Name That Wood!!

[Cthulhu]

Awright, awright, settle down and keep it clean.

I scored some really pretty rough cut wood form an unnamed source, but I don't know what it is. It's wet, but even the dry spots have a honey colored sapwood and reddish, almost purple heartwood.

It's a medium heavy wood, long lined and close grained.

Anyone recognize it? I have a bunch of it, and I'll be using it for several handles to come.

I even have enough to share, I believe.

[Spalted]

Looks like cedar to me, cedar is really soft wood.

[Crex]

Looks like red cedar to me as well. Is it very aromatic when you cut/sand it? Be a dead giveaway.
Might not be all that suitable for handles, soft and tends to crack when it dries, especially around drilled holes.
I'd swap it with a wood turner for some known quality handle material like walnut.

[jdale]

My first thought was also red cedar. We cut this one down last week, looks like a match to me.
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[Cthulhu]

Well, consider me schooled.

In the light of day, and dry, yeah, its very aromatic. Bugger. Teach me to get wet wood.

Oh well, moving on.

[Crex]

Hey, it's not a "lost cause". Like I said, use it to trade, lots woodworkers are always looking for good red cedar. Trading is a way of life with most of them, so do a little checking and asking around. Wood supply shops are a good place to start. Anywhere they sell wood turning blanks.
In the mean time you might seal the end cuts with wax to reduce the checking/cracking that will come as it begins to dry. Help maintain it's value.

[Cthulhu]

Good idear, Crex. Life, lemons, lemonade, neh?

[Eli Jensen]

At first I thought yew but the heartwood is too red and sapwood not creamy enough.

[Spalted]

Go ahead and cut some up. Cedar is one of the fastest drying woods, when its dry send it to K&G and have it stabilized.

[Cthulhu]

Originally Posted by Spalted

Go ahead and cut some up. Cedar is one of the fastest drying woods, when its dry send it to K&G and have it stabilized.

Thought about doing it, Spalt, but I'm on a disability budget and can't afford such things. It's really beautiful wood otherwise, and I'd hate to get rid of it.

Has anyone ever used something like Superglue in a vacuum chamber to stabilize wood? Just throwing out ideas.

[jdale]

We cut down a bunch of red cedar,on one of my construction sites last week. I did some quick google searches to see if it is used on handles and most people said its nice wood but rather plain.

With the time it takes to stabilize handles im pretty sure the superglue would harden well before it penetrated the wood.

I know every time its mentioned quite a few people cringe. If you are looking for a "on the cheap" stabilizing method, a bottle of minwax wood hardener and a vacuum does a semi decent job.