Anyone have guesses on what kind of tree this might be from?

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

A potential client saw a similar pattern on a Texas elm entry table of mine, the "tree within a tree" look, and wants a large single slab dining table just like it but Texas elm doesn't grow big enough and I can't figure out what the wood is in this picture she sent me. She wants a 40" wide table so it's got to be from a huge tree. We don't have anything in Texas that grows straight and that big. Looking on slab sites, I couldn't find anything like it except maybe a couple of ash slabs. And none big enough for what she wants. Sugar maple maybe? This photo may be no more than a 28-30" wide table. Kinda think like most potential clients I get for dining room tables, she wants a unicorn. "Can you make me a 12' mesquite table?" "No." "Can you make me a 7' coffee table that lifts to dining table height?" "No." "Can you make me a table from a 40" wide single slab that looks like this that doesn't actually exist?"

 

[capetrees]

A potential client saw a similar pattern on a Texas elm entry table of mine, the "tree within a tree" look, and wants a large single slab dining table just like it but Texas elm doesn't grow big enough and I can't figure out what the wood is in this picture she sent me. She wants a 40" wide table so it's got to be from a big tree. We don't have anything in Texas that grows straight and that big. Looking on slab sites, I couldn't find anything like it except maybe a couple of ash slabs. And none big enough for what she wants, which is going to cost a small fortune from anywhere I could actually find it.

View attachment 1225354

White oak?

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

White oak?

Haven't seen many white oaks with that much outer white and the very defined caramel interior. The big 30-34" white oak slabs I've milled are all fairly uniform in color, all pretty light. Part of the problem is looking at raw slabs it's next to impossible to tell what they really look like without planing them and wetting them to really see the grain and color. I've seen that pattern more often in narrower trees but almost never in massive ones. This is a white oak waterfall coffee table i did for example.

 

[Chainsaw Pete]

That table is not oak. You are looking for a wood species that grows with a lot of sap wood (light color) and a slow progression of heart wood (dark color).

You might go to the exotic lumber websites and look at their pictures of large slabs of wood. Perhaps you can pick out the species that way. You can also contact Keim Lumber in Charm, Ohio. They sell large slabs of exotic wood, and if they post pictures online that might help you too. Keim's slabs range up to 10' tall and maybe 5' wide and many of the prices will take your breath away.

 

[pdqdl]

Find a big walnut slab. It will always resemble that dark heartwood with the white outer.


Hickory is another option, and I suspect pecan would be similar.



Walnut is probably the only tree you will find wide enough, though.

Rosewood would have that general appearance, although the colors would likely be far more vivid.


Black locust has a similar light/dark contrast, and it would make a very sturdy table.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Hickory is another option, and I suspect pecan would be similar.
View attachment 1225388

Is that one hickory? That's what I thought it most likely was, but I couldn't find one that looked like that because hickory doesn't grow big enough most of the time. Pecan can, but isn't all that defined in color/grain pattern. Lots of it around here, but haven't bothered working with much. The client had contacted a number of people who said sure, they could make that, but she didn't really trust them, rightly enough. She's really particular about wanting exactly that pattern, not one of the other woods with a small amount of edge contrast. With walnut, the heartwood is too dark and not enough sapwood contrast most of the time.

I think I found about the closest thing in a slab to it - this 15' hickory slab which is about twice as much as I want. I'm only interested in minimum width, the entire crotch end of it would be waste to me. Slab places always do this, they don't sell a relatively consistent dining table size piece, they try to sell you some epic "conference table" slab at twice the board feet and twice the price. When I mill for table making, I keep the width variation under 6" and reduce it even more making the table. The narrower half of this slab could have produced at least the table in that picture. But hickory will never be big enough to produce a consistent 40" wide table.

 

[dboyd351]

pdqdl was right on with the species that have that heartwood/sapwood contrast
Black locust certainly does, but I doubt you will find one big enough and straight enough.
Your unicorn statement hits the nail on the head.
I wonder if something like a Redwood has enough contrast? Certainly no problem on the diameter ane straightness.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Your unicorn statement hits the nail on the head.
I wonder if something like a Redwood has enough contrast? Certainly no problem on the diameter ane straightness.

