Identifying Hardwoods By Bark

Smooth light grey bark indicates a log from the beech family while white papery bark is identifiable as a white birch.

Identifying hardwoods by bark.

Red oak is identified by its light grey bark with a smooth and lustrous texture. Broken in to vertical strips intersect pignut hickory. Even expert cabinetmakers can struggle to distinguish between the two. Ash tree bark is smooth and pale grey in saplings.

They can grow as tall as 100 feet and are found mostly in the western united states and. You can probably recognize a birch tree because of its long horizontal strips of thin papery bark. Black walnut trees have very dark bark while birch trees have white or silvery bark. But recognizing the wood once it s milled and turned into lumber can be a bit more difficult because it can resemble the light creamy colors of maple.

With age the bark develops shallow grooves deep fissures and bosses. Vertical cracks or seams in smooth bark scarlet oak and shagbark hickory. Broken into scales or plates scales black cherry. It s usually best to begin with a relatively smooth saw cut as from a fine toothed miter saw blade and proceed through the grits starting at around 100 and working up to at least 220 or 320 grit preferably higher for the cleanest view.

If the bark has small drops of pitch on it or seeping out of it it is probably a softwood log. Wild cherry tree bark is shiny and maroon with tiger stripes. Its bark is smooth and pale grey when a sapling. The most common north american tree is the red alder.

It has oval shaped leaves and a reddish brown bark. Often also deep grooves and lenticel strips. It has been designed to serve both the amateur and experienced person in identifying unknown wood specimens. As it grows older it develops shallow pits deep cracks and bosses.

Over the years i began fielding questions from a more diverse audience worldwide including wood workers carpenters sawmill managers historical societies and archeologists. While identifying trees by their bark the outer layer that protects the tree is not an exact science it can be a fun way to put your interest in and passion for nature into practice. Some types of trees have very distinctive barks while others can be a little more challenging to identify. Old bark peels off in ribbons.

As hunker points out beech trees have a light gray bark and cherry trees have a red brown bark. However in many denser species especially in tropical hardwoods one of the best ways to obtain a clear endgrain view is through diligent sanding. Smooth unbroken beech and red maple. With ridges and furrows ridges broken into large scales pitch pine and northern red oak.

At first it is smooth but as it ages it develops longish grooves. The bark gives a good idea of the kind of wood and even its exact species if you have some experience and a field guide.