Identifying Different Hardwoods

Most common hardwoods unlike the conifers or softwood firs spruce and pines hardwood trees have evolved into a broad array of common species.

Identifying different hardwoods.

It s tricky to identify wood with complete certainty if you don t have experience working with wood so try looking at pictures online or in a book to help you visualize the properties of all the different varieties. Some species are easy to identify such as oak pine cherry and fir. Distinguishing features of 12 common wood types based on color wood grain texture and more. To correctly identify the type of hardwood you need to perform a few tests.

Observe the wood grain. The wood from hardwood trees tends to be harder because the trees grow at a slower rate giving the wood its greater density. The wood database online can show specific grain types color variations and hardness to help in the hardwood floor identification. Learn the trick to identifying wood types in furniture.

The most predictable baseline to use when identifying wood is in a freshly sanded state. This eliminates the chances of a stain or natural aging skewing the color diagnosis of the wood. One characteristic of cherry wood that is different from most others is the gum pockets or pitch pockets that show up as black flecks in the wood. This publication presents information about 10 important pennsylvania hardwood tree species their identification characteristics and wood.

I m slowly grinding my way through roughly 800 wood species that have still yet to be listed on the site. Identifying different types of wood can be difficult even for experts since some can look very similar especially after specific treatments. Pennsylvania has over 100 native tree species but there are seldom more than 10 to 15 different species in any one location. Different wood styles in flooring image credit.

With a little practice you can identify many common kinds of wood used to build furniture. I m working my way alphabetically by botanical name so check out the latest added wood to see where i m at in the queue. To the untrained eye grain patterns aren t typically consistent enough to distinguish similar species from one another. Over the years i began fielding questions from a more diverse audience worldwide including wood workers carpenters sawmill managers historical societies and archeologists.

Bo ena uchowska hemera getty images with so many varieties of wood species available positive identification of wood by grain pattern alone can be difficult. For this reason i decided to revise and expand this site.