I’m with pig3, although I’m thinking all cherry, face sawn and rift sawn. I have some old long leaf pine that I made some stair treads out of, you couldn’t dent them with a hammer!
Okay, that’s a little bit of an exageration, but not by much.
I work with 300+ year old long leaf almost daily. Not long leaf. long leaf pine will not dent with your thumb nail either.
Pine or fir.
Sand the bare wood in an inconspicuous place, like the edge of the door, and put your nose to it. Pine will smell like pine — faintly like pitch or turpentine, even if it’s old; walnut smells strongly nutty and acrid; cherry smells somewhat sweet. Then press your thumbnail into it. Even old-growth pine will dent fairly easily. A hardwood will not. It’s most likely chestnut, which won’t smell much, except vaguely like oak. Chestnut used to be very common until the blight got it.
Whatever it is, you are lucky – it is gorgeous.
Longleaf Pine. I’m almost 100% on that one.
I would guess a clear vertical grain fir. The fir that was available in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s was of a much higher quailty than what you find today. I have some circa 1910 fir doors in my house that look similar.
vertical looks like cherry. horizontal looks like mahogany.
not walnut
probably not old growth pine or long leaf pine
My guess pine. Even if it is somewhat hard, I would still say pine. The older pine looks a lot different than the pine we see in lumber yards today; not only is it a different pine, it will be denser than what we see today. I think the density is an attribute of the older growth trees which no longer exist or are (hopefully) safely out of the way of the logger.
I’m with pig3, although I’m thinking all cherry, face sawn and rift sawn. I have some old long leaf pine that I made some stair treads out of, you couldn’t dent them with a hammer!
Okay, that’s a little bit of an exageration, but not by much.
I work with 300+ year old long leaf almost daily. Not long leaf. long leaf pine will not dent with your thumb nail either.
Pine or fir.
Sand the bare wood in an inconspicuous place, like the edge of the door, and put your nose to it. Pine will smell like pine — faintly like pitch or turpentine, even if it’s old; walnut smells strongly nutty and acrid; cherry smells somewhat sweet. Then press your thumbnail into it. Even old-growth pine will dent fairly easily. A hardwood will not. It’s most likely chestnut, which won’t smell much, except vaguely like oak. Chestnut used to be very common until the blight got it.
Whatever it is, you are lucky – it is gorgeous.
Longleaf Pine. I’m almost 100% on that one.
I would guess a clear vertical grain fir. The fir that was available in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s was of a much higher quailty than what you find today. I have some circa 1910 fir doors in my house that look similar.
vertical looks like cherry. horizontal looks like mahogany.
not walnut
probably not old growth pine or long leaf pine
My guess pine. Even if it is somewhat hard, I would still say pine. The older pine looks a lot different than the pine we see in lumber yards today; not only is it a different pine, it will be denser than what we see today. I think the density is an attribute of the older growth trees which no longer exist or are (hopefully) safely out of the way of the logger.
Steve