Any help identifying this wood? Redwood?

[russellellis]

I snagged a few of what i thought were redwood posts from the front porch of a 1940s ranch house i remodeled a few years ago. Where I'm confused is in the weight of these peices. I sanded/planed/ripped them down from a 4x4'ish post that they were into about an equivalent to a 2x4 now. The longest piece i could salvage in doing so was about 52" long. That piece weighs more than a soaking wet pressure treated 8ft 4x4.
Is that normal for redwood? If not, what could this be?
This photo shows two different cuts.

 

[Robert Arrowood]

the one on thr right kinda looks like Sapele:icon_scra:dontknow:.

 

[FredP]

fir.

 

[Gotcha6]

The left one looks like Douglas Fir, common up until the late 70s. Don't know about the right one.

 

[russellellis]

Robert, Ive never used sapele, so i wouldnt have thought that, but ive never seen the "pine" grain in it like the one in the left of the pic.
Fred. Im 99.99999% sure its not fir. ive used/salvaged/etc plenty of fir. never seen it this red before either. or this heavy.

 

[FredP]

the left one is fir and the right one could be also. it is old growth. it can be quite heavy. I've done many porch posts with fir and it funny how one post weighs almost nothing and another is like lead. the one on the right might be redwood but if they all came from the same source it's probable they are the same wood.:dontknow: I worked in a saw mill many moons ago and we sawed a lot of fir. same thing some heavy some not. fir has its own smell when you cut it but i cant smell it from here so......:gar-La;

 

[PChristy]

I agree with the Old growth Fir - I work in a solid wood door factory - trying finding them now adays - We had alot of the old growth come in and it would be as Fred says - one piece would be heavy the next one right behind it would be light as a feather - and it does have the smell of its own - I really liked working with it

 

[Tarhead]

Just looking at the growth rings, the one on the right looks about 3 times as dense as the one on the left. Must have grown in the dark.

 

[CrealBilly]

What does it smell and taste like?

 

[PChristy]

What does it smell and taste like?

Not sure what it taste like - didn't eat any of it:gar-Bi but the smell to me was sort of a sweet smell

 

[FredP]

What does it smell and taste like?

I got a PM [that I wont repeat here] and if it tastes like the smell description I aint gonna be eatin any of it any time soon!:rotflm:

 

[fergy]

I'm also going to weigh in on it being fir. That's the first thing I thought when I saw the piece on the left. That's a very typical grain pattern for it.

Remember there are also a lot of different firs. I'd bet on this being douglas fir.

 

[Trent Mason]

My first guess was also Sapele, but after hearing the description and all of the comments, I think you've got a winner. :icon_thum