has a greenish tint to pea green color to the heartwood when freshly cut. It changes to brown with exposure to light.
RichThe Professional Termite
I am with heartwould on this. Typical poplar is beige, but it is not at all uncommon to find some which has broad areas of green into chocolate, to even black. About all you can see in the annual rings is the terminal parenchyma, and the change of these other colors have no relation to that.
The color seems to be mineral steaks due to injury to the tree while it is still growing. Otherwise, it is even texture, medium density.
Someone mentioned sassafras. That is a ring porous wood.
I've sawed a lot of locust logs that looked pale green. Without seeing the wood, I'm just guessing, however.
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