Acoustic Guitar Construction

Whut It Iz?

Help, help, I need some wood identification.

I've had some 6 or 8 rough-sawn red oak boards, 1x6 stuff, 30 to 36” long, in the corner of my shop for probably 15 years. Got no idea where they came from but may be from my late brother-in-law's stash as he was making some little furniture and things before he passed and he had scrounging rights from a mill-work place in Battle Creek.

Over the years they've partly been used for one thing or another. The ones 32” or more in length I can make guitar sides/backs from; used a piece for my #5 build.

When I planed wood for #5 I planed these 3 pieces, but they didn't look like red oak. Stuck them down in the basement where I can control the humidity, and forgot them. But I want to start a couple new guitars, and saw them when I went down to look at the dehumidifier setting.

I got a friend here, fellow woodworker, retired arborist. He's got a good shop, his own sawmill, and a big stash of useful woods, and has cut and felled trees of all descriptions for miles around.

Took these 3 pieces, now about .125” thick, over to him today, but he had no idea what they were either.

I'm hoping somebody here will recognize what specie this is. I've got an old carpentry book somewhere that had color plates of samples of various hardwoods, at least the domestics, if I get a chance to hunt for it.

When I saw the wood before reading the text, I thought flat sawn oak. I see that pattern alot on floors. I do not know if it is red oak.

It does look oaky to me, and red oaky at that. But I would not bet money on it.

Send a sample off to these folks, https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/cent ... tsheet.php. They'll identify it for free. Takes about 2 months.

Carl, many thanks for the URL and jogging my memory. And I'd forgotten about the old Agriculture Dept. books I've got, the Wood Handbook, etc. I've also got a couple carpentry books that are at least 50 years old, and I would have sworn that one of them had color plates, but I sure can't find one that has them.

I may yet cut a piece and send to get it identified. Not sure this will work if the piece is only 1/8” thick, though, as they were wanting a 1x3x6” or some such. I've got enough to make two guitar sides plus probably 2/3 of a back with those 3 pieces, and the back doesn't need to be 32” long so I could cut a little.

I'm sure this is not red oak, let alone white oak for that matter. My retired tree service/arborist friend, Dwayne, and I also totally agree that it isn't hickory or ash.

I'm attaching the URL to an old Ag. Dept. pdf that does show some native hardwoods, though, as well as some softwoods. The color plates show end grain, quarter-sawn, and plain-sawn grain. This is a frustratingly partial list, however, showing no Eastern White Pine like Michigan used to have in abundance, nor the cedar they still cut in the Upper Peninsula.
See: https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/usda/ah101.pdf

Still haven't identified the mystery wood. Gonna send a sample to the government URL Carl suggested. Not sure they can identify it without more thickness. Photos attached of the treble side in mold, .080" thick, mas o menos. This stuff bent very nicely. I've got the bass side bent now, in mold, ready for end blocks.

Pam suggested I show a piece to the sawmill guys over in Kalamazoo, Figures of Wood, see if they can identify it. Gonna do that too.

Well hell, Will, that's cherry, aint it??