Identifying furniture wood by it's grain

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TylerW

TylerW

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Hey guys:

I have a stereo cabinet dating from the late '60's-early '70's that came from overseas. It is handmade of solid wood. It is supposed to be constructed of a certain wood, but I'd like a second opinion. If I post some photos of the grain, can some of you that work with wood make educated guesses based on that?

Thanks.
 
Haha, had to do that eh?

Anyway, the camera couldn't handle that level of detail so I made a video which should work better.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUTWO32GPFU&feature=youtu.be"]Can someone identify this wood? - YouTube[/ame]
 
The grain of the wood APPEARS to be Red Oak, with a dark stain on it.

The inside of the door that you showed at the beginning to of the video apprears to be veneered ( either rotary cut or rift cut), hence the repeating figure patters.
 
Looks like Honduras or Phillipine Mahogany. Door backs are veneer. They used a lot of Phillipine and Honduras Mahogany back in that day. It machines very nicely as it is really a medium density wood and due to the somewhat tight grain, it finishes up nice with a stain. Not to be confused with African Mahogany, which is a high end Mahogany that is used sometimes as a pattern wood and great for carving ball and claw feet.
 
The carcass does appear to be a red oak. The doors look more like a mahogany grain. I had a hard time getting a good look as you kept the camera moving. By the time I could pause to take a closer look the camera had already moved and focus was lost... Also, I wanted to see that grain pattern on the very top - the part where you gave a tease and then said it wasn't important and moved on!
C
 
northeastmopar said:
Looks like Honduras or Phillipine Mahogany. Door backs are veneer. They used a lot of Phillipine and Honduras Mahogany back in that day. It machines very nicely as it is really a medium density wood and due to the somewhat tight grain, it finishes up nice with a stain. Not to be confused with African Mahogany, which is a high end Mahogany that is used sometimes as a pattern wood and great for carving ball and claw feet.
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x2
 
Why does it matter? Do you like the dang thing? If so, then it's balsa wood. lol
 

northeastmopar said:
Looks like Honduras or Phillipine Mahogany. Door backs are veneer. They used a lot of Phillipine and Honduras Mahogany back in that day. It machines very nicely as it is really a medium density wood and due to the somewhat tight grain, it finishes up nice with a stain. Not to be confused with African Mahogany, which is a high end Mahogany that is used sometimes as a pattern wood and great for carving ball and claw feet.
Click to expand...

I agree on the doors and front, but the carcass does look like red oak.

Back in the day red oak was the peasant's wood, while cherry, mahogany, walnut, and chestnut were the woods of the "upper crust" so to speak.
Hard to believe that such a pretty wood would be considered "lower class", but, that's how it was...


Very enjoyable thread, by the way. :thumbup:
 
clhyer said:
The carcass does appear to be a red oak. The doors look more like a mahogany grain. I had a hard time getting a good look as you kept the camera moving. By the time I could pause to take a closer look the camera had already moved and focus was lost... Also, I wanted to see that grain pattern on the very top - the part where you gave a tease and then said it wasn't important and moved on!
C
Click to expand...

x2.
 
LOL, you guys are always a lot of help and very amusing at the same time...morning wood:D

Anyway, this stereo cabinet is of unknown origin. It came into my family's possession in the late 1970's when my father purchased it from a co-worker at Redstone Arsenal here in Huntsville.

The backstory was that it was made of teakwood and had been brought back from Korea with the co-worker. There's an old Pan-American lot number sticker on the back so it evidently did make a trip somewhere at some time. That's the only marking on it ANYWHERE. It is not screwed together.

At the time it was filled with equipment- a Kenwood KR-6170 "Jumbo Jet" receiver/rhythm generator, Teac reel-to-reel, 8-track and a Garrard turntable, along with a pair of Sansui SP-5000 speakers.

Very much a period piece, but my father passed in '94 so we've been lugging it around for the last 20 years. It's huge and so it's time to pass it on to a new owner. The equipment all sold to 2 different people and now the cabinet is left.

I'd like to list it accurately as far as what it is made of since if it IS Teak, that changes things dramatically.

I'll be glad to make another video if you'll tell me exactly what you need to see.

Thanks again for the help.
 
If the back or bottom is not stained , may give a better clue to the guys "in the know"
 
Just list it as "Solid hardwood of unknown species", and post a bunch of pics.
 
Possibly teak, but the doors look more like mahogany. Red Oak is a North American species, so if the unit was made overseas it's highly unlikely that anything is Red Oak. My guess is a lower grade of mahogany that the doors.
 
from my personal experience replacing old deck boards on boats mostly '60's Chris-Craft the decks were Teak, hard as hell, and let me tell ya the grain in ONE piece repeats itself A LOT so that "pattern" so to speak would be a Teak trait, HOWEVER it looks to have been sealed with some type of protective coating most commonly it be a Shellac, I'd almost bet money I don't have, The REAL question is, you got it for a good price I'd say Teak is NOT cheap by any sort of the imagination, BUT because of this I'd love to know what blade they used to cut it and do the routering/shaping to it, as that wood is like routering steel I-Beams!

The darkness of the wood seen in the video I bet would be the natural darkening over time "age" of the coating, which the old stuff, was VERY WELL KNOWN in the wood working field to be a trait as well, to re do ANY of it, you'd have to merely "soften" the coating with a remover, BUT NOT to remove it, but pull the darker areas to spread that excess over the lighter area to get a uniform color over-all....

Be sure to keep NEW drill bits in hand at all times working on the wood, and saw blades made for steel cutting WITH teeth, my suggestion would be Frued, "Diablo" blades called "Steel Demons" BEST blade you can find for such I got one and cut stainless steel counter tops with a single blade that STILL cuts wood without ANY splintering.....This blade? I've had going on 2 and a half years, paid $40 at Home Depot, and you just can't beat it........ I don't even change the blade to go from steel to wood anymore....And it rips through nails without loosing a single carbide tooth!

HTH
 
I bow to the wood masters... :notworth: lol...

How do we know this piece was imported? Are there any marks on it anywhere to indicate that it was made anywhere but here in the US?

Also, Red Oak is native to the US, but was introduced to Europe in the 17th century. I've personally seen wood workers in England and Lithuania working with "native" red oak.
 
Sorry Guys. There is no Red Oak anywhere on this pieces. First off, if there was red oak and the doors are mahogany, the stain saturation would not even be close and they would show as two different woods. This is made from a Honduras or Phillipine Mahogany as I stated earlier. I work with wood all day long.
www.CRCcarpentryandwoodworking.com
 
I haven't seen morning wood in a long time but have cleaned a lot of teak on boats as a kid and always admired it. I also have worked with a good deal of exotic species when building fine furniture years ago. I have noticed that there are some species of Mahogany that look very much like teak in grain but not figure. My bet is that is Mahogany. And yes the inside panels of the door does look to be a Mahogany veneer.
 
If this thing was all "morning wood" I would be keeping it.

Stay tuned for a better, updated and improved video in the next hour or so. This time I want an answer!!

LOL, just kidding.
 
TylerW said:
If this thing was all "morning wood" I would be keeping it.

Stay tuned for a better, updated and improved video in the next hour or so. This time I want an answer!!

LOL, just kidding.
Click to expand...

Still pictures would be a lot easier to see. All the moving around on a video doesn't allow a person to study the picture.
 
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