Help with wood identification

[Matt Furjanic]

I am pretty much stumped on the woods used in an inlay banding that a guy wants me to make as a replacement in an antique chest. This probably originated in England or somewhere in Europe. I am interested only in the woods used in the banding. The base furniture wood may be different. Both the light and dark woods in the banding are just about grain-free - I mean really smooth with almost no pores at all. I am thinking the lighter wood could be a boxwood or a European beech - and we might get by with using holly then dying or staining it afterwards. I am totally stumped on the darker wood. Maybe someone out there might have an idea???

 

[Mike Davis]

The light wood could be what they call lime.

 

[DaveO]

The light wood could be what they call lime.

Lime wood is Basswood Tilia cordata also known as Linden. It is quite light colored and very "grainless" so it could fit the bill well. Another choice might be Maple, either hard or soft as it would have very little grain expression in such a small piece.
The dark wood has me stumped too. Most of the commonly used wood species that are dark have a fairly pronounced grain patterns (Walnut, Mahogany, Cherry). Could it be a dyed or stained wood????


MTCW,
Dave

 

[mshel]

The light wood could be yew. Not sure about the dark one.

Mike