A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Wood Figures
Apple
There are many kinds of fruit-bearing apple trees as opposed to decorative apple trees such as the crab but since we're generally not sure which kind we have, we just use the generic name, common apple (Malus sylvestris). Apple has been planted all across the US and has naturalized as well. John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) is responsible for many of the so-called wild apple trees east of the Mississippi. The contrast between the very light sapwood and light brown heartwood makes for very interesting pieces.
American crab apple (probably Malus baccata; the most common of many different crab apples) has been planted all across the US and has naturalized in the northeast. According to Constantine's Know Your Woods, "it is a fairly difficult wood to work with, has a dulling effect on tools, but is unusually fine for turning..." The contrast between the nearly white sapwood and almost walnut-brown heartwood, much greater than found in fruiting apples, makes for vividly colored pieces.
Ash (there are many kinds, e.g. Fraxinus americana) grows all across the US and Canada in the form of white, green, black, brown, American, and Canadian ash. If not otherwise identified, our pieces are from white or American ash. White ash is the most common wood used for sports equipment and is sometimes known as "sports ash". It is also used for tool handles and cabinetry. In colonial days, ash was commonly used for bowls, plates, and other eating equipment.
Beech
American beech (Fagus grandifolia) grows across the eastern US and Canada and as far west as Missouri and eastern Texas. The name Fagus comes from a Greek root meaning to eat, probably due to the edible nuts. The bark is smooth and was once used as a writing surface. Our word "book" derives from Anglo-Saxon word for the beech. The wood is dense and particularly suitable for food vessels, imparting neither odor nor taste. Raw beechwood left open to the elements will be attacked by a fungus and take on attractive black markings called "spalting".
Blue or water beech, see American hornbeam.
Birch
Yellow birch (Betula lutea and related species) grows all across the US and Canada. It is most commonly used in building and in decorative veneers. Color varies from light yellow-brown to deep reddish-brown. Wavy grain patterns are common. Sanded and polished, it can be almost iridescent. It spalts beautifully and often grows spectacular burls. In New England, Betula lutea is more commonly known as gray birch.
White or paper birch (B. paperifera) and river or black birch (B. Nigra), softer and lighter in color, are used mostly for dowels, spindles, toys, and tool handles.
Box elder (Acer negundo) also known as ash-leafed maple and Manitoba maple is the only common maple to have compound leaves, each leaf composed usually of five leaflets. A member of the soft maple family, its wood is too weak to be used for large projects. The fungus-caused pink coloring present in some trees makes box elder prized by wood turners. The fungus is usually introduced by the box elder beetle.
Bubinga (Guibourtia demuesei) comes from the African counties of Cameroon, Gabon, and Zaire where it is known as kevasingo. Bubinga is primarily used for decorative veneers but is also a favorite with wood turners. It is a very dense wood and logs have been known to weigh as much as 10 tons.
Buckeye (Aesculus octandra), a member of the horse chestnut family, is well known as the state tree of Ohio. Originally brought to the US from Germany, it now grows from western Pennsylvania through eastern Oklahoma and southward into Alabama and Mississippi. The strong unpleasant odor of the flowers has led to the names "stinking buckeye" and "fetid buckeye" (though presumably not in Ohio). The wood has varied grain and color, making for elegant turnings.
Butternut or white walnut (Juglans cinera) grows across almost all of the US and Canada although it is more common in the East, especially in the piedmont and mountains of the southern states. The husk of the nut contains a permanent brown dye used by Americans since colonial times and by Native Americans before them. Most of the uniforms worn by Confederate soldiers during the War for Southern Independence were butternut, not gray.
Cedar -- None of the "cedars" listed below are true cedars. In fact, Cedrus, the true cedar is not native to the Western Hemisphere.
Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana, actually a juniper) grows across the northern US and southern Canada from the Dakotas east and down the coast from Prince Edward Island to North Carolina. This tree, rather than the true Cedrus (the Cedar of Lebanon, for example), is the source of most "cedar" products made on the East Coast. It is known to gardeners as an ornamental tree or shrub, but undisturbed, it can grow as high as 20 meters (about 65 feet).
