WOOD IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

When attempting to identify a wood sample, it's important to keep in mind the limitations and obstacles we face. Please read The Truth Behind Wood Identification before starting to get a proper perspective on this task; I consider it to be a must-read for anyone visiting my site with the intent of identifying wood.

1. CONFIRM IT IS ACTUALLY SOLID WOOD.

To proceed with the remaining steps, it's first necessary to determine if the material is actually a solid piece of wood, and not a composite or piece of plastic that is designed to mimic wood.

CAN YOU SEE THE END-GRAIN? 

Wood manufactured in this way, such as MDF, OSB, and particleboard, has a distinct look that is easily distinguishable from the endgrain of real wood. You can tell that a wood sample is genuine by its growth rings, which are formed by the yearly growth of a tree.

IS IT VENEERED? 

A large panel with a repeating grain pattern may be a veneer. When this happens, a very thin layer of real wood is peeled off a tree and attached to a substrate; sometimes the veneer can be one continuous piece because it is rotary-sliced in order to remove the veneer as the tree trunk is spun. Although you may still be able to identify the outer veneer wood in question, assuming it is not merely a piece of printed plastic, you should recognize it is merely a veneer and not a solid piece of wood.

IS IT PAINTED OR PRINTED TO LOOK LIKE WOOD? 

Sometimes, especially on large-scale flat panel furniture, particleboard or MDF are laminated with wood-color plastic or are painted to look like wood grain. There are many products available today called pseudo-wood: these items are manufactured from sawdust, glue, and resin, as well as durable plastics.

2. LOOK AT THE COLOR.

Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself right now:

IS THE COLOR OF THE WOOD NATURAL, OR IS IT STAINED?

The odds increase that the entire effort of identifying the wood will be in vain if there is a possibility that the color isn't natural.

IS IT WEATHERED OR HAVE A PATINA?

When wood is left outside in the elements, it tends to turn a bland gray color. Even interior wood takes on a patina as it ages: some woods become darker, or redder, and some even become lighter or lose their color; but for the most part wood tends to darken with age.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO SAND OR PLANE THE BOARD TO SEE THE NATURAL RAW COLOR OF THE WOOD?

For identifying wood, use a freshly sanded surface as the baseline. Thus, a stain or natural aging cannot skew the color diagnosis.

3. OBSERVE THE WOOD GRAIN.

Look at the grain if the wood is unfinished. Consider the following:

DOES THE WOOD HAVE AN OPEN, POROUS TEXTURE?

Softwoods, for example, are typically very smooth and will have no grain indentations; most hardwoods, however, have an open pore structure, such as oak or mahogany; though some hardwoods are also smooth to the touch, such as maple.

CAN YOU TELL IF THE WOOD IS QUARTERSAWN OR PLAINSAWN?

You can often determine a board's origin from its grain pattern. There are some wood species that have very different grain patterns between plainsawn and quartersawn surfaces. A quartersawn surface of lacewood, oak, or maple has large patterns, flecks, or the characteristic "butcher block" look.

IS THERE ANY FIGURE OR UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS, SUCH AS SAPWOOD, CURLY OR WILD GRAIN, BURL/KNOTS, ETC.?

There are some wood species with figure that is more common than in other species, for example, curly figure is common in soft maple, and the curls are usually well-defined and close together. However, when birch or cherry have curly grain, it is less pronounced, and the curls are farther apart.

4. CONSIDER THE WEIGHT AND HARDNESS OF THE WOOD.

Compare the wood's weight with that of other wood species if it's possible to pick up the piece of wood. Feel the hardness of the edge by gouging it with your fingernail. The length, width, and thickness of the wood can be combined to find the density of the wood if you have a scale. This can be useful for comparing density readings from different databases. Examine the wood and compare it to other known wood species.

IS THE WOOD DRY?

Freshly felled trees or wood that has been stored in an extremely humid environment will have a high moisture content. Freshly sawn wood can have over a half of its weight in moisture! The same is likely to be true for wood that has been stored in extremely dry conditions of less than 25% relative humidity.

