What Kind of Wood is ...

Ask your wood and other materials questions here. Please DO NOT post pictures and ask us to identify your wood, we have found that accurate ID is nearly impossible, and such discussions will be deleted. Thanks.
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Alan Peterson
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What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by Alan Peterson »

..."Jakarta"?

I'm tooling around the website for Viridian Reclaimed Wood in Portland Ore., and one of the species they have is Jakarta, reclaimed from transpacific shipping crates. It looks quite nice, but I've never heard of the stuff.

When I query Google, it directs me to flooring sites where "jakarta" is a buzzword for some manufactured flooring product. Anyone have a better answer? is the stuff any good for luthierie?
Alan Peterson
Name in Anagram Form: "Resonant Peal"
Chuck Tweedy
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by Chuck Tweedy »

You sure the crates didn't just come from Jakarta?? :lol:

Most Asian shipping crates the I see now are made of meranti of one flavor or another. Definitely no great shakes. (pun intended)
Likes to drink Rosewood Juice
David King
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by David King »

From the Viridian website:
Jakarta Market Blend is a mix of dense hardwoods from the tropical lowlands of Asia
This place is close by but I have to say I put flooring sellers about one notch above used car sellers.
John Sonksen
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by John Sonksen »

David King wrote:From the Viridian website:
Jakarta Market Blend is a mix of dense hardwoods from the tropical lowlands of Asia
This place is close by but I have to say I put flooring sellers about one notch above used car sellers.
David, I'm from Portland too, what are your favorite places to get wood around here? I've been to Gilmer and Moxon, and my sister works for Endura. Just curious if you have any other spots?

I've been to Goby too, but not for guitar stuff.
David King
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by David King »

John,
I buy most of my wood at Cross-cut hardwoods on NW front Ave. They are very friendly and have a lot of stock in a clean, well organized, well lit space. I love that fact that I can buy exactly the length I need for a project. I also shop at the Woodcrafters store at NE Davis and 6th. It's a good place for tooling and finishing materials. Both places offer a pro discount on wood. Goby's bargain boxes have yielded some amazing finds at scrap prices.
John Sonksen
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by John Sonksen »

David King wrote:John,
I buy most of my wood at Cross-cut hardwoods on NW front Ave. They are very friendly and have a lot of stock in a clean, well organized, well lit space. I love that fact that I can buy exactly the length I need for a project. I also shop at the Woodcrafters store at NE Davis and 6th. It's a good place for tooling and finishing materials. Both places offer a pro discount on wood. Goby's bargain boxes have yielded some amazing finds at scrap prices.
I was in Woodcrafter's on Saturday actually, that place is a candy store. I've been to crosscuts a ton too, my headboard for my bed is capped with a piece of Peruvian Walnut from there. Lots of good wood in this town :D

sorry to hijack the thread Alan! Out of curiosity Alan, have you looked at the Gilmer website? They have pictures of nearly every piece of their current stock, and they have quite a variety.
Michael Lewis
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by Michael Lewis »

Some years ago I used some wood from shipping crates. It looked sort of like hard and dense mahogany or more like a rosewood, very hard and heavy. I found later it was apitong (one of several names used), a wood used for lining the floors and lower walls of box cars because it is so wear resistant. When I tried to resaw some of it my band saw dulled noticeably after a couple rips due to the high mineral content.

You need to identify the species and then judge the quality of the individual pieces you have.
Simon Magennis
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Re: What Kind of Wood is ...

Post by Simon Magennis »

Alan Peterson wrote:..."Jakarta"?

I'm tooling around the website for Viridian Reclaimed Wood in Portland Ore., and one of the species they have is Jakarta ..
They don't claim that this is a species. If you look at their description of "jakarta market blend" (for example) this is what they say:

" DESCRIPTION: A rich mix of dense tropical hardwoods rescued from transpacific shipping."

" SPECIES: Mempening, Bintangor, Agoho, Rengas, Mertas, Nayotah, Simpoh, Bitis, Thitka and others (list available upon request). The variability in species is consistent across lots so recurring orders will have a similar random look and feel."

Never heard of any of these names before - may also be commercial names rather than species names.

It certainly looks interesting. If you could poke round in their stock before they complete processing it, there would surely be some interesting stuff.
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