Northern white cedar (Thuja occidentalis, actually an arborvitae) grows along the Atlantic seaboard from northern Florida to Canada and west as far as Wisconsin and Manitoba. It can grow to 80 feet tall with a diameter of up to three feet. The tree often grows burls with included bark and elegant grain patterns. Although the wood is soft it works well. White cedar is much less aromatic than its red cousin. Planted as an ornamental, this cedar is often called arborvitae. The southern or Atlantic white cedar (Camaecyparis thyoides, a "false cypress") and the western white cedar (Juniperus californica, actually a juniper) are similar in appearance.
Western red cedar (Juniperus californica, actually a juniper) grows along the Atlantic seaboard from northern Florida to Canada. It can grow to 80 feet tall with a diameter of three feet. Although the wood is soft, it works well and grows elegant burls. White cedar is much less aromatic that its red cousin. Western red cedar is the aromatic wood most commonly used in yesteryear's outdoor furniture. Western red cedar is toxic. About 40% of those who worked with this wood in the lawn furniture industry of the early and mid-20th century ended up with cancer of the esophagus -- with a latency of 15-25 years.
Cherry
American or black cherry (Prunus serotina), the wild cousin of the domestic fruit cherry, though valued for its blossoms and fruit, is not of commercial value for its wood. All types of cherry grow elegant grain patterns and burls are quite common. Black cherry grows throughout the US and Canada. Most of ours comes from New Brunswick Canada.
Fruit or European cherry (Prunus avium), the domesticated cousin of the wild black cherry, has gone through so many cross-breedings and hybridizations, that its family history is not well known. What is known, however, is that the wood has beautiful tones and grain patterns and is prized for all forms of woodworking, furniture making, and cabinetry. Cherry of one sort or another grows on every continent.
Chestnut
American chestnut (Castanea dentata) grows up and down the eastern United States. As Donald Peattie says in his Natural History of Trees, "All words about the American chestnut are now but an elegy for it. This once mighty tree, one of the grandest features of our sylva, has gone down like a slaughtered army before a foreign fungus disease, the chestnut blight." Occasionally we get a piece of chestnut big enough to turn from a sapling or recycled barn or fence timber.
Cocobolo or Granadillo (Dalbergia retusa), a member of the rosewood family, grows on the west coast of Central America. A very pretty, hard, and oily wood, it can take on a shiny finish just from buffing. According to Constantine's Know Your Woods, "Lengthy immersion in soapy water has little effect on the wood except for a slight darkening in color." Any wonder that it is frequently used for salad bowls? It is sometimes incorrectly called ironwood, usually on imported carvings. Care is needed when working with cocobolo: Although the wood itself is quite safe, breathing the sawdust has been known to cause a toxic shock reaction.
Crab apple, see American crab apple
Cypress
Hinoki cypress or just Hinoki (Camaecyparis obtusa) is highly prized in Japan as one of five so-called ?royal trees?. Wood from these trees was reserved for imperial and religious uses, including the palaces of the Mikado. This particular piece is not, however, from Japan, but from a specimen planted on the grounds of Penn State College in the 1930s and felled by a storm a few years ago. Not a true cypress (family Cupressus), the Hinoki is actually false cypress and a member of the sunflower family.
Dogwood (Cornus florida, the common ornamental flowering dogwood or Cornus kousa, the oriental dogwood) grows in the eastern US. A relative cornelian cherry is native to Europe but has been widely planted here. Flowering dogwood is "perhaps the most beautiful sight in the botanical world" (Constantine's Know your Woods) but a blight is taking its toll. Fortunately, the wild variety seen in the spring woods seems to be a bit hardier. In some parts of the southern United States, dogwood bark in whisky is used as a home remedy.
