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Identify wood from the end grain of a board/log

Started by SwampDonkey, October 30, 2006, 12:34:52 PM

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SwampDonkey

I was participating in another thread on the forum to id a piece of wood and instead of letting the information get burried, I decided to make a new thread in here to help folks id some sawn lumber or logs by looking at end grain.

Tools of the trade:

A 10 x hand lense




A sharp utility knife or carving knife.




Take your utility knife and cut a fresh surface on the end of a board. With dense, harder wood, some fine sanding paper may help clean up the surface. Use some water or saliva on the fresh cut surface to make the grain stand out.

Getting down to it



Hard maple end grain(sugar maple and black maple): Growth rings are distinct. Pores are indistinct without a hand lens, uniform in size and evenly distributed throughout the growth ring. Broader rays visible to naked eye, as wide as the largest pores, separated by several narrow (intermediary) rays, narrower rays are barely visible with hand lens.





Yellow birch end grain: Often growth rings won't be seen without hand lens. Pores appear as white dots to naked eye, largest pore wider than large ray, uniform in size. Rays are not distinct with naked eye.




Black cherry: Rays distinct with naked eye. Pores not visible without magnification.





White Ash: Earlywood pores are large, distinct to naked eye, forming band of 2-4 pores. Latewood pores small with parenchyma forming narrow sheath around the pores. Rays are barely visible to naked eye.



A better image:





Butternut: Earlywood pores visible to naked eye, fairly uniform but decreasing in size on the outer margin of the ring, diffuse to semi-diffuse porous. Rays indistinct without hand lens, uniform width.





Just to skirt some cornfusion  ;) , my use of 'vessel' <> pore. You'll also notice that on diffuse porous wood, such as maple, the early wood is wider than the latewood. On ring porous wood the darker ring is early wood because of the larger pores making it appear darker, but it is less dense.

Also, the pores go out radially between the wood rays. In other words, a ray doesn't cut through a pore. If it looks that way, like on butternut, or white oak, that is tylosis and nothing to do with a ray.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Tom

.............or a 5 inch astronomy telescope at 150 feet.  :D

Jeff

Swamp do you have a red maple or "soft" maple sample available for comparison?
Just call me the midget doctor.
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Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
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SwampDonkey

Jeff, I might be able to find a sacrificial piece of red maple. Maybe a piece over at the marketing board wood yard. It's not that it's hard to get my hands on, it's that I never cut it and I'de have to kill a crop tree. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

OK, found this red maple that the road crew turned up on the edge of my woodlot.

Red maple (soft maple) end grain: Growth rings not very distinct. Pores indistinct without a hand lens, evenly distributed in growth ring, often present in multiples of 2 to several. Rays visible to naked eye, broadest as wide as largest pore.

end grain

split surface with characteristic ray fleck of maples.



Aspen end grain: Growth rings distinct because of darker latewood, but not conspicuous, wide. Pores are numerous, small, but indistinct without hand lens (even then it's a challenge), more crowded in earlywood, decreasing gradually in size in latewood, semi-ring to diffuse-porous. Rays are very fine and hardly visible even with a hand lens.



Rays are very faint at this magnification (~ 7x)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Isn't it true that hard maple typically has two types of rays?  One type is wider and easy to see by eye.  The other is very narrow and may not be visible without a hand-lens?  Soft maple, on the other hand, has rays of more uniform width without there being two very distinctly diiferent ray widths?  I was just wondering how hard-and-fast a rule is this?
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

SwampDonkey

WDH, from what I've studied and researched on it, your bang on. I think I've described that hard maple have those smaller 'intermediary rays' that are hard to see.

cheers.  :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

I love identifying wood.  Decades ago when I was in Forestry School, I competed in the Forestry Conclave in the Wood ID competition.  My daughter is now attending Forestry School (shows how old I am!) and recently competed in the Wood ID competition.  It brought back a lot of old memories as I helped her prepare samples and study for the competition.  I really appreciate all the photos and wood ID tips that you are posting.  A person has to keep learning.  Thank you!
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Phorester

A good point on identifying sawn wood, SWAMPDONKEY.  Looking at the end grain is the surest way to id boards.  I have been frustrated on this Board (no insults intended on anybody!!) and other Boards, and in 'real life' when somebody wants a species id of a board without a good clear picture or sample of the end grain.   Most times it just can't be done without this.

A good thread, glad you brought this up. 

mdvaden

Can you ID the wood fairly easy with a chainsaw cut end? Or does the wood grain end need to be sanded or smoothed with a knife blade?

Phorester


Knife blade.  You have to have a clean, sharply cut cross section of the growth rings.  You only need a few rings, so you can just cut into the edge of the wood piece.  Sanding might fill the pores with sawdust and obscure identifying details. 

Wetting the cut edge might bring out the growth rings more. Spit or water.

TexasTimbers

Hoadley covered this, and I always wondered where, if one existed, I could get a fairly exhaustive thumbnail reference book for North American woods? He referenced quite a few himslef but of course there are dozens and dozens that are here even in my little ol neck of the woods. Anyone know of such a reference?
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

mdvaden

Is there a certain area of cross-grain needed to make the ID, typically?

Would a 2" x 2" piece suffice for most species, or can someone use the end of a 1" board and find enough?

SwampDonkey

Quote from: kevjay on November 22, 2006, 08:44:02 PM
Hoadley covered this, and I always wondered where, if one existed, I could get a fairly exhaustive thumbnail reference book for North American woods? He referenced quite a few himslef but of course there are dozens and dozens that are here even in my little ol neck of the woods. Anyone know of such a reference?

Textbook of Wood Technology

Try to find the 4th Edition, 1980 publication. If you live near a University that teaches forestry, you may be able to pick one up at their bookstore. I'm sure there would be a copy in their forestry/science library. The pictures are black and white.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

Quote from: mdvaden on November 22, 2006, 11:30:33 PM
Is there a certain area of cross-grain needed to make the ID, typically?

Would a 2" x 2" piece suffice for most species, or can someone use the end of a 1" board and find enough?

Any sized piece would do, but it's good to get a piece showing 4 or more growth rings to see the general transition between early and late wood.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Gary_C

I have one of those 10X magnifiers, but I can never seem to get it in focus from the seat in the forwarder when I have to separate the red and sugar maple from the ash, red oak, basswood and aspen. What I see does not look at all like your pictures. And especially not when it starts to turn a little dark from the laying in the sun.  ;D

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

SwampDonkey

If your cutting pulp it really doesn't matter except some mills want popple and birch separated and that's not hard to tell from the bark. If it's sawlogs and veneer, then someone eventually will be leaving the seat with scale stick and peavy in hand. ;)  ;D Only then will the hand lens be handy. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Raphael

I don't think you'll need a 10x lens and knife to ID these rays.



... he was middle aged,
and the truth hit him like a man with no parachute.
--Godley & Creme

Stihl 066, MS 362 C-M & 24+ feet of Logosol M7 mill

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

jon12345

Bubble blowing is my preferred method of discerning between oak families

I got a notebook full of end grain ID the only problem is it is (was) my own interpretation, even I cannot identify them from the drawings now  :D
A.A.S. in Forest Technology.....Ironworker

SwampDonkey

White oak: broad wood rays seen without lens-often 1 " or more along the grain (look at flat sawn surface of board), broad ray fleck on radial surface (split a piece of firewood). Late wood pores are indistinct with hand lens, tyloses in earlywood of heartwood.

red oak: broad rays absent, late-wood pores distinct with hand lens-orifices plainly visible, rounded. Tyloses usually absent but may be found sparsely in early-wood pores.

Help ???