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COLLECTION G

A collection of 44 samples of world wide wood with sizes that vary but are generally about 2 to 2 1/2" wide, 3/8" to 3/4" thick (most around 1/2"), and all about 9" long. Many of them have either printed labels or written labels but unfortunately even for those, they are not all legible. The printed labels and the general appearance of the wood lead me to believe that this collection is quite old, possibly as much as 100 years (based also on the fact that they came with other collections, one of which is definitely 100+ years old). The lables that are legible are for common names. There are no botanical names shown.

These have presented me with an excellent opportunity to show how the surface aging of the wood is just that ... SURFACE aging. On each of these I sanded the back surface and I have before and after pics of that surface in each case, showing how the surface aging (on all but a few of them) is only surface deep. I have also done my fine sanding (1200 grit) on them for the "end grain update" pics for the anatomy pages on this site.


the collection


Some of the legible labels (spruce, silver leaf poplar, and pignut hickory)


Some of the illegible labels (and several had either no label or a place where you could barely make out that there had been a label)




front side and the end grain of a sample of sumac (Rhus spp.)


the second face, before and after sanding down the surface to show how the patina from aging is only surface deep.



end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

A list of the woods that had legible labels, AND which fit on the wood ID site:

apple
ash, tamo
ash, white
aspen
buckeye
butternut
catalpa
cedar, misc
cherry, misc
cottonwood
hickory
hophornbeam
larch
locust, black
mahogany, honduran
mulberry
oak, misc
osage orange, argentine
purpleheart
spanish cedar
spruce, misc
sumac
sycamore
tupelo