JoeDeF Posted January 19, 2016 Report Posted January 19, 2016 The finished pegs look like something called "monkey pod " wood. I seem to remember some sort of rhythm instruments made of this stuff but don't know much more about it. Maybe from the Pacific Islands? Monkeypod (Albizia saman), is an originally Latin American tree that has been naturalized throughout the tropics and carvings/furniture made from its heartwood will be well known to folks who served in the Phillippines, etc.. http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/monkeypod/ Hiyas LinkMan!! Here's a Monkeypod guitar (and a few guitar side and back sets), if you want to see the wood in musical instrument use: http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-wood/backs-sides/monkey-pod
Conor Russell Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Here are a few pegs I came across in my box of box pegs. I wish I knew what instruments they came from but that was before my time. The single peg is very interesting. The head seems to have been finished more or less with a scraper or a knife and then just polished up. I think I'll make a set for my next baroque violin. I made a rough effort from laburnum, just to see. It's a bit crude and I knocked it out of the chuck half way through so the collar's off. I think it looks most like the first picture Eric posted than the second. Eric mentioned how some pegs may have been fitted through the box and the end finished. The single peg has a decorative ring cut on the end of the stem , so I think this one must have been fitted through. It was fitted with a file.
Jim Bress Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Here's a block of wood I just picked up last week. I will make a small jewelry box out of it for my niece. This is the end grain with plenty of saw marks to hide the figure. The face side is a dead give away. I'll post that later if anyone wants to continue the guess that wood game. -Jim
Jim Bress Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 MY guess: European Pear Nope, not European or even the Rosaceae family.
uncle duke Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Conor, top left peg my first guess is Madagascar rosewood and my next two guesses would be Honduran or Brazilian rosewood, either. The others I have no guess.
Jim Bress Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Nope, not European or even the Rosaceae family. Taking my lunch break. The face of the wood should bring in more guesses.
Addie Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Is that roses I smell? Nice pegs, Conor! RH set appear to be very grubby boxwood, but what are the others?
MeyerFittings Posted January 20, 2016 Author Report Posted January 20, 2016 Hey Connor, looks like the same maker doesn't it , for different instruments with different woods. Looks like your laburnum for the long peg doesn't it. Points look dangerous on the decorated peg. Pardessus or treble viol? Where did you acquire them? At least someone cared enough to hold on to them. Is that your piece of string? Is that why you asked about the black stain? Jim, I would guess cocobolo since its so red. Dalbergia, anyway for me. Interesting to see any piece of wood lighter on the end grain than lateral view unless it is all lighting. Big tree.
Jim Bress Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Eric, Yes Cocobolo! Really heavy. The colors in the pics are accurate. I scraped the little rectangle section on the face side (it rises a few mm above the rest of the face) and the shavings are the color of the end grain. Not sure how that works. I wetted the area with alcohol and it looks amazing. -Jim
NickIsWorking Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Pernambuco and a Swartzia species? Maybe brazilian brown ebony.
Conor Russell Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Hey Connor, looks like the same maker doesn't it , for different instruments with different woods. Looks like your laburnum for the long peg doesn't it. Points look dangerous on the decorated peg. Pardessus or treble viol? Where did you acquire them? At least someone cared enough to hold on to them. Is that your piece of string? Is that why you asked about the black stain? Jim, I would guess cocobolo since its so red. Dalbergia, anyway for me. Interesting to see any piece of wood lighter on the end grain than lateral view unless it is all lighting. Big tree. They all look like box except the laburnum one, I think. I have a box of old pegs that came from the Hofmann workshop, and I've added to it myself, so I suppose there's a hundred and ten years worth of boxwood pegs in it, and that's not counting the dozens that were thrown away. From time to time, I can find matching peg there for an instrument that needs one, and I've used a few sets, and re-stemmed a few. They're the sort of thing I could never throw out. The decorated peg is on it's own, and I have no idea where it came from, but I think it's probably a violin peg. It's unusual, in that I don't think that it was turned, but carved. The collar is crooked - it wobbles from side to side as you turn he peg, and it's slightly square in section, as though it was cut with a knife. Also, the undercuts are rounded, as if they were made by boring two holes and then working them out with a knife. I think it's quite old. I ask abut the black stain, because I have a few old English box pegs that were stained black. I think that I may have a usable set, and I wondered how I might stain them, if I needed to pare the stems, or even make new ones. Black stained box is lovely, a bit softer looking than ebony.
Addie Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Staining musical instruments, 1850 https://books.google.com/books?id=oUdJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA72&dq=to+stain+boxwood&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYr-7boLnKAhXIQyYKHcyMCykQ6AEIMDAA#v=onepage&q=to%20stain%20boxwood&f=false Paint the pegs. For fingerboards, flutes, etc, it refers the reader to another section, which uses a logwood stain. P.S. the black logwood stain includes verdigris... keep those old pegs out of your mouth.
joerobson Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Rico, I like this game....let's try an easy one. Joe
joerobson Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 Joe, American Beech? No but I can understand your guess from the bark.
MeyerFittings Posted January 20, 2016 Author Report Posted January 20, 2016 kinda dark Joe, good excuse anyway. Alder?
joerobson Posted January 20, 2016 Report Posted January 20, 2016 better? I was kidding about the easy part....
Violadamore Posted January 21, 2016 Report Posted January 21, 2016 better? I was kidding about the easy part.... Magnolia?
Jim Bress Posted January 21, 2016 Report Posted January 21, 2016 Unless the image, my eyes, or the combination is poor I would say that it is not from the Pyrus, Prunus, or Betula genra based on the bark. The wood is definately to blurry for me to see any detail. That leaves my best guess that it's from the genus Populus (e.g. aspen). I'm cheating just trying to get the genus because I don't have any first hand experience with these trees and I can't think of anything else. Hey where's Nate in this game? -Jim
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