Mystery Wood

Cedar

-- You know, this site doesn't require woodworking skills, but you should know how to write.

nice little bowl chips,that wood im not even gonna guess.lets just call it pretty wood.

-- working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

I’m betting on aromatic cedar and Ramen noodles with green onion tips – YUM ! for both

-- Dick, Malvern Ohio - my biggest fear is that when I die, my wife sells my toys for what I told her I paid for them

If it is cedar, the smell would leave little doubt. It is also pretty soft and light. My first impression was mesquite but they usually don’t have that much sapwood, here in TX anyway. Regardless, it is pretty.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Pretty bowl.

You said it was heavy and watching the turning process the way it cut and how quickly our fiinish built up to a shine it is obviously not a soft cedar wood. I’m going to speculate and say it is Juniper....

-- Les B, Oregon

Pretty bowl.

You said it was heavy and watching the turning process the way it cut and how quickly our fiinish built up to a shine it is obviously not a soft cedar wood. I m going to speculate and say it is Juniper....

- LesB

-- working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

Fun fact, there are no native cedars in North America. Most trees we call cedar are in the the cypress family which includes the junipers and arborvitae. True cedars (genus Cedrus) are in the pine family. Deodar cedar which is a true cedar is often planted as an ornamental and probably the only true cedar that most of us have seen. Eastern red and mountain or Ashe cedars are junipers while western red cedar is one of the arborvitae species.

-- Nathan, TX -- Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.

Cedar

- Phil32

Looking at it I would have said cedar too. BUT it doesn’t smell, cut or feel (weight wise for the size) to be cedar. Good guess though and for all we know it might be. Thanks

nice little bowl chips,that wood im not even gonna guess.lets just call it pretty wood.

- pottz

LOL pretty wood is a good species :)

I m betting on aromatic cedar and Ramen noodles with green onion tips – YUM ! for both

- recycle1943

I would ahve thought cedar too, by the looks. However, it doesn’t have the smell of cedar and its much harder. But it could be a strange breed of cedar I’ve not seen before. Thanks

If it is cedar, the smell would leave little doubt. It is also pretty soft and light. My first impression was mesquite but they usually don t have that much sapwood, here in TX anyway. Regardless, it is pretty.

- Lazyman

I love your thought process, because I went through the same steps in my head… except mesquite. I didn’t think to look at that and to your point (judging by the sap ring size) it was a huge tree (roughly 3ft dia.?). Only the bowl knows and it aint talking! LOL

Pretty bowl.

You said it was heavy and watching the turning process the way it cut and how quickly our fiinish built up to a shine it is obviously not a soft cedar wood. I m going to speculate and say it is Juniper....

- LesB

Yeah I don’t know much about Juniper trees, so… maybe? Yeah it was certainly not soft wood and didn’t have the cedar smell. Thanks for watching the video

Fun fact, there are no native cedars in North America. Most trees we call cedar are in the the cypress family which includes the junipers and arborvitae. True cedars (genus Cedrus) are in the pine family. Deodar cedar which is a true cedar is often planted as an ornamental and probably the only true cedar that most of us have seen. Eastern red and mountain or Ashe cedars are junipers while western red cedar is one of the arborvitae species.

- Lazyman

Looking at the data I could find about cyrpess trees, junipers and eastern or western cedars all seem to be softer wood, compared to the wood I turned. BUT there may be some harder wood… lets just umbrella them under cypress family name… that I am not aware of.

Some have suggested it might be cocobolo? I dismissed cocobolo because the wood I turned was more red and I thought cocobolo was more brown. Any thoughts on that?

Fun fact, there are no native cedars in North America. Most trees we call cedar are in the the cypress family which includes the junipers and arborvitae. True cedars (genus Cedrus) are in the pine family. Deodar cedar which is a true cedar is often planted as an ornamental and probably the only true cedar that most of us have seen. Eastern red and mountain or Ashe cedars are junipers while western red cedar is one of the arborvitae species.

- Lazyman

Looking at the data I could find about cyrpess trees, junipers and eastern or western cedars all seem to be softer wood, compared to the wood I turned. BUT there may be some harder wood… lets just umbrella them under cypress family name… that I am not aware of.

Some have suggested it might be cocobolo? I dismissed cocobolo because the wood I turned was more red and I thought cocobolo was more brown. Any thoughts on that?

- MovingChips

-- working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.

The grain, shape, heartwood/sapwood contrast….. a very attractive noodle bowl.

Thanks for posting.

Bill in MI