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I scavenged a bunch of this from a very old picnic table and bench set. I have no idea what species it is.
After a few runs through the planer, this is what I saw. Anyone know what this is??
-tommyboy

It is an open grained species and since it was a picnic table and bench it was probably mass produced using a common domestic wood. I'm thinking Oak, even though it doesn't look like oak that were used to seeing think about this, there are about a zillion different species of Oak between the reds and the whites here in the States and this particular sample of wood (regardless of the type) has been in the weather for who knows how many years and that can affect the appearance even after removing several layers. Oak was/is commonly used in outdoor furniture because of the availability and durability, it's also not terribly expensive. I think that it is an uncommon species of Oak even though it doesn't really look like Oak, but this of course is merely speculation.

David L

My guess is that it's in the mahogany family.

Well you have the advantage to be able to hold it and feel it's weight, Mahogany is much lighter than Oak.

David L

A lot of imported patio furniture is made of tropical Asian and African species similar in appearance to mahogany but actually not related. Some of these are Luan, Meranti, Phillipine mahogany (all breing sub species of shorea), or Chanfuta (Afzelia quanzenisis), or Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) to name a few. The last one was really popular in patio furniture about ten years ago.

Hey Brian,
Looks like you nailed it. Philippine mahogany seems the closest.

-tommy

Brian, they are also importing a lot of stuff from South America too. I was just reading the other day where they found a new species of tree that had never been discovered before, it is actually a sub species but I forget the name. All kinds of weird stuff coming out of the Tropical Rain Forrest down there.

David L

Isn't Luan and Phillipine mahogany the same?
I have some Luan, and it doesn't look like that, it is on the grey side, and less grain structure showing

This might clarify....or further muddy the waters.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... ippine.htm

Then I say it is Luan mahogany