Expert: Eileen Cronk - 6/23/2005

Question
Dear Eileen
My mother just passed and left a secretary hutch. To my knowledge it is at least 100 or more years old. My question to you is the wood has stripes in it which almost resembles a tiger.
What type of wood could this possibly be if I gave you a good enough discription of it. The wood is medium to Light brown and the stripes are almost a black.
                             Thank You
                             R.Wilhelm  

Answer
Hi Rick
Nice to hear from you.
My first thought on reading this Rick was its got to be "tiger oak"..or quarter sawn oak as its often referred to.
Then on reading your letter again you say the stripes are almost black. Tiger oak stripes are golden in most cases, and if you look closely at them you will see the stripes are full of "squiggly" lines.
Funny enough I just refinished a piece of furniture that had black stripes on a light brown background. My wood was mahogeny without question.
My stripes were pretty much straight.
Tiger oak patterns will not be. They will be very irregular in size, but usually run diagnonal on the piece of furniture.
So look closely at your piece Rick and perhaps you can tell me more about the wood so I can positively ID it for you.
Regards
Eileen