I came across a box full of wood samples at an estate auction, each
piece is 2 1/4 x 5" x 5/8 and they have a label something like this:
WILLOW
( Salix nigra)

SOURCE: Lower Mississippi Valley
PROPERTIES: Light in weight, soft, easily worked, shrinks and swells
but little, light brown in color. Weight, air dry: 26 lbs per cu. ft.
USES: Boxes and crates, furniture, fixtures, artificial limbs, backets

Sample Furnished by
NATIONAL LUMBER MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
Washington, D.C.

All told I have 51 different samples. they are all numbered with a
stamp into the endgrain.

I'm figuring they might be from the 20s as one of the uses mentioned is
car bodies.

Anybody know about these or have a guess to their age? I'm thinking of
buliding a small "bookcase to hold and display the samples. They are
all very dusty and shop worn, any concerns if I take my plane and clean
them up a bit? I don't plan on putting a finish on them and they'll
receive light handling.

Thanks