Is this Walnut or something else? just curious

[Mike in Arkansas]

Just reclaimed some half decent 1x4's about 4 feet long from a pallet. The boards look like walnut, and while not blemish free would be suitable for small projects. I have some old walnut boards at home that are at least 50-60 years old and compared to those, these reclaimed boards seem very light weight. I can't do a direct comparison right now but was wondering if this wood could be something else? Some kind of dark colored Asian wood perhaps? It seems pretty hard, I can just barely make an impression with my thumb nail by pressing hard and there is no particular odor. Maybe walnut isn't what it used to be? Thanks for your time.

[Duane Bozarth]

Almost certainly in a pallet it's an exotic--I'd say the chances are less than 1/1000 that's it's black walnut. That said, if it works well, no reason not to use it. Lots of these are a pita to work which is why it is pallet wood...

[Leon]

It could be, Pallets are made up of most any throw away wood. I have seen Mahogany and Oak often. Typically the wood is way too contaminated with sand or dirt to warrant using.

[hylourgos]

Could be poplar, the poor man's walnut. Poplar is also lighter. Hmmm...

H.

[Jason Quick]

T'would be my guess... I picked up some largish (3x3) pallet bits last week that were a mix of poplar, cottonwood (or some other low-density whitewood) and mahogany. After I ripped about 1/16 off each side and squared the ends, the wood (especially the "mahogany") is pretty nice stuff.

Jason

[dadiOH]

The poplar you have seen is waaaaaaaay different from what I have seen.

[toller]

I bought a large load of luan. Some of the were colored like walnut. The grain was completely different, but the color was about the same.

It is much more likely to be be some obsure tropical wood than walnut. But like someone else said, if it looks nice, what difference does it make what it is called.

[Andy Dingley]

Poplar that's confusable with walnut ? That's some funny trees you guys in Leftpondia have.

My guess is Random Tropical Stuff, and not walnut. Can you see annual rings in it, or is it a typically tropical where seasonal variation is minimal ?

[Ba r r y]

I haven't seen those trees in my parts of New Rightpondia.

Barry

[tom]

Around here the poor man's walnut is called butternut. I don't think I've ever seen nuts on a poplar tree :)

[Dave in Fairfax]

There are a lot of asian woods that look *sort of* like walnut. If it's splintery, it might be luan/phillipino mahogany. If it's insanely heavy, there's an acacia called ifit that loks like that. Can you post a pic to news:alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking?

Dave in Fairfax

[Dzine]

My guess is especially if it is on the heavy side, teak. I use reclaimed pallets in my business and have come across a few of these. As they are left outside for long periods the wood does not seem to deteriorate which confirms it for me.

[J. Clarke]

If the wood is heavier than walnut or maple, and especially if its appearance is such that it can easily be mistaken for walnut then it's not likely to be teak. There are many other hardwoods which are as or more decay resistant than teak, are relatively dense compared to teak, maple, and walnut, and have color and grain more like walnut than does teak. And they are vastly cheaper on the world market.

[Dzine]

Oh come on, Mike is a bit curious, needs a few suggestions. All you seem to have done is increase the possibilities. Without seeing and smelling the stuff how can anybody give a good guess ?

[Silvan]

True, although one thing just came to me. If the pallet is any kind of used at all, and it looks like walnut, it probably isn't. I used some walnut scraps as pegs to hold ropes to secure a tree I transplanted last year, and I've just come from having a look at them. A year in the weather, which is typical of the life of the average pallet, has yielded a dreary gray wood that looks about like, well, pretty much any other weathered gray wood. There's not much to suggest that this is walnut at all.