How to Identify Figured Hardwood
Read the wavy chatoyant figure, honey color and shifting shimmer — and tell true curl from plain grain, quartersawn ray fleck and printed fakes.
Read the full Figured Hardwood encyclopedia entry →
Start with the figure and the light. The defining clue is chatoyance: hold the board and tilt it, and a genuine curly/fiddleback figure will appear to shift — bands that looked dark from one angle turn bright from another, as though light is rolling across the surface. Those bands run roughly across (perpendicular to) the long grain in fairly regular waves. If the shimmer moves as you tilt, it is real three-dimensional figure in the fibers; if the pattern stays fixed and flat, be suspicious of a printed or photo-veneer imitation.
Read the color and contrast. This sample is a warm golden tan to honey, fairly even in tone, with paler creamy sapwood if present and only modest heartwood/sapwood contrast — consistent with light figured hardwoods such as maple, ash, or sycamore rather than a dark wood like walnut. Strongly reddish, chocolate-brown or heavily streaked stock points to a different species even if it is figured.
Check weight, hardness and end grain. Figured hardwoods of this class feel dense and solid, resist a firm thumbnail press, and show a diffuse-porous end grain with small, fairly uniform pores (no big open pores as in oak or ash's earlywood) and fine, close rays. The end grain and pore pattern are the most reliable way to narrow down the actual species behind the figure, since the figure alone won't tell you the wood. Scent is usually faint and mild — don't rely on odor.
Know the common confusions. Quartersawn ray fleck (as in sycamore or oak) can be mistaken for figure, but fleck is flat, flake-like patches from the medullary rays, not the rolling cross-grain shimmer of curl. Interlocked-grain ribbon stripe (common in some tropical woods) alternates light and dark bands that flip with viewing angle too, but the bands run parallel to the grain rather than across it. Printed or embossed 'curl' on laminate and cheap veneer repeats in a regular pattern and does not shift convincingly with the light — genuine curl varies subtly in spacing and intensity along the board. And plain, straight-grained boards of the very same species show no wave at all, which is exactly why figured cuts are separated out and sold at a premium.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know the shimmer is real figure and not a printed fake?
Tilt the board under a light. Genuine curl is chatoyant — the bright and dark bands swap as the angle changes, because the effect lives in the wave of the fibers. Printed or embossed imitations stay flat, repeat in a regular pattern, and don't shift convincingly with the light.
Can I tell which species a figured board is?
Not from the figure alone — curl occurs in many woods. Use color, weight and especially the end grain: a light honey tone with diffuse, uniform pores and fine rays suggests maple, ash or sycamore, while darker or coarser-pored stock points elsewhere. Pore and ray pattern are your best species clues.
What's the difference between curly figure and quartersawn ray fleck?
Curl is a rolling, cross-grain shimmer of wavy bands that shifts as you tilt the board. Ray fleck is flat, flake-shaped patches produced by the medullary rays on quartersawn faces — it doesn't roll with the light. They come from different features and often appear on different cuts of the log.
Does the direction of the bands matter?
Yes. In curly/fiddleback figure the shimmering bands run roughly across the grain. If the alternating light-and-dark stripes run parallel to the grain and flip with viewing angle, you're likely looking at ribbon stripe from interlocked grain, which is a different figure common in some tropical hardwoods.