Wood identification?

[kallmond]

I have some old kitchen cabinet doors I'd like to re-use in a future stand project, but I'd like to try and match the type of wood. At first I thought it was birch, but I checked out lowes birch selection and now I'm thinking maybe not?

I don't think its heavy enough to be maple.

Anyone have some guesses?

 

[yogurt_21]

I'm not really the best at this but it could be a kind of maple., it's defiently not a pine or oak.

 

[CA-Delta]

Hard to tell, but it could be Alder.

 

[kallmond]

Alder is closer I think. I've been looking on google and think maybe poplar?

 

[CJH]

Is that door solid wood or is it a veneered panel? You should be able to tell by looking at the sides or into the grooves on the front.

To me the grain pattern on the front looks like Maple but the back grain pattern and in particular the greenish tint looks like Poplar.

It could be a maple veneer over a poplar "lumber core" type panel.

 

[kallmond]

The doors were built in the mid 70's. Its not exactly veneered, although it is layered, because the front grain doesn't match the back. It might be 1/4" maple glued to 1/2 inch poplar. The routed edges appear to be a different softer wood.

That cabinet door was finished in a really dark stain, I sanded it for about 15 mins with a palm sander and 80 grit paper to get it to that point. It still needs a little more heavy sanding, then I'll hit it with 120 and finally some 220. I removed a lot of wood, but there's no sign of sanding through a veneer.

 

[paulW]

I doubt the front is poplar, but I am not a super expert.
It's probably birch or maple.. I think Alder is more of a West Coast wood, but maybe the cabinets were manufactured out west? I have never used Alder, but it seems less likely than birch or maple.

I would use birch or maple. Birch is going to be less expensive. Maple plywood is pretty expensive. Even if you knew that the front was maple, the color will vary slightly from from the different species of maple (and even different trees in the same species).. I have two piles of maple hardwood in my garage. One is almost a white color, the other is a light tan..

I guess what I'm saying is that part of the charm in working with wood is that everything is not necessarily totally uniform in color, like mass produced furniture is.
So, if it was me, I'd probably use birch plywood.. 99% (or more) of the people can not tell the difference.

 

[kallmond]

I ran by a lumberyard (a real one, not lowes). He confirmed the front is maple and the back is poplar.

I'm thinking of ripping the beveled edges off on the table saw and using the back side (without the grooves) as the door.