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.
East Indian Rosewood
Dense, dark reddish-brown South Asian rosewood with fine interlocked grain — a fragrant, durable cabinet and instrument wood prized for tone and figure.
Hardwood
Indian Sandalwood
The famed fragrant heartwood of Santalum album: fine, close, warm golden-brown wood prized for carving and aromatic oil, and now strictly protected.
Tropical & Exotic
Sheesham (Indian Rosewood)
The workhorse Indian rosewood: a hard, durable Dalbergia with wavy interlocked grain and rich reddish-brown color, prized for furniture and carving.
Tropical & Exotic
East Indian Walnut
A fast-growing tropical legume timber traded as a walnut substitute — usually brown-streaked heartwood, though this sample shows its paler cream-to-tan tones.
Hardwood
Malabar Myrobalan
A dense, dark-brown Indian hardwood of the Terminalia group — the classic 'Indian Laurel' of cabinetwork, with golden tones and a moderate ribbon figure.
Tropical & Exotic
Slippery Elm
A tough, interlocked-grain North American elm with reddish-brown heartwood — nearly unsplittable, excellent for bending, and long prized where impact strength matters.
Hardwood
Mango Wood
A golden-brown tropical hardwood reclaimed from spent fruit orchards — light-tan with dark streaks, often figured, prized as a sustainable furniture wood.
Tropical & Exotic
Ebony
Dense, jet-black tropical hardwood with an extremely fine, poreless grain, prized for instrument parts, fine turning, and inlay.
Tropical & Exotic
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
Teak
Golden-brown tropical hardwood famous for its natural oils, exceptional weather resistance, and dimensional stability — the classic wood for boats and outdoor furniture.
Tropical & Exotic
Ceriops tagal
Very dense, tan-to-brown mangrove hardwood — hard, decay-resistant, and tannin-rich; used for poles, stakes, charcoal, and small durable joinery.
Hardwood
Brazilian Cedar
The aromatic 'cedar' of cigar boxes and guitar necks — a light, soft, spicy-scented tropical wood that is botanically a mahogany relative, not a true cedar.
Softwood
Catalpa
A lightweight, unusually decay-resistant native hardwood with coarse ring-porous grain and a warm tan-to-gray-brown color.
Hardwood
Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry / Courbaril)
A dense, very hard tropical hardwood in golden-honey to red-brown tones — the classic 'Brazilian cherry' flooring wood, prized for durability and toughness.
Tropical & Exotic
Red Sandalwood
A dense, deep blood-red Indian hardwood — the fine-grained, non-fragrant "red sanders," prized for color and carving but CITES-restricted and endangered.
Tropical & Exotic
African Walnut
A golden-brown West African hardwood with fine, lustrous, gently interlocked grain and a ribbon stripe — walnut-like in look but botanically a mahogany relative.
Hardwood
Crape Myrtle
A dense, fine-grained ornamental hardwood cut from the crape myrtle shrub-tree; pale cream to tan with tightly spaced rings and a smooth, uniform texture.
Hardwood
Linden
A pale, feather-light hardwood with fine straight grain and almost no figure — the traditional wood of European carvers and a top choice for detailed relief work.
Hardwood
Unknown Hardwood
An unidentified golden-brown to tan hardwood shown as an annotated cross-section — a reference specimen whose species cannot be confirmed from the sample alone.
Hardwood