Gonçalo Alves (Astronium fraxinifolium) is a Brazilian wood also known as zebrawood and tiger wood. It is a member of the cashew family and related to sumac. In Brazil it is called urunday-para, mura, and bois de zebre. Unlike many dense rain forest tropical woods, it is not in any danger, as commonly in Brazil as oak, maple or birch here in the US (Gonçalo Alves is the name of the botanist who first noted it.)
Granadillo, see cocobolo
Hackberry (Celtic occidentalis) is a native American species in the elm family, also known as sugarberry, hoop ash, and bastard elm. The wood is sometimes marketed as elm. The name comes from the fruit of the tree, a drupe of small purple berries which are sweet and attract songbirds. The berries turn purple before ripening fully and in this state are very sour -- hence the "hack". The related European hackberry is often used in ornamental plantings.
Many kinds of honeysuckle grow in the United States. Most are vines but a few form sturdy bushes. Ours is probably the Southern Bush Honeysuckle (Dyervillia sessifolia) which is widely spread across the south eastern US as a background planting or on sunny hillsides to prevent erosion. Much of our honeysuckle comes from a defunct specimen planting on the grounds of the Audubon Society in Chevy Chase Maryland
Hickory (many kinds, e.g. Carya glabra) is most common in Southeastern Canada and Eastern US Its sapwood is light in color and is called white hickory. The heartwood can be very dark reddish-brown and is sold as red hickory. Although difficult to work, hickory polishes well and it is used for sorting goods such as baseball bats, skis, and tennis rackets. It is a very common wood for hammer and ax handles.
Hinoki, see Cypress
Holly (many kinds, esp. Ilex aquifolium, English holly and Ilex opaca, American holly) is found all across the US and Europe. Related species grow in Africa and South America. The heartwood is cream-white, often with a greenish-gray cast while the sapwood is either white or a light tan. The grain is very fine and holly can be smoothed to a velvet touch. The wood takes dye well and black-dyed holly is sometimes sold as ebony.
Hornbeam
People tend to call their hardest local tree ironwood. In the eastern US, this honor has fallen to the Hop hornbeam (Ostrya Virginiana) also known as Eastern or Virginia hornbeam. It grows from Atlantic Canada down the east coast to Florida and west to Michigan. At first glance a hop hornbeam might be mistaken for a small beech, the bark and leaves are superficially similar. According to Peattie's A Natural History of Trees, the wood is very heavy, almost 50 pounds to the cubic foot and extremely hard. Actually they got it wrong. Dogwood is a bit denser.
Closely related and almost as dense is the American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) also known as blue or water beech. This tree grows from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf and as far west as the Black Hills of South Dakota. The trunk is irregular in cross section, with twisted ridges that resemble muscles. The wood is very close to white, and the catkins look a good bit like dried hops.
Imbuia (Phoebe porosa) comes from Brazil where the wood is quite popular for flooring, furniture, trim, and fixtures. Local demand absorbs most of the Imbuia harvested and not much is exported. The wood used to be known in the US and UK as Brazilian walnut, but the name is misleading and is no longer used.
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) and honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthus) are North American trees that have been planted on every continent. Although their wood tends to warp when dried, it is popular for furniture, cabinetry, boats, and fencing. Black locust, yellowish-brown in color, is known to carpenters as "the nailbender". Honey locust wood is creamier in color. The two trees are similar in appearance, but it is easy to tell them apart: the honey locust has triple-pointed thorns.
Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) is also known as madrono, arbutus, or strawberry tree and grows primarily in the Pacific northwest. It is in the heath family (despite its up to 100 foot height) and bears large clusters of creamy-white flowers in the spring. Its bark is bicolored showing both a terra cotta brown outer layer and a green inner layer. According to Peattie's The Natural History of Western Trees, the fruits appear somewhat like strawberries and are "just barely edible."
