need help identifying this wood

[skeeterman]

i have got a small piece of wood that i have had for some time now bought bunch of misc. wood pcs. from an auction a few years back but this piece has a very milk chocolate looking color , and it is very light weight, it is a soft wood, trying to identify it so i can find more. thanks
steve

[dehrlich]

Looks like aromatic cedar to me. Is there any cream colored sapwood anywhere on it? It is unusual to find it with no sapwood or knots but possible, I have made boxes with just heart wood before. Does it have the cedar smell? You may need to sand it a little bit to wake up the smell. It does age to a brownish color, if you run a plane along an edge you will probably see the reddish color again.

[RogerB]

looks like butter nut.

[skeeterman]

Looks like aromatic cedar to me. Is there any cream colored sapwood anywhere on it? It is unusual to find it with no sapwood or knots but possible, I have made boxes with just heart wood before. Does it have the cedar smell? You may need to sand it a little bit to wake up the smell. It does age to a brownish color, if you run a plane along an edge you will probably see the reddish color again.

Not aromatic cedar, I have carved bunch of that, , it's not as dark as walnut, very creamy colored , never seen any butternut, will look it up on Internet and see if that might be it

[skeeterman]

i have found pics and description of Butternut and it seems to be Butternut.
steve

[dehrlich]

I have never worked with butternut either, but it is my understanding it's like walnut in properties. He said it was light weight and soft which walnut is not. Is butternut light and soft?

[RogerB]

Butter Nut is nice to work with softer than pine. Some carvers like to work with it.

[Foggycarver]

I agree it's butternut. We carve some of this for game calls. Butternut is another name for White Walnut. It's actually walnut species. It carves well.

[skeeterman]

It is very soft and lightweight, beautiful grain

[SteveNelson46]

i have got a small piece of wood that i have had for some time now bought bunch of misc. wood pcs. from an auction a few years back but this piece has a very milk chocolate looking color , and it is very light weight, it is a soft wood, trying to identify it so i can find more. thanks
steve

It kind of looks like Claro Walnut. It's a hybrid of walnut grown in California.

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

[Roy Fleshman]

Butternut would have been my guess a few years back. But having spent considerable time trying to learn some wood identification because of the access to many different kinds here and hand carving, my best guess now would be Catopa. It also is a pleasure to carve. Some often confuse it for walnut and it is used instead of walnut, because it grows so fast and stains well. It is native to yuour neck of the woods so maybe this was a local tree. Here is a link to a photo and I leave you to look up the rest.


https://www.google.com/search?q=Catopa&safe=off&rlz=1C1OPRA_enUS577US578&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=739&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XkEfVLvFM4aYyATEkoCQDg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAw#safe=off&tbm=isch&q=Catopa+wood&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=0ROFRBkz1NuYvM%253A%3BouPECQKTvcfYvM%3Bhttp% 253A%252F%252Fi96.photobucket.com%252Falbums%252Fl 161%252Fejpeek%252FCrosses%252FDSC00179.jpg%3Bhttp %253A%252F%252Fwww.sawmillcreek.org%252Fshowthread .php%253F133104-Catalpa-Wood-What-say-you%3B800%3B600