Wood Encyclopedia

Search and identify wood species from around the world — with origin, Janka hardness, grain and color, working properties, common uses, and how to tell them apart.

Eastern White Pine

Eastern White Pine

The classic soft, lightweight, pale North American pine: fine even grain, distinct growth rings, and a wood that carves, planes, and paints with ease.

Softwood
Reclaimed Oak

Reclaimed Oak

Salvaged oak recovered from old barns, beams, floors, and casks — dense, ring-porous timber prized for its aged patina, tight old-growth grain, and history.

Reclaimed
Reclaimed Historic Softwood

Reclaimed Historic Softwood

Weathered structural softwood salvaged from a historic Texas building — gray silvered surface over warm brown patina, with straight old-growth grain.

Reclaimed
Eastern Red Cedar

Eastern Red Cedar

A fragrant North American juniper — reddish-purple heartwood against pale sapwood, famous for moth-repelling cedar chests and closet linings.

Softwood
Pine (unspecified)

Pine (unspecified)

The everyday pale, resinous softwood of Northern Europe — pale cream to light honey with crisp, boldly marked annual rings.

Softwood
Stone Pine

Stone Pine

The pale, resinous Mediterranean softwood of the umbrella pine — clear concentric rings, straight grain, and light tan color, better known for its pine nuts than its timber.

Softwood
White Ash

White Ash

A strong, pale, ring-porous North American hardwood with bold straight grain and outstanding shock resistance — the classic wood for tool handles and baseball bats.

Hardwood
White Poplar

White Poplar

A pale, lightweight European hardwood of the poplar family — soft, fine-textured, and odorless, long used for boxes, plywood core, and utility work.

Hardwood
Pitch Pine

Pitch Pine

A resinous eastern-North-American softwood: pale yellow-brown, distinct growth rings, heavy for a pine, historically prized for its pitch and durable, resin-soaked heartwood.

Softwood
Canary Pine

Canary Pine

A resinous, warm-toned softwood from the Canary Island pine — pale cream sapwood over a durable, amber "tea" heartwood long prized for island joinery and balconies.

Softwood
Chir Pine

Chir Pine

A resinous Himalayan softwood, brown to reddish-brown, with visible growth rings and a strong pine scent — a workhorse construction and packing timber of northern India.

Softwood
Ponderosa Pine

Ponderosa Pine

A soft, light Western softwood — pale yellow sapwood and warm orange-tan heartwood, straight-grained, easy to work, and the classic knotty-pine millwork timber.

Softwood
Lodgepole Pine

Lodgepole Pine

A pale, lightweight, straight-boled Rocky Mountain softwood — the classic tepee-pole tree — valued for framing lumber, house logs, and utility products.

Softwood
Swiss Stone Pine

Swiss Stone Pine

Light, soft, aromatic Alpine softwood — the classic 'Zirbe' carving and paneling wood, pale cream to off-white with a lasting sweet resinous scent.

Softwood
White Spruce

White Spruce

A light, pale, straight-grained North American softwood — the classic clean, low-resin utility conifer prized for its strength-to-weight ratio and pale even face.

Softwood
White Oak

White Oak

Dense, ring-porous North American hardwood prized for its prominent ray fleck, closed pores, and legendary rot resistance.

Hardwood
White Mulberry

White Mulberry

A tough, golden-hued fruit-tree hardwood prized by turners and carvers for its ripple figure, though sawn samples often read pale cream to light tan.

Hardwood
White Mangrove

White Mangrove

A dense, hard mangrove hardwood of tropical tidal coasts — light tan to buff, small and gnarled, rarely milled and mostly used for posts, fuel, and charcoal.

Tropical & Exotic
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine

Wood of the world's oldest trees — a dense, resinous, extremely slow-grown high-desert pine with tight rings and twisted grain, golden tan in color.

Softwood
Arborvitae

Arborvitae

A very light, soft, aromatic softwood — better known as Northern White Cedar — prized for rot resistance in shingles, posts, and canoe ribs.

Softwood
Weathered Hardwood

Weathered Hardwood

Not a single species but any hardwood whose surface has silvered to grey from sun, rain, and time — prized for its fine, raised grain and reclaimed patina.

Hardwood
Black Walnut

Black Walnut

Prized North American hardwood with rich chocolate-brown heartwood, pale sapwood, and superb workability for fine furniture.

Hardwood
Douglas Fir

Douglas Fir

A strong, stiff Pacific Northwest softwood — cream to tan with bold growth rings and reddish bands — the backbone of North American structural timber.

Softwood
Red Oak

Red Oak

The workhorse of American hardwoods — a strong, ring-porous, coarse-grained oak with bold rays, a reddish cast, and open pores you can see with the naked eye.

Hardwood