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.

Coast Redwood

Coast Redwood

The famous rot-resistant softwood of California's coast: light, straight-grained, and a warm reddish-brown that reads unmistakably as redwood.

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
Coast Redwood or Giant Sequoia

Coast Redwood or Giant Sequoia

California's iconic reddish softwood — light, straight-grained, aromatic-free, and prized for its exceptional natural decay resistance in old-growth heartwood.

Softwood
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
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
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
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
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
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
Japanese Cedar

Japanese Cedar

Japan's national tree and premier building softwood — light, straight-grained, aromatic sugi prized for its warm tone and easy working.

Softwood
Giant Sequoia

Giant Sequoia

The wood of Earth's most massive trees: light, soft, richly tannic, and famously rot-resistant, with a warm golden-brown to reddish heartwood.

Softwood
Unknown Softwood

Unknown Softwood

A pale cream to light-tan European softwood of undetermined species, showing straight grain, visible rays and radial surface checking — light, soft and easy to work.

Softwood
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
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
Kauri

Kauri

A golden, fine-grained New Zealand softwood — even-textured and stable, famed for huge clear boards and for ancient bog-buried 'swamp kauri'.

Softwood
Conifer (unidentified)

Conifer (unidentified)

A pale, straight-grained North American softwood cut from an unidentified conifer — light tan to pale yellow, light in weight, and easy to work.

Softwood
Sweetgum

Sweetgum

A moderately hard eastern North American hardwood with fine even grain — pale sapwood (sapgum) and reddish-brown heartwood (redgum) that takes stain and finish beautifully.

Hardwood
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
Pin Oak

Pin Oak

A ring-porous red-oak-group hardwood — pale tan with reddish undertones, coarse open grain and bold rays, sold and worked as red oak.

Hardwood
Softwood Plywood

Softwood Plywood

Cross-laminated conifer veneers bonded into stable structural sheets — the pale, workaday plywood behind subfloors, sheathing, roofs and rough carpentry.

Engineered
Brazilian Rosewood

Brazilian Rosewood

Legendary CITES-listed tropical hardwood with deep reddish-brown, high-contrast striped heartwood — the classic tonewood for fine guitars and heirloom furniture.

Tropical & Exotic