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.
Red Maple
A pale, fine-grained North American soft maple prized for its clean look, easy machining, and value-friendly availability.
Hardwood
Japanese Maple
The wood of the ornamental Japanese maple: dense, fine-grained, with tight concentric rings and a warm reddish-brown cast in this sample.
Hardwood
European Maple
Pale, lustrous European hardwood prized for curly and burl figure; the classic tonewood for violin backs and fine turnery.
Hardwood
Soft Maple or Ash (unidentified)
A pale cream-to-tan Eastern North American hardwood — this sample sits between soft maple and ash, two common domestic species that overlap in light stock.
Hardwood
Birdseye Maple
Figured hard maple dotted with tiny circular 'eyes' — a light, pale-golden North American hardwood prized for showpiece work.
Hardwood
Norway Maple
A pale, fine-grained European maple with even diffuse-porous texture and a clean cream-tan color — a good-turning, easily finished utility hardwood.
Hardwood
Sugar Maple
Dense, pale North American hardwood prized for its hardness, tight even grain, and prized figure like bird's eye and curl.
Hardwood
Abachi
A very light, soft, pale West African hardwood with fine even grain — the classic sauna-bench and core-veneer wood, low in weight, heat, and resin.
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
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
Red Alder
The Pacific Northwest's workhorse softwood-of-a-hardwood: pale, even-textured, and famous for the warm orange blush it takes on when freshly cut.
Hardwood
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
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
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
Pine (unspecified)
The everyday pale, resinous softwood of Northern Europe — pale cream to light honey with crisp, boldly marked annual rings.
Softwood
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
Japanese Cedar
Japan's national tree and premier building softwood — light, straight-grained, aromatic sugi prized for its warm tone and easy working.
Softwood
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