She'll either have to settle for a 32-33" wide table maybe flaring at the ends to 36" to get what she wants, or settle for a different type of wood, that's pretty clear. Also her budget isn't really unicorn budget. People who want such things have to understand they're getting into "price is no object" territory. Bookmatched slabs it can be done without breaking the bank, giant single slabs not so much. These trees took 100, 200, 300 years to grow this big.

 

[dboyd351]

These trees took 100, 200, 300 years to grow this big.

Exactly!

 

[JSMississippi]

A few more ideas, although I think others have hit it much better:

Sapele can get that big, but the heartwood/sapwood ratio is a little fat: https://cswoods.com/collections/sap...dgsbSF9RjETGL_4-1BGpJf41p-l59vtM_aW6p1a8OxWmH

Same for African Mahogany: https://cswoods.com/collections/sip...CuDXLU-UfSZF_o4XSfXZNFTRlpF0mMFaMCuUX5rBJbNul

Definitely getting into the "price is no object" territory as already stated!


Poplar might be too soft (some consider it less pretty, but I like it personally).

Beech has a more similar heartwood/sapwood ratio, just less contrast, and can get that big!

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Client found some surprisingly huge and inexpensive hickory around 40" wide on some slab sites, dimensions were right but not enough whitewood and a lot of checking. Also found a suitable maple slab shown here for about $2000. Just would have to trim a foot off, fill and maybe butterfly the crack at the one end. She had wanted 2" thick and it's 1 5/8" so will keep looking for the unicorn. Just beginning to learn what you can do with Google Lens of uploading a pic of something you like and finding anything similar that's out there on the internet.


I love poplar myself but not quite what she's looking for. I have some beautiful 30-32" slabs fully air dried now on my back patio that I'm looking forward to making tables with, haven't yet unstrapped them to surface them and see how good they look. But all the mantel slabs and such I have run through the planer from that tree are gorgeous. Didn't have too much trouble drying it straight either, which most folks claim is near impossible so don't bother with it. Think too many folks set it and forget it with strapping, where I've learned to keep retightening every few days in that critical first month it's shedding a ton of water. I'd love to find a massive 40-50" poplar trunk to mill with my 72" bar.

Maybe they get bought up quick, but what's really rare is any actual uniform table shapes in huge slabs like the maple one above. Nearly all of the other maple from that site was wildly uneven and messy, and is true of most huge slabs. This maple slab is the kind of width consistency I try to mill most of my slabs. I don't bother with much of the base flare or crotch flare of a trunk.

 

[Mike Van]

My guess would be cottonwood or sycamore - We have some over 5 ft diameter here.

 

[pdqdl]

Both those woods are rather light colored, and both are prone to excessive checking. Cottonwood is a poor quality lumber, in general. The only thing I know for it's use is on disposable/one-time pallets.

It is probably superlative at making ashes for lye production, but that is just a guess.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Both those woods are rather light colored, and both are prone to excessive checking. Cottonwood is a poor quality lumber, in general. The only thing I know for it's use is on disposable/one-time pallets.

It is probably superlative at making ashes for lye production, but that is just a guess.

You nailed what the original table is I think with that slab from Wunderwoods - found another similar on their site shown below. But that type of hickory with that pattern is kind of exclusive to sub-30" hickory I think. The largest of hickories don't look like that. Searching both big slab vendor websites and Marketplace in different parts of the country, surprised how cheap some people are selling some really nice huge slabs for, but it's an oversaturated market and folks without professional websites and delivery have to rely on their small local market. Sycamore and cottonwood are low value slabs due to not many folks being wild about the coloring of sycamore (people aren't into oranges/reds that much) and cottonwood just being shunned as low grade low density wood - though both can make beautiful tables. I'll post pictures when I make tables from my sycamore and cottonwood slabs, I think they'll surprise some folks.