What timber is this?

[Knurl]

I have an old school desk probably dating to the 40s or 50s, which seats two kids and with a drop-down flap over each desk and inkwells.

The seat, backrest and desk-cabinet are made from a dense hardwood with very straight grain that is barely visible. Some spots exhibit pencil-thin charcoal veins from an ancient forest fire.

I have sanded off the old shellac and the timber color is a pale caramel similar to Blackbutt. But Blackbutt has more pronounced graining.

It's a heavy timber, but what could this timber be?

[mic-d]

[Arron]

Without a picture, were just guessing, but it sounds like coachwood to me. It was a pretty common wood at the time for this sort of furniture too.

Usually, coachwood has a distinctive smell like caramel. It may not always, especially if very old.

Arron

[charlsie]

alot of them were made of vic ash also if you have a look at the front of the desk you should see a number i'm pretty sure this is the desk size but i don't know if it works with the year level ;ie desk 3 grade 3 if anyone knows i wouldn't mind knowing.

[Knurl]

There are no numbers anywhere because I have sanded the lot and examined each face.

Here are some pictures.

[IanW]

Ash (Charlsie was on the money).
Certainly not Coachwood!
Cheers,

[toolbagsPLUS]

Looks like blackwood (tas) or black wattyl (Qld) or Sally wattle (NSW) depending which state you are in.


Cheers

Steve

[Knurl]

Thanks for the suggestions. I doubt if I have any kind of wattle because wattle has a contrasting grain and this does not. Wattle is also (in my experience) a fairly lightweight timber, whereas this stuff is really heavyweight. The seat is 30cm by 100cm and weighs about 10Kg.

[IanW]

Wattle is also (in my experience) a fairly lightweight timber, whereas this stuff is really heavyweight. The seat is 30cm by 100cm and weighs about 10Kg.

Knurl - Mountain Ash has a density of 680kg/cubic metre & Blackwood 640 - not a lot of difference in a casual hefting. They should be pretty easy to tell apart in the hand by anyone who has worked with both.

Photos of side grain are very tough to call on since small areas of so many woods can look alike, & colours are extremely variable. This is one reason why so many woods of such widely different species have the same common names.
And why you usually get such a wide variety of answers to these sorts of questions!

Cheers,

[artme]

Certainly not Coachwood. It would be interesting to know where it was made.

Many if those old desks were Hoop Pine and some were Blackbutt.

If made in Vic. it is most probably Mountain Ash.

[Knurl]

I'd like to change my weight estimate.. this timber is not that heavy. It's certainly lighter than blackbutt. I don't know that we'll get a definitive answer as to species and I do not know where the desk was made, except that I bought it in Sydney in about 1978, when it was already about 40+ years old.

I plan to clean and then polish the timber - probably with an oil but NOT a wax finish. I want a high quality matt sheen. What sort of treatment should I apply? Do I need a sanding sealer? I'll smooth to 1200 then rub with brown paper.

[charlsie]

dave the first pic definitly looks like ash ,the only reason i reckon is my old man cut loads of it for years as other sawmills in victoria,and alot went to government works after the war.i could be quite wrong though given that it was bought in sydney.i'm guessing there wasn't on big factory producing school desks but a lot of smaller ones using locally sourced timbers. so if there's a timber that is similar to vic ash in nsw it might be that. anyway i hope you can see the number on this desk ( it's no.3). personally i,d finish yours in a marine grade satin poly eurothane i wish i had. it would have survived a bit better outside