How do you tell what tree a piece of wood came from?

  How do you tell what tree a piece of wood came from?

It depends on what you mean by ‘a piece of wood’. If it’s a log, you have the bark and possibly some leaves on small branches to go by. A log is probably still near where it was cut, so you can also use geography to narrow down your possible choices. For example, where I live in eastern Massachusetts, we have a lot of red oak, maple, cherry, and ash trees. Not to say you won’t find other species in the area, but chances are that you aren’t going to find a cypress or mesquite tree here. If you aren’t sure what it is, you can look up common trees online and compare the bark to figure out what you have. In the picture below, the distinctive bark helped me identify this wood as sassafras.

If it’s a piece of lumber, again, first question is whether you know where it was cut, to help you narrow it down. Otherwise, you have a number of different characteristics to look at: Color. Many common woods like cherry and walnut have distinctive colors, as do a lot of exotics like purpleheart, ebony, etc.

How do you tell what tree a piece of wood came from?

Open or closed grain. For example, maple has a tight, closed grain, while red oak and ash have large open pores in the wood, which are visible in the end grain.

Hardness. You’ll be able to easily dent softwoods like pine with your fingernail. This can at least help you determine if you are dealing with a softwood or hardwood.

Grain patterns. Some woods have very distinctive grain. For example, in the picture of the bowl below, red oak has distinct ‘rays’ that cut across the end grain. White oak has more subtle rays, but still visible. Other species like maple or cherry don’t generally have visible rays.

Smell. Some woods like cedar or sassafras will have a very distinctive smell. This doesn’t help if you don’t know what they smell like, but once you’re familiar with it, this can be a good clue.

 

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