Mahogany
African mahogany (Many kinds, e.g. Khaya ivorensis) is also known as Nigerian mahogany, Ghana mahogany, etc. depending on origin. It has popular names in Africa such as krala and mangona. For a period in the 18th Century, mahogany of African origin was the preferred wood for cabinetry in the United States and can be found in many pieces from the Colonial era.
American mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is also known as Honduras mahogany, Florida mahogany, etc. depending on origin. According to Lincoln's World Woods, "Cuban mahogany, prized for 250 years as the most cherished cabinet wood in the world has now become of more historical importance than commercial significance due to wastage." Many countries are following the Cuban example, including the US.
Mahogany of any origin is deep brown to reddish brown in color. It is relatively soft, easy to turn, sands easily, and takes a finish very well.
Common manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita) one of forty closely related species, mostly shrubs, but some trees of up to 25 feet tall. It grows primarily in California. According to Peattie's The Natural History of Western Trees, "The branches are always crooked, flattened this way or that, with twisted grain, so that when these little trees grow densely they lock their brawny red arms and arthritic, haggish fingers into an impenetrable thicket or low forest of the type that in California is sometimes called an elfin wood." Most manzanita burls grow on the root of the plant. Often dirt and stones are embedded, making for "interesting" effects when struck by the turning tools.
Maple -- There are dozens of maples. Here are some of the more common.
Bird's Eye Maple is the name often used for sugar maple (Acer saccharum) with bird's eye figuring. Botanists tell us that the eyes are due to hundreds of undeveloped twig buds, but we don't seem to know what causes the buds to remain undeveloped. Children used to be told that bird's eyes were caused by woodpeckers. Sugar maple is normally off-white in color but may have a dark brown heart. Brown bird's eye maple is fairly uncommon.
Red maple (Acer rubrum) is also known as soft maple, swamp maple, and water maple. White maple (Acer saccharum) is also known as rock maple, sugar maple, and hard maple. Big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum), also known as Pacific or Oregon maple, grows in the Pacific Northwest and is one of the softest of the maples. Maple burl has elegant and interesting swirled grain patterns, often combined with various forms of quilting and bird's eyes.
Silver maple (Acer saccharium) also known as soft maple and the imported Norway maple (Acer platanoides) are common in ornamental plantings. The wood tends to be soft, off-white, hard to finish, and generally less interesting unless burled or spalted.
White or sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is also known as rock maple and hard maple. It is normally off-white in color but often may have a dark brown heart. Maple often has many elegant figures in the grain, the most common of which lead to varieties called curly, tiger , quilted, or fiddleback maple. Of the more than twenty species of maples in the US and Canada, sugar maple is the most common.
Mimosa or hardy silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) is of Asian origin but has been transplanted worldwide. Not of commercial interest, although there are African relatives of timber quality, it is primarily used in ornamental plantings. The Taylor Guide to Trees notes that Albizia "transplants with weedlike ease." They add that it is "sometimes incorrectly called mimosa" but give no more information about the origin of the name. Although difficult to turn, the wood has excellent color and grain texture. (We always called it mimosa.)
Mulberry
Black or red mulberry (Morus nigra) grows across the US and southern Canada. According to Gorer's Trees and Shrubs "The common mulberry tree has been cultivated for so long that its native country is not known." The wood is a rich yellow that will darken over time to a rich golden brown.
The white mulberry (Morus alba), also common in the US, is native to China and was imported to feed silkworms. White mulberry has much less elegant wood (and less tasty berries).
Myrtle or Oregon myrtle or (Umbellularia californica) grows primarily in Oregon and in Northern California, where it is more commonly known as California laurel or baytree, as it has a spicy and aromatic leaf. Myrtle's wonderful grain and burl patterns have made it a great favorite with cabinetmakers and craftsmen and, for a time, it appeared to be heading toward the endangered species list. Fortunately, it is now conserved and, at the moment, is not in danger of extinction.
Mystery wood (Vexatious americanus) is found in wood piles and back yards across the US and Canada. The state of deterioration usually makes it impossible to identify the wood uniquely.