HOW DOES THE WOOD’S WEIGHT COMPARE TO OTHER SPECIES?

What is its weight in relation to other benchmark woods considering its size? Is oak heavier? Does pine weigh more? Get a ballpark estimate of its weight by looking at the weight numbers for some wood species that are similar to yours.

HOW HARD IS THE WOOD? 

It's obvious that softwoods are softer than hardwoods, but try to determine how it compares to other known woods. As density and hardness are closely related, if the wood is heavy, it will most likely be hard as well. It is possible to test the hardness of wood by gouging it in an inconspicuous area if it is a part of a finished item you cannot properly weigh. The number and depth of gouges and dings in a piece of furniture, such as a tabletop, can also provide a general idea of how hard it is based on its age and use. The dents in a pine tabletop will be much deeper than in an oak tabletop. Alternatively, you can also use the "fingernail test" as a rough hardness indicator: Find a crisp edge of the wood, and with your fingernail, try to dent it as hard as you can.

5. CONSIDER ITS HISTORY.

When trying to identify wood, we often forget common sense and logic. A piece of Amish furniture from Pennsylvania is more likely to be made from black walnut or cherry than African wenge or jatoba. If you are trying to identify wood, sometimes being a little prejudiced can pay off. If you are trying to identify a piece of wood, ask yourself these questions:

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Even the smallest details about the wood's origin can be helpful. As soon as the wood comes from a wood pile or a lumber mill that only uses local trees, the potential species is immediately limited. Depending on who provided the wood, it may have come from a builder of antique furniture, a boat-builder, a trim carpenter, etc. All of these occupations tend to use certain types of woods much more frequently than others, which simplifies the process of determining the species.

HOW OLD IS IT?

Its age will also assist in identifying the wood, just as with its source. Additionally, it will help to determine whether the wood developed a natural patina, as well as suggest what species were favored at different times in history. Since CITES restrictions were placed upon Brazilian rosewood, East Indian rosewood became a more commonly used species on newer guitars rather than Brazilian rosewood. Increasingly, rosewood is being replaced by newer alternatives.

HOW LARGE IS THE PIECE OF WOOD?

Some species of trees are very small-some are even considered shrubs-while others can grow quite large. In general, if you see a large section or panel of wood that's entirely black, chances are it is either painted, dyed, or stained: Gaboon ebony and related species are rare and expensive.

WHAT IS THE WOOD’S INTENDED USE?

When combined with how old the wood is and where it came from, just knowing what the wood was intended for can provide a lot of clues to help identify it. As certain wood species are used in more applications than others, you can make an educated guess as to the species of the wood based on the application where it was used. Many older houses in the United States have either red oak or hard maple hardwood floors; many antique furniture items are made from quartersawn white oak; most violins have spruce tops; many closet items are made from aromatic red cedar; etc. In spite of the fact that it's not a 100% guarantee, "profiling" the wood in question will help reduce the number of possible suspects and aid in determining the species.

6. FIND THE X-FACTOR.

Occasionally, despite considering all the normal characteristics of a sample, the identity of the wood remains a mystery. In these circumstances-particularly when there are a limited number of choices left-it can be helpful to bring in specialized tests and other narrower means of identification.

While these techniques and recommendations won't necessarily be useful as an initial step in separating wood species and eliminating large swaths of wood species, they will most likely be useful as a final step in special identification circumstances.

ODOR

You may not believe this, but freshly machined wood can have a distinct smell. Your nose is sometimes able to give you a more definitive answer when your eyes and hands cannot. Take a whiff of a section of wood in question, and assume there is no stain, finish, or preservative on or in it.

In spite of the difficulty of describing new scents, it is often the case that the scent of an unknown wood is similar to other known scents. Rosewoods (Dalbergia spp.) have an odor reminiscent of roses, thus their name. Even if it's difficult to directly communicate, scents can be remembered and used to identify wood with enough firsthand experience.

