Hi gang. Happy New Year! My aunt has been trying to figure these wood candlestick out. So I am hoping you may be able to shed some light. They are marked as well on bottom. Any help is appreciated. Thank you for the help.
To me they look like they were made in someone's shed on a lathe.....as crude as they look I'd guess they are older (late 1800"s?), or some 7th graders wood class project.
I cut a lot of ash for firewood every year and to me, especially with the picture showing the pith ( bottom of candle holder, center ring), my first guess would be ash, grain looks about right as well, obviously ash that's been stained. Second guess would be black walnut. If they were mine, and I was really really bored, I'd sand them down (they need it, lots of tool marks showing) and refinish them.
I notice the latewood is darker than the earlywood. If it were stained, the earlywood would take up more stain and be darker. Oil would darken it all a bit but I think the color is close to its natural shade. The earlywood bands are very wide compared to the latewood which is not typical of any ash I am familiar with. I think it is some kind of tropical hardwood.