Wood identification

3fifty7

3fifty7

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Dec 24, 2016
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Is this grain pattern what is referred to as fiddle back ?

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It is a chair leg of a dining room set from the 50’s. Any idea of the species of the wood ?
 
Looks like white oak to me. Fiddle back is curly maple that they use for the back of a fiddle/violin.

Hoss
 
Yep, looks like white oak that's been furniture-waxed a lot.
That's a nice piece. I think oak is under-rated for knife handles.
 
It’s quarter sawn white oak that was most likely fumed with ammonia to achieve that color, that was common practice for that style furniture, when you cut and sand the piece it will turn very light. fiddleback is a term used to describe how much curl is on a piece of wood, it is not limited to maple. Quarter sawn material is cut differently than a flat sawn board, looking up how a saw mill cuts lumber should explain the difference if you are curious. Oak has rays that appear when it’s cut like that.
 
Josh beat me to it - the pattern is formed by quarter sawing the log. Google "quarter sawn" and you can see how the log is cut to get flat sawn and quarter sawn from the same log.
 
I've heared stripes like that in oak been referred to as tiger stripe oak.
Is that correct/common or just somebody with a lot of imagination?

Oak has large pores. You can take the time to fill the pores, it gives a beautiful result.
You can get sanding sealer for that, but since a knife handle is small, just the oil you use as a finish will be enough
 
You are correct Bart, quarter sawn oak is often refered to as tiger oak or tiger stripe oak.
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Just a note, but to get the really nice quarter sawn look (with or without ammonia fuming), white oak works much better than red oak. All of the Craftsman style furniture is based off of white oak because the quarter sawn ray flecks are much more prominent and because it takes a nice brown color with ammonia fuming.
 
I would avoid cutting up ray oak furniture for knife handles. :D But seriously, the douchey crowd has gone buck wild over the past few years for anything that they would consider remotely "mid century modern" (yes, I know the Craftsman is older than that, but some of them don't. LOL) so furniture like that can be valuable. My youngest brother and his wife have their house outfitted with a lot of that type of furniture and IMO, that "ray" figure makes an otherwise pretty bland wood look pretty snazzy.
 
Joshua Fisher said:
Half sawing is not a type of cut when it comes to lumber, you have plain sawn, live sawn, rift sawn, and quarter sawn. Quarter sawn will show ray flecks in red and white oak.here is a good link to show the types of cuts in the lumber industry and how the different cuts look on a board. https://maconhardwood.com/industry-...ain-sawn-vs-quarter-sawn-vs-rift-sawn-lumber/
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You are correct. I misremembered the term. It is quarter sawn wood that produces the rays.
 
Two of the 8 chair set are broken(no one has any interest in having them repaired) and will be burned so it’s a use it or loose it situation.
 
Bart, nice knife, but if you want to make it really nice:
Get a plastic storage box (with a snap-tight lid) about the size of loaf of bread. Put a piece of wood in it to set the knife on. Set the knife blade on the block and put a weight (steel,brick,etc) on the blade so the handle is in the air. Put a sponge in the box under the handle ( not touching) and put 20-30 ml of ammonium hydroxide (ammonia) on the sponge. Close the box lid and set in a warm room for a day. The ammonia will "smoke"or "fume" the wood to a nice color and make the rays and flecks stand out. Check regularly, and when it is a tad darker than you want, remove, wipe off well, and finish sand. Apply whatever finish you like. Oil finished work best.

The brass will darken, but will brighten up in finish sanding.

I haven't done oak smoking in a long time. I was able to get the professional grade 20% ammonia. It is much more dangerous than household ammonia.Household ammonia will work, but takes longer.
 
Hengelo_77 said:
Six chairs make a good set and leaves you lots of handle blocks.

Sooner or later every knife maker realises that most furniture is made out of knife handle blocks
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I struggle with keeping pieces big enough for guitars. I have some quarter sawn white oak put aside for two guitars.
 
I won't smoke this knife but I'll keep that technique in mind for a future project.

I live in Germany, and over here oak was used on (almost) all old farm houses and stables etc
I made my workshop in an old stable next to my house. Nobody knows how old it is but the house is 110+ yo, the stable is older.
The oak it is build from is reused from an even older structure so it may be a few hundered years old.
I've saved all beams and planks that I removed for setting up shop.
Some will turn in to knives that will realy come from my workshop.
 
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