How to Identify Lacewood
Read the ray fleck: reddish-brown ground splashed with pale flecks on the quartersawn face — and tell Cardwellia lacewood from its many look-alikes.
Read the full Lacewood encyclopedia entry →
The single most diagnostic feature is the ray fleck. Look at the quartersawn (radial) face and you should see numerous pale cream to tan flecks, often wavy or snakeskin-like, standing against a warmer reddish-brown ground. These flecks are exposed medullary rays, and in Cardwellia sublimis they are large and abundant, producing a busy, lace-like sheet of figure rather than a few scattered marks. Turn the board to the flat-sawn (tangential) face and the figure largely disappears into a plainer grain — that contrast between a boldly flecked quarter face and a plain flat face is itself a strong clue you are looking at a ray-fleck wood.
Color supports the call: expect a pinkish to reddish-brown heartwood, sometimes coppery, with a paler and less figured sapwood. If a 'lacewood' board is grayish, pale straw, or lacks any warm reddish ground, suspect a different source species. Texture is medium-to-coarse and slightly open, with straight to mildly interlocked grain and a moderate luster.
Check the end grain and weight. Lacewood is diffuse-porous with visible pores and, crucially, very wide rays that show as prominent lines running across the growth on the end grain — those broad rays are what produce the fleck. In the hand it feels moderately heavy but not dense like a true oak or a heavy tropical; the medium weight, combined with the reddish ground and heavy fleck, helps separate it. Scent is not distinctive and should not be relied on.
The biggest identification trap is the name itself: 'lacewood' is applied to several unrelated woods that all show ray fleck. Southern Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta) is very close and hard to separate visually — it tends to be a touch lighter and is the other classic Australian 'silky oak.' South American leopardwood/lacewood (Roupala/Panopsis) usually shows a tighter, more uniform speckle and often a darker, more purplish-brown ground. Quartersawn London plane (European lacewood) is paler — a light pinkish-tan with smaller, more regular flecks and no strong reddish-brown ground. And genuine true oak shows ray fleck too, but its ring-porous end grain (rows of large early-wood pores) immediately separates it from the diffuse-porous silky oaks.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know I'm looking at real ray fleck and not printed figure?
Genuine ray fleck sits on the quartersawn face and vanishes on the flat-sawn face of the same board, and each fleck aligns with a broad ray you can trace onto the end grain. A printed or laminate imitation repeats in a regular pattern and shows the same 'figure' regardless of how the board is oriented.
How do I tell Cardwellia lacewood from Grevillea (Southern Silky Oak)?
It is genuinely difficult by eye — both are Australian silky oaks with strong fleck. Cardwellia (Northern Silky Oak) tends to a slightly deeper reddish-brown ground; Grevillea often runs a shade lighter. For a firm answer you need the supplier's species or lab identification, since the two are frequently sold interchangeably as 'lacewood' or 'silky oak.'
What separates lacewood from true oak, which also has fleck?
The end grain. True oak (Quercus) is ring-porous, with a distinct row of large open pores at each growth ring; lacewood is diffuse-porous with more evenly scattered pores. Lacewood's ground is also a warmer reddish-brown, whereas oak fleck sits on a paler tan ground.
Is the plain-looking board still lacewood if it has no fleck?
It can be. The figure only shows strongly on quartersawn faces; a flat-sawn board of the same tree looks plain. Check the end grain for the very wide rays — if they're there, the wood can be re-sawn to reveal the lace figure on a radial face.