IDing different types of wood


Brendon_t

Recommended Posts

Taunton also has a book. Rather limited, but a nice read.

 

Eric Meier at Wood database has a good setup as well. He cites his sources in the "about the project" page, should you like to pick up the USDA manuals or contact the photographers who supplied samples.  http://www.wood-database.com/ 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which of the phone applications help out the most when IDing wood species? I see many free and charge apps. Which one would you recommend? Is any one worth spending money on? I have my wife's dendrology book from college but its' photos are limited to tree, leaf, bark and fruit/nut. Even with the database and the book I sometimes still don't know what a species a wood is. 

 

I wish that I could take a photo with the phone and have it give a couple of possibilities of what it was. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info guys. I wish there was swath set of say 2x2 pieces of the majority of domestic woods for easy reference.

There are. Take a look at my site. They are a standard sixe, 6" x 3" x 1/2" . I own several hundred and have been fortunate to have been loaned over a thousand more (that's not all different species).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those are veneer samples (and only 50 types at that). I sell a kit with 180 different type of veneer, but you can't get end grain characteristics from veneer and that is often of the most use in ID'ing wood.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah thanks for the clarification.  Makes sense.

 

On further research I found this that is from a local to me store...  http://www.colonialhardwoods.com/woodid.html  I may end up picking up one of these myself...

 

Also found this group that seems like an amazing resource for Wood "Id'ing"...

http://www.woodcollectors.org/index.htm

 

Check out the Listing and Requests section as it has a bunch of people that offer samples.  E.G. http://www.woodsbygwgreen.com/exoticwood.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check out the Listing and Requests section as it has a bunch of people that offer samples.  E.G. http://www.woodsbygwgreen.com/exoticwood.html

Yes, Gary is the 2nd best provider in the US of Wood Samples. The best is Alan Curtis but Alan is really getting on in years and may not be doing it much longer and he has a big backlog (last time I checked) of unfilled orders that he is still working on. Both of these gentlemen provide absolutely top quality samples at very reasonable prices. The majority of the 1,600 or so samples on my site are from one or the other of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On further research I found this that is from a local to me store...  http://www.colonialhardwoods.com/woodid.html  I may end up picking up one of these myself...

 

You would do better selecting only the woods you want and buying from Gary Green or Alan Curtis. You'll get slightly better prices and their quality can't be beat (the quality of the samples you pointed to does seem really good though, I just think the prices are a bit high and you don't get to selected exactly what you want)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brendon I am an IT guy and research is what I seem to be reasonably good at...it helps with my plagiarism skills :)  Your request helped me to find this stuff as well so I hope this gives you what you needed as it certainly helped me determine that I would like to know more about wood species.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... I would like to know more about wood species.

Then I suggest you poke around in this article:

 

http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_anatomy/_anatomy.htm

 

The sections on parenchyma and growth rings should be enlightening.

 

By the way, I'm and IT guy too, and also really good at plagiarism :rolleyes:   OR ... as I prefer to put it: Theft from a single author is plagiarism. Theft from 2 authors is a comparative study. Theft from three or more is research . . . I do research.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then I suggest you poke around in this article:

 

http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_anatomy/_anatomy.htm

 

The sections on parenchyma and growth rings should be enlightening.

 

By the way, I'm and IT guy too, and also really good at plagiarism :rolleyes:   OR ... as I prefer to put it: Theft from a single author is plagiarism. Theft from 2 authors is a comparative study. Theft from three or more is research . . . I do research.

 

I just might quote you on that...I like the way you think :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

aye well plagiarism is a pretty specific kind of fraud, it really doesn't apply to ideas but instead the actual expression of those ideas.  when it comes to an idea or a theory or what have you, it's a whole different can of worms involving copyright and patent and that's a mess nobody wants a part of .. heh. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.