Can you identify this exotic wood that Joshua is handplaning?

Earlier this year my friend gave me a truck load of incredible 8/4 exotic lumber. Great friend, right? He told me that the boards were given to him by a fellow member of the military at his previous station. His military friend had apparently brought it with him when he moved back from living in Africa. So these boards have been sitting in my workshop for months, just tempting me to find out what they are. But I wanted to wait until I could share the moment with all of you! You can watch the video above to see me handplaning a section of one of the boards.

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Three Boards

In the video you’ll see that my suspicions were confirmed: I had no idea what this wood was! I’m definitely not an expert on exotic lumber, as I use mostly lumber cut here in Virginia. So I went to my go-to source, The Wood Database, which is the most well-known source for wood identification on the internet. It was created by Eric Meier, author of the very detailed book: “WOOD! Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide“. You can (find it here).

Book Cover Wood! Identifying And Using Hundreds Of Woods Worldwide By Eric Meier

He’s also the creator of the cool “Periodic Table of Wood” poster that a lot of you have probably seen (see it here).

I was able to find several possible species on The Wood Database, but wanted some more help because of the difficulty of identifying this wood. Eric had previously agreed to help me identify the lumber, so when I couldn’t figure out the species, I made up sample boards from three of the boards in the stack and sent the photos to Eric. As of today, he is still working with a British friend who works with a lot of African lumber species. So I don’t currently know the species. But if you are able to help identify the lumber, you’ll get kudos!

Joshua Farnsworth'S Hand On A Stanley No. 4 1/2 Smoothing Plane Handplaning An Exotic Lumber Board

Below I’ve added detailed photos of all three sample boards. Click on them for larger views. I handplaned the board faces (except for sample C…I’ll tell you why below), and finely sanded the end grain. I then added walnut oil to the board faces and end grain to make the identification easier. I tried to match my camera’s white balance to make the images as close to the actual color as possible. Here are some of the characteristics that I shared with Eric:

  • The lumber is very heavy (heavier than oak)
  • The lumber is fairly difficlut to plaine due to it’s hardness, but the flat-sawn boards don’t tear out much
  • Small cutoffs from the boards didn’t sink in water
  • I couldn’t sense any strong odor when handsawing, handplaning, or sanding. Just a mild smell.
  • The end grain appears to be very dense

Here are some closeup images of the different sample boards:

Sample from Board A

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Face Grain

This first sample board was cut from the board that I handplaned in the video. These first two images show the face grain of the flat sawn board. The flat sawn samples (A and B) handplane fairly well, without much tearout or reversing grain.

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Face Grain Closeup

As you can see the end grain is quite dense:

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification End Grain

Keep scrolling down to see sample boards B and C:

Sample from Board B

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Face Grain

Sample board B looks a bit different because of the dark streaks on the face of the board. For this reason I initially thought that this board is a different species from board A. However, after Eric saw these photographs, he thinks board B is the same species as board A. Here’s a closer view of board B’s face grain:

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Face Grain Closeup

And here is the end grain of sample board B:

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification End Grain

Sample from Board C

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Face Grain

And finally, here is sample board C, which looks quite different from both sample boards A and B. It does have somewhat similar dark stripes to sample B.

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification Face Grain

This sample board was difficult to handplane, because of how the grain reverses, so I just flattened it on the spiral cutterheads of my power jointer before I rubbed it with the Walnut oil. Aside from faint machine marks, the grain is still quite visible.

The difficulty in handplaning I attribute to the strange figure that results from this being a quartersawn board. The alternating reversing grain of this wood is similar to some quartersawn Sapele that I handplaned a while ago. You can see the vertical end grain in the photo below which shows that it is quartersawn:

Exotic Hardwood Lumber Sample Boards For Identification End Grain

Eric also feels that this board is the same species as samples A and B. So what do you think this board is? Please comment at the bottom of this page with suggestions or questions. You can also check back in a few days to see if we’ve discovered what the species of this wood is!

