Timber identification

Hi guys,

I bought some floating floorboards and have been laying them in a small spare room in my house. As I got them for $35 AUS on a craigslist type website here called gumtree, I was pretty happy that they are solid timber.

I would like to know what timber species they are though. I am thinking they are probably rosewood as they have a strong sweet smell almost like freshly baked sweet biscuits. They also look similar in colour and grain to the fretboard on my electric guitar which I know is rosewood.

Here are some images. (Width of board is 125mm)

Front

Back

I am no expert but this looks like live oak:
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/live-oak/

Can you take a shot of the end grain? Is it very dense? That may be a bamboo product. To make it, they open up the bamboo and compress it together so it is usually very dense (my 900 sq feet had a ship weight of 3000 lbs). It also will splinter on the ends rather than crack down the grain. Normally it has a very sporadic grain pattern on it without any noticeable cathedrals and can be fairly streaky. The end grain will be porous, but does not have any structure to it like a normal piece.


I’m in the bamboo camp, from the greater SE Asia/Oceania area.

I really really doubt Rosewood. If you can find it in quantities, it’s $30/board foot. Even back in the day when some rich guy would use it for flooring instead of fine furniture, it was horribly expensive.

But aren’t you the resident furniture/therefore wood expert?

Bamboo

The end grain looks exactly like the pic you have posted, so you’ve convinced me.

Good points, both of them. I like to think I am fairly good at spotting and identifying timber but this one stumped me.

I have mostly dealt with Oak, Ash, Beech, Pine, Jarrah, Walnut and Maple. The only things I have which are bamboo are a chopping oard at home and the slats on my kamado grill fold out shelves. Both are very light in colour.