Wood Identification Guide
Disclaimer: This wood identification tool has been developed for information only. Although all possible efforts have been made to ensure that the information on this tool is accurate, we cannot under any circumstances guarantee the completeness, accuracy or exactness of the information. Reference should always be made to the appropriate documents. This tool should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal or design advice, and the user is responsive for how the tool is used or applied.
This guide is designed to assist in the identification of wood. While other tools have been developed for identifying wood species, they often require extensive scientific knowledge or complex technologies that are often unavailable to the personnel involved. In contrast, this guide is a simple that can be used by anyone. Below is summary of steps in the identification process.
To identifying wood using anatomical features, you will need to produce the end grain surface so cleanly that the essential cell features can be seen easily. The best tools are single edge razor blades and a 10X - 15X hand lens.
To cut an end-grain surface cleanly and safely, hold the blade firmly and move it in the direction of the arrows in a sliding, slicing motion. Make a thin cut on a very small area. Moistening the surface of the wood usually helps. A bench clamp is especially useful for holding small samples while cutting.
Wood surfaces are classified into three categories, or geometric planes of reference, that indicate the type of surface uncovered after a cut has been made. The three reference planes are the cross section, radial section and tangential section. The cross section is produced by cutting the cells perpendicular to the direction of growth in the tree. The cross section is the same surface seen on a stump after felling a tree. Most of the wood cell structure characteristics discussed in this guide are best viewed from the cross-section surface of the wood.
When using a hand lens to view the surface of a wood section, the lens should be held close to the eye. Bring the sample toward the lens until the surface comes into focus. With a hand lens, the different cell types and their arrangements can be seen.
The key is written to guide you through the identification process in the most efficient and accurate way possible. It presents you with a numbered series of questions. The answers you provide will be based on your interpretations of the anatomical characters in your unknown specimen and will lead you to a new set of questions. Each time you answer a question and proceed to the next you are one step closer to making an identification.
The first key in the simplified identification process is aimed at narrowing the investigation to either the hardwoods or the softwoods. You are asked to examine the unkown sample on a cleanly cut cross section to access the wood with the presence of vessels (hardwood or porous wood) or the absence of vessels (softwood or non-porous wood). If the wood is porous, for example, then the application will lead you to another set of questions to examine the distribution of pores. By continuing this way from page to page, the unkown sample can finally be identified to an indicated group or single wood species. Be aware that all identification keys are well defined throughout the identification process. Please use Need help button designed at each page to show the definitions of those keys . We strongly recommend reading those identification keys before working with your first unkown sample.
If your specimen is a good match for the indicated wood, you have successfully identified it. However, if your unknown specimen is a species not included in the key, then you must consider the specimen is not recognized. This will happen from time to time, because no key includes all woods. In such an event, seek the assistance of trained wood identification expert.
What is Wood Identification
Identification is establishing the identity of an unknown Specimen (analytically, equivalent to Sample). Specimen is a representative portion of the whole material to be tested. Statistically, it is a set of data obtained from a population. The identity of the specimen is one of many pieces of information that you need to seperate one from the others. There are different (e.g. administrative, legal, scientific) reasons why we need to identify wood specimens.
Wood anatomy involves the study of the structure of wood at the micro- and macroscopic levels. Determinations are based on a large set of wood anatomical characters. Wood anatomy primarily focuses on examination of the shape, size, arrangement and contents of the various cell and tissue types found in wood.
The objective in identifying an unkown sample of wood is to call it by its correct name. The fact that you have three categories of names (scientific names, common names and trade names) to call a wood species. It should be noted that though these three categories of names are used interchangeably but only scientific name helps avoid confusion in naming of woods, while the others (common names and trade names) are often inappropriate or misleading.
The scientific names in our present system of naming plants (binomial or two-name nomenclature system) are in Latinized form. The first part in forming the scientific names designates the genus (the generic name) and the second, the species (the specific name). The genus always begins with a capital letter, the species with a lowercase letter.
Wood Identification Services
We recommend you to use the application for identifying your wood samples. However, we understand that many times the application cannot meet your needs since there are different reasons in identifying wood as mentioned earlier. If you would like to use a paid identification services, please fill in the form once you request services using the button below, and we will get back to you with a quote and related documents.
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