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Mark Corso
Mark Corso
November 11, 2019 5:26 pm

When I first saw it it reminded me of Koa which grows in Hawaii. Perhaps there is some type of related Acacia species that grows in Africa. Hope you identify it. It sure is beautiful!

Jim Bulger
jim Bulger
November 11, 2019 7:01 pm

https://www.woodworkerssource.com/lumber/afromosia.html is a great site
it looks like afromosia
the weight of a board ft would help

Jim Chaloupka
JIM CHALOUPKA
November 11, 2019 7:15 pm
Joe Lazar
Joe Lazar
November 11, 2019 8:56 pm

I don’t know the answer, but I bet Shannon Rogers might. Mystery wood is so fun!

Mr. Mike Green
Mr. Mike Green
November 11, 2019 9:38 pm

Have you thought it might be Black Heart Sassafras

Tassos
Tassos
November 12, 2019 12:57 am

Wow, lovely wood youve got there Josh. Its very dense! Thanks for sharing Josh.
Kind of resembles an olive tree maybe?

Phil Sylvster
Phil Sylvster
November 12, 2019 1:24 am

Afzelia / Doussie is my guess

Jorge
Jorge
November 12, 2019 3:16 am

Looks like Cumaru, often sold for outdoor decking along with Epe.

Jorge
Jorge
November 12, 2019 3:17 am

Sorry meant to write Ipe

Robert
Robert
November 12, 2019 5:25 am
Allan Brinckmann
Allan Brinckmann
November 12, 2019 9:08 am

Hi Joshua,
The colours and grain (and the reversing grain) in your pictures reminds me a lot of a hardwood I used in shop class while growing up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The wood is called Mukwa, and I made quite a lot of furniture with it.

In the Wood Database it’s called Muninga (Pterocarpus angolensis).

Just a suggestion!

Best wishes,
Allan

Joe Newman
Joe Newman
November 12, 2019 9:42 am

Rhodesian Teak?

Dick Van Zanten
Dick van Zanten
November 12, 2019 11:32 am

I think its Mansonia (Mansonia Altissima A. Chev).
That’s due to it’s color, with the grey to black striping, hardness (mansonia is at janka 5750) and crossgrain.

The striping and weight alone tempted me to say Zebrano and a third candidate would be Ovangkol, but that has a very noticable acidic smell when cut.

Yours
Dick van Zanten

Stephen D Bamford
Stephen D Bamford
November 12, 2019 1:06 pm

My guess? Sapele. But I defer to Eric Meier who is the expert.

James Wolfe
James wolfe
November 12, 2019 11:59 pm

Cocobolo but that comes from South America or Mexico

Glenn Philipson
Glenn Philipson
November 13, 2019 6:55 pm

Paul Sellers will know I’d imagine

Jim Matthews
Jim Matthews
November 14, 2019 6:49 pm

My first guess, based on the heavy striping and interlocked grain would be “Zebra” wood from Central Africa, Microberlinia brazzavillensis or Goncalo Alves from South America.

Difficult stuff to handle on long runs.

Mike Dixon
Mike Dixon
November 15, 2019 1:52 pm

A friend gave me a couple of stacks of parquet flooring that he no longer needed, which i cut up and use for inlay. He told me that it was Zimbabwe Teak, my pieces are a lot smaller dimensions than your boards but do have very similar colourings and are hard, dense, and heavy.

Mark Van
Mark Van
January 27, 2020 9:54 pm

Iroko wood, wood of the iroko tree (Chlorophora excelsa), native to the west coast of Africa. … The wood is tough, dense, and very durable. It is often used in cabinetmaking and paneling as a substitute for teak, which it resembles both in colour (light brown to deep golden-brown) and in grain.

Mark Vandevelde
Mark VanDeVelde
Reply to  Joshua Farnsworth
February 12, 2020 12:32 pm

Worked with a flooring company and this was a common substitute for a teak looking floor. If you tap the wood with a hammer it has a distinctive “ring” tone to it. I found the description on a wood finder website. Do I win the free Lie Nielsen 51 plane?

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