Oak -- there are dozens of them.
Northern red oak (several kinds, esp. Quercus rubra) grows across the US and eastern Canada. It is native to North America but was taken to Europe in the 18th century where it became a common building timber. The grain is porous and distinctive. Southern red oak (Q. falcata), also known as Spanish or swamp oak, is similar.
White oak (several kinds, esp. Q. alba and the pin oak Q. Palastrus) is less porous and darker in color. It is used for high quality veneers and building timbers. Newly cut, the wood smells almost buttery.
Andaman Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergoides), reddish-purple, formerly called Vermilion wood, comes from Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It resembles rosewood in many ways and, in addition to its use as a decorative wood, it is also used in making dyes. The color will darken over time to a very deep reddish purple.
Burma Padauk (P. macrocarpus) is orange to orange-red and very hard. It too is sometimes used as a dye.
Padauk is one of the few members of the rosewood family that is not threatened or endangered.
Parallam (Admixtus Canadensis) is found throughout the US and Canada. Growing in rectangular beams, it is harvested several times a year and quickly brought to market. Despite its ubiquity, no botanist has yet reported finding it in the wild and there is some suspicion that it may not be a natural plant. (Actually, it's a composite of shredded fir, poplar, and spruce manufactured in Canada. Parallam building beams are strong and heavy. In many load-bearing applications they can support a weight equal to a steel I-beam of equal cross section.
Paulownia, Kiri, or Empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa or P. Imperialis) is a member of the Foxglove family! Native to China, it was introduced to the US during the last century and has naturalized itself in the eastern states from New York to Georgia. Taylor's Guide to Trees calls it one of the most spectacular flowering trees of the temperate zone. The wood is prized in Japan for lacquer work and "tree-nappers" steal kiri from people's yards and public property to send to Japan. For turning the wood has only moderate interest.
Pear
Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford') is a member of the Rose family! Native to China, it was introduced to the US during the last century and has been used in ornamental plantings across the United States. Taylor's Guide to Trees considers it one of the most spectacular of the ornamentals both with its profuse white blossoms in the spring and (if it's been growing in full sun) its scarlet to purple foliage in the fall.
White pine (Pinus strobus) and its many relatives are found all across the eastern United States and Canada, as far south as Georgia and as far west as Illinois. The wood is generally considered too soft for easy turning, but burls, crotches, and knots make for interesting features and it's usually worth the effort to work with it.
Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) grows across southern Canada and northern US from the Atlantic coast to Minnesota. Its wood is soft and slightly gray in color. It is primarily used for pulpwood although some larger trees are made into veneer for knotty pine paneling. It is hard to tell if any given sample is truly the banksiana, however, as "jack pine" is a generic name informally given to any scrub pine.
Plywood (Multiplanus Homedepotii) is found throughout the US and Canada. Growing in 4 x 8 foot slabs, it is harvested several times a year and quickly brought to market. Despite its ubiquity, no botanist has yet reported finding it in the wild and there is some suspicion that it may not be a natural plant.
Purpleheart or Amaranth (Many kinds, e.g. Peltogyne paniculata) grows in Central America and tropical South America. The tree can grow to 125 feet tall with a 4 foot diameter. It is a very strong wood and is used for heavy outdoor construction work in addition to furniture and decorative veneers. When cut, the wood is light brown but it rapidly turns purple on exposure to air. The color will darken over time to a very deep purple-brown.
Coastal or California redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) which grows in many separate (usually foggy) areas of California and Oregon, is famed as the tallest tree in the world. It is also the longest lived, with one specimen whose growth rings have been counted estimated to be over 2200 years old. Although not formally listed as endangered, the redwoods are threatened and our wood comes either from farmed sources or recycled outdoor furniture.