FLUORESCENCE

Although certain woods appear to be exactly the same under normal lighting conditions, when exposed to certain wavelengths, such as those found in blacklights, the wood absorbs and emits light at a different wavelength (visible). Fluorescence is the cause of this phenomenon, and certain types of wood can be distinguished by their fluorescent properties. For more information, see the article Fluorescence: A Secret Weapon in Wood Identification.

CHEMICAL TESTING

Few chemical tests are regularly used on wood, most of which are very specialized and were developed to identify easily confused species. These tests detect changes in the composition of heartwood extracts. It is usually applied to wood surfaces a chemical substance (called a reagent) dissolved in water: the surface is then observed for chemical reactions (and resulting color changes). The tests that separate Red and White Oak, as well as Red and Hard Maple, are two of the most useful.

HEARTWOOD EXTRACTIVES LEACHABILITY

There are some wood species with heartwood extractives that are readily soluble in water and capable of coloring a solution of water conspicuously. A yellowish-brown dye is found in the heartwood extractives of the osage orange tree (Maclura pomifera). Anecdotally, you can see this happening when water-based adhesives are used on wood: the squeeze-out of the glue is unusually yellow.)

In the simple water extract color test, wood shavings are mixed with water in a vial, test tube, or other suitable container, and the color of the water is observed after a few minutes. Water leaches heartwood extractives, which should result in a corresponding color change.

Aside from osage orange (Maclura pomifera), merbau (Intsia spp. ), and rengas (Gluta spp. and Melanorrhoea spp.) are also noted for their readily leachable heartwood extracts. As this property is rare, it can be used to quickly differentiate these woods from other lookalikes.

7. LOOK AT THE ENDGRAIN.

Magnified examination of the endgrain is perhaps the best method for identifying wood accurately. In many cases, it transforms identification from a largely intuitive, unscientific process into a predictable, repeatable, and reliable process.

Examining the endgrain with a magnifier shouldn't be mystifying or esoteric. A magnifying glass and a small piece of newsprint are often enough to determine the truth. In order to take full advantage of the endgrain, three elements must be present:

I. A PREPARED SURFACE.

In most cases when working with wood, it quickly becomes apparent that endgrain surfaces are less cooperative and easier to work than face grain surfaces. In this case, however, it is necessary to obtain a clear and refined endgrain surface.

If you want a quick look at a softwood sample, take a fresh slice from the endgrain using a very sharp knife or razor blade. The best way to achieve a clear endgrain view is to sand diligently in many denser hardwood species, especially tropical hardwoods. To achieve the cleanest view, begin with a relatively smooth saw cut (such as from a fine-toothed miter saw blade) and work through the grits, starting at around 100 and working up to at least 220 or 320 grit, preferably higher.

II. THE RIGHT MAGNIFIER.

No matter what tool is used to view the endgrain, it should have sufficient magnification. While 10x magnification is ideal in most cases, anything between 8 and 15x magnification is suitable for viewing endgrain. Standard magnifying glasses usually have a magnification of 2 to 4 times.

Magnifying glasses with a larger viewing area tend to be stronger, sometimes referred to as loupes. There are more expensive models with built-in lights or larger viewing surfaces, but the most basic models are rarely more than a few dollars.

III. A TRAINED EYE.

Knowing what to look for is the third element that makes up a proper endgrain examination. By examining the patterns, colors, shapes, and spacing of the various anatomical features, there is a veritable storehouse of information waiting to be revealed within the endgrain. But if they are not highlighted and learned, the array of features will simply seem to be an unintelligible mess. Anatomical endgrain features are not easily summarized in a few sentences or even a few paragraphs, but they are nevertheless crucial to the identification process. On a macroscopic level, the different categories, divisions, and elements that make up endgrain wood identification should be examined closely. In this context, macroscopic refers to what can be seen with a low-powered, 10x hand lens, and not just what can be seen with the naked eye.) Since the anatomy of softwoods and hardwoods is so distinct, they will be evaluated separately:

Hardwood Endgrain Anatomy

Softwood Endgrain Anatomy