Identifying Hardwoods By Grain

Read on as we tackle a few ways to recognize some of the most common species of wood by sight.

Identifying hardwoods by grain.

This eliminates the chances of a stain or natural aging skewing the color diagnosis of the wood. You can usually tell different types of wood apart by looking at the wood grain color and the visibility of growth rings. Hardwoods have either simple or compound leaves. With the exception of maple which has a slick surface common hardwoods such as ash oak hickory and alder typically have a porous texture or small indentations or relief patterns that follow the grain.

Common softwoods such as pine fir spruce or poplar have closed pores resulting in a slick flat surface without indentations. For this reason i decided to revise and expand this site. First of all make sure that you re looking at a solid piece of wood. Examine the log s end grain although it s better to split the log and examine the side grain.

Check out its texture and look to see if there are any growths like nodes growing on the bark. Over the years i began fielding questions from a more diverse audience worldwide including wood workers carpenters sawmill managers historical societies and archeologists. If the wood is unfinished then look at the texture of the grain. If you have a hand plane or a flat chisel flatten a portion of the split log s face log and look at the grain.

Dimples in wood grain possibly caused by a fungus form bird s eye maple. The most predictable baseline to use when identifying wood is in a freshly sanded state. Whether it is thick or thin. Its red brown colour is a popular choice of many woodworkers making it a favourite material to produce veneers and craftworks.

Due to the high price of figured grains veneers of. Simple leaves can be further divided into lobed and unlobed. First of all make sure that you re looking at a solid piece of wood as opposed to a veneer applied to plywood or mdf or even a stamped piece of fiberboard this is key to wood identification. To begin identifying a tree by its bark look at a larger part of the tree its bark.

The hardwood is closed grain moderately strong and hard. Does the wood have an open porous texture. Colonial and french provincial designs of the 18th century often use cherry which is called by a different name there england mahogany. A large bump or scar on the side of a trunk results in burled wood.

Here s what you can look out for. Unlobed leaves may have a smooth edge such as a magnolia or a serrated edge such as. Many wood identification books have colour pictures of the grains of different woods and you can often find them in such books. You can do this by looking at the edges of a piece and seeing if the end grain matches up with the direction of the grain along the face of the wood.

Whether the bark is smooth to touch or is bumpy. It has been designed to serve both the amateur and experienced person in identifying unknown wood specimens.