Rhododendron (Rhododendron arboreum) is a large genus of about 600 species of shrubs and trees (including the azaleas and mountain laurel). Native to China, it has been transplanted all over the world and has naturalized itself in many areas with acid soil. In the wild, it can grow 30 to 50 feet tall. It frequently develops root-burls that make excellent wood turnings. Rhododendron is exciting to work with as there are often embedded stones.
Sassafras (Sassafras officinale), sometimes incorrectly called black ash, is distributed across the eastern US and west as far as Arkansas and Missouri. The wood was formerly used for furniture, boats, fences and containers, but it is no longer of great commercial value. Sassafras leaves, dried and ground are the filé of Cajun cookery. The oil from the roots, formerly thought to be of medicinal value, is now a suspected carcinogen.
Sumac
Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), a member of the Cashew family, grows through the eastern US and Canada, most commonly as a shrub on roadsides or in waste areas. It is considered a "junk" plant. In the wild, it can grow to 30 feet. Its reddish fruit is rich in vitamin A and native Americans made a drink out of it. Its wood is an iridescent yellow-green that darkens only slightly over time.
A relative, Winged sumac (Rhus copallina), also grows throughout the eastern US and Canada, also most commonly as a shrub. Like the staghorn, it is considered a "junk" plant. In the wild, it can grow to 25 feet. Its wood is an iridescent light brown.
The black sheep of the sumac family is Rhus radicans, now called Rhus toxicodendron, more commonly known as poison ivy. Similarly colored sheep are poison oak and sumac.
Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) grows along the east coast from Connecticut to Mexico and Guatemala, and west as far as Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma. Its star-shaped leaves, sometimes mistaken for maple, are often the first to change in the Fall, turning a brilliant scarlet. The sapwood is a lovely cream color and the heartwood, commercially sold as American red gum, varies from a satiny pinkish-brown to a deep red brown.
Tan oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus) grows in southern Oregon and down the Pacific coast to the San Francisco peninsula, primarily in redwood forests. According to Peattie's A Natural History of Trees, "There is not a more admirable hardwood in all the West than the Tan Oak, a tree with a magnificent bole and sumptuous foliage." It is also the only American tree other than the true oaks (genus Quercus) that bears true acorns. Confusingly, it is sometimes called the "Chestnut Oak".
Black walnut (Juglans nigra) is distributed across the eastern US and into Ontario Canada. The color varied from tan to a rich purple-brown and, although the wood has a rather coarse texture, it polishes well and can be sanded to a smooth finish. In the UK, black walnut is known as "Virginia walnut".
White walnut, see Butternut
English yew (Taxus baccata) is also known as common yew, European yew, and yewtree. It is one of a very few evergreens native to the British Isles and was the wood used for the English longbow. So much was used for the manufacture of bows, in fact, that for a time it was hard to find in the wild. It now grows throughout Europe and has been imported to the US and Africa.
Zebrawood (Microberlinia brazzavillensis) is also known as zebrano, zingana, and allene. It grows throughout West Africa, chiefly in Gabon and the Cameroon Republic. The tree is very large and its bark is often a foot thick. Most Zebrawood that comes onto the market is made into veneer. (Zebrawood is a common name for striped woods, but microberlinia is the "real" zebrawood.)
Bird's-eye: There has long been uncertainty as to what causes the maple bird's-eye. The accepted belief today is that it is caused by stunted growth or damage to the seed.
Burl: A burl is a wart-like growth on the side of a tree. Within the burl is whorled grain with fascinating grain patterns. Sometimes it completely encircles a limb or the entire tree trunk. Causes of burls are imperfectly understood: Reasons suggested include injury, bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
Swirled or patterned figuring, such as that found in quilted maple, fiddleback maple, tiger maple, etc., is caused by irregular grain growth, often around knots and burls, sometimes aided by the mineral content of the wood.
Spalting is caused by fungus that is nourished by the sugar in the tree sap. After the fungus dies, either by digesting all of the sugar or by being killed by frost, it turns black or dark brown, causing interesting irregular lines in the wood. Spalting can be spectacular in light-colored woods like maple, beech, and birch