Identifying a species of wood - how

[peter2407]

So, Saturday at the Dorset boat jumble, I took a punt on what I was led to believe was Teak, or possibly Iroko. The idea is to use it to replace the partial decking on my boat. Is there a way identifiying that - a. it is actually a hardwood that can be used on a deck, and/or b. that it is a hardwood of a certain species or type?

I will have a follow up re the Sikaflex I bought, but I dont have the tube to identify what I bought.

Both were bargains regardless, so if I cant use them for this, I will use them for something else.

 

[John.edwards]

DNA testing works

 

[mjcoon]

Is there a way identifiying that - a. it is actually a hardwood that can be used on a deck, and/or b. that it is a hardwood of a certain species or type?

Could try iSpot http://www.ispotnature.org/uk-and-ireland. But of course they are used to identifying items "Au naturelle"!

Mike.

 

[sailorman]

So, Saturday at the Dorset boat jumble, I took a punt on what I was led to believe was Teak, or possibly Iroko. The idea is to use it to replace the partial decking on my boat. Is there a way identifiying that - a. it is actually a hardwood that can be used on a deck, and/or b. that it is a hardwood of a certain species or type?

I will have a follow up re the Sikaflex I bought, but I dont have the tube to identify what I bought.

Both were bargains regardless, so if I cant use them for this, I will use them for something else.

Gotta photo you could post ????

 

[Poignard]

There's some photos of various hardwoods in the Robbins Timber pricelist that might help you

http://www.robbins.co.uk/pdf/Marine_Pricelist.pdf

 

[peter2407]

Photo

Gotta photo you could post ????

Sailorman - not with me, but will upload one when I get home.

Thanks all for the responses.

 

[chinita]

Sand or scrape the surface. If it is orangey and looking like new - it is teak.

Sand or scrape the surface, inhale the dust and, if you get cancer - it is iroko.

Hope that helps.

 

[Poignard]

Sand or scrape the surface. If it is orangey and looking like new - it is teak.

Sand or scrape the surface, inhale the dust and, if you get cancer - it is iroko.

Hope that helps.

Cut a piece off and chuck it in the boatyard skip. If it's gone in five minutes - it's teak.

 

[doug748]

There are some nice illustrations of the look of Iroko, here:

http://brencollc.com/iroko/

Picture 4 shows the coarse, interlocking grain quite nicely. If you get a sample and plane it, you may find the grain tears out, if you then reverse the sample and plane again, Iroko often does the same thing along a different line. Sometimes you find a hard white, gritty deposit caught up in the grain.

Teak will generally plane very well and the shavings will have a clean smell often compared to leather. Untreated clean teak looks moist and slightly waxy to the touch. It generally has a greater variation of colour and little of the open grain associated with Iroko. There is a nice picture of a corner of a teak table is the Wiki blurb:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teak

This is untreated teak. I think it looks slightly damp. On the Brenco link, above, there are snaps of their Burmese Teak product but it is oiled and the look is quite different.

One of the problems of identifying two woods on sight is that extreme samples of each can look very similar. It is not a bad ploy to go around a garden centre and check out the garden stuff that is actually branded teak and that branded "tropical hardwood".

 

[peter2407]

Hopefully, pics are attached .View attachment 41140

 

[chinita]

Hopefully, pics are attached .View attachment 41140

Well, erm........ yes. There is a pic of a piece of what looks like it could have been, at one time, .......wood.

 

[tillergirl]

Looks like iroko to me.

 

[fergie_mac66]

Looks like iroko to me.

+1 that stripe probable gives it away .Hard wood to work

 

[doug748]

I think tillergirl and fergie have it.

If you give it the plane test you will probably find the striped areas will tear out in one direction and come up smooth in the other.

As you say, it is still very useful marine timber.

 

[cliff]

Looks like iroko to me.

-1 - it does not look like any of the Iroko I have used over the years, and I have used quite a few cubic cubits of the stuff - Ok, OK Cords then for the younger members.
Looks like 2nd or 3rd cut ¼ sawn ash to me

 

[fergie_mac66]

Not really like ash
which is very white to yellow open grained and often used for hammer handles
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ash+timber&hl=en-GB&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=CUU6U9HcGoSnhAfb6ICYBg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=681#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=9LcrTNYTUWdZjM%253A%3BcTfDk_p1_vu3KM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.alphatimber.co.uk%252Fimages%252Fimgcontent%252Fhardwoods%252Fash.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.alphatimber.co.uk%252Fhardwood.php%3B594%3B468

 

[nigelmercier]

When I posted a picture of my similar looking wood, it was confirmed it was Sapele.

 

[Eyore]

Not Teak and not Iroko, coulde be any one of a number of rarer hardwoods and the stripe certainly looks like Sapele.

 

[sailorman]

Hopefully, pics are attached .View attachment 41140

Iroko

 

[Blueboatman]

Weight for it, weight for it...
Iroko is heavy. Sapele and such like 'mahoganies' can be as light as carp pine from the DIY sheds..

Maybe the OP can infer more now?

Both btw can have the interlocking grain appearance.

A thumb nail scratch will mark sapele but not iroko. The latter also has a hard ring when tapped, the former is soft and dull sounding ( and not particularly durable used externally)

But I have built far fewer cubits' worth of Noahs Arcs than OLdHarry, lol
So read this as a basis for further play and not hard fact...