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.

Particle Board

Particle Board

An engineered panel of wood chips and shavings bonded with resin under heat and pressure — cheap, flat, and stable, but weak, heavy, and moisture-sensitive.

Engineered
Unknown Specimen (c00750)

Unknown Specimen (c00750)

An unidentified medium-to-dark brown hardwood specimen with moderate grain; documented from a real sample but not matched to a confirmed species.

Hardwood
Engineered Wood

Engineered Wood

A broad family of manufactured boards built from wood fibers, particles, or veneers bonded with adhesives — uniform, stable, and free of a single natural species.

Engineered
Pterospermum

Pterospermum

A medium-density, fine and even-grained Southeast Asian hardwood from the bayur (Pterospermum) tree, showing a warm medium-to-dark brown planed surface.

Hardwood
Calophyllum

Calophyllum

Warm golden- to reddish-brown Latin American hardwood of medium density, valued for flooring, joinery, and general construction with a subtle ribbon figure.

Tropical & Exotic
Genuine Mahogany

Genuine Mahogany

The classic cabinet wood: a medium-density tropical American hardwood, reddish-brown with an even grain, prized for stability, workability, and CITES protection.

Tropical & Exotic
Wenge

Wenge

Dark brown-to-black Central African hardwood with a bold black-and-tan striped figure, coarse texture, and high density — a favorite for flooring and accents.

Tropical & Exotic
Freijo

Freijo

A medium tan-brown Amazonian hardwood with a fine, even grain and a walnut-like look — stable, moderately hard, and easy to work.

Hardwood
Ziricote

Ziricote

A dense Central American hardwood famous for dramatic "spider-web" figure — grayish to medium brown with fine black streaking and high natural luster.

Tropical & Exotic
Damoni

Damoni

A fine, straight-grained hardwood in warm light-to-medium brown tones, known here from a physical sample rather than a documented botanical source.

Hardwood
African Padauk

African Padauk

The brilliant orange-red African hardwood: hard, heavy, and durable, prized for its vivid vermillion color, medium interlocked grain, and easy working.

Tropical & Exotic
European Hardwood (Unknown)

European Hardwood (Unknown)

An unidentified temperate hardwood sampled in the Czech Republic, showing reddish-brown heartwood, a darker outer ring, and clear medium-spaced growth rings.

Hardwood
Schima

Schima

A medium-hard, light-tan-to-brown Asian hardwood from the needlewood tree (Schima wallichii), used for construction, furniture, and plywood — but with irritant bark and dust.

Hardwood
Ceylon Oak

Ceylon Oak

Extremely hard, heavy South Asian hardwood (kusum) with fine even grain and medium-to-dark brown color, used for tool handles, crushers, and turnery.

Hardwood
Pyrenean Oak

Pyrenean Oak

A warm golden-toned Iberian white oak with prominent ring-porous grain and bold ray fleck — a hardy, medium-dense European oak used for furniture, flooring, and cooperage.

Hardwood