Walnut or Rosewood  

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http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/walnut,%20misc.htm

http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_discussion_rosewoods.htm

That is a lot to digest, I know, but perhaps the most reliable way to ID wood species is to compare end grain characteristics such as annular growth rings and/or pore sizes and distribution patterns to known samples or good images of such (as pictured in the links above).

If you have some, post some pictures over here! Up close as best you can, some of figuring and some of end grain.

JLM has made it's very tough throughout their history to distinguish the wood being used. Even in individual wood types I know  and have owned Møllers in two varieties of rosewood and... I believe, without the empiric certainty of any kind of scientific testing I have owned some that are a mix of these varities of rosewood. Front legs being Brazilian rosewood and backrest/back legs being the other variety or rosewood. 

Many thanks to both of you. 

@tktoo2: that is really a lot to digest, more than 5 different types of walnut and rosewood. Actually didn't plan to go that deep, but interesting to know there are several types of walnut and rosewood. 

@kyle-barrett: I will come up with pictures of my chairs as soon as they are ready. 

Hi folks, 

here are some pictures of the chairs. Now when they are ready, I see that the wood pattern is somewhat different from rosewood. So, I would say that must be walnut. 

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I would agree.

Do you know their age based on the makers mark? If they have a rectangular white sticker or are stamped (rather than have a medallion) it seems likely they are walnut.

Despite looking overwhelmingly like walnut, if you're still not sure you could sand an inconspicuous spot. The colour and aroma would tell you for sure. If it's rosewood it'll likely be a deep red/purple colour and the smell is unmistakably floral unlike walnut.

Those are far away overview photos of the wood. Post a sharp close up so that wood is the only thing visible in the frame. (Don’t look like walnut to me)

European walnut varieties can vary widely in color and grain character, and of course we don't know if any toning was added by the restorer to these chairs.

Either way, it could be argued that it doesn't really matter to anyone but weenies like us. They look fantastic now!

@tktoo2: The chair has the stamp. 

@leif-ericson: I will do close up photos coming days. 

Many thanks for your comments!

I propose that it does matter on some level to people beyond admitted oddballs like myself for the simple reason that “rosewood” is worth more than “teak” is worth more than “walnut” and in fact since “walnut” would be a very unusual outlier for Møller and since a lot of the value of Møller chairs comes from the fact that they are sort of common within a rare domain like Danish Modern and therefore have well documented values compared to many rarities without pedigree.  

But I get that in the larger sense, yes, what wood anything is made of barely matters to anyone except annoying people like me.  This is why as Americans we believe that the stain is basically the entire question with a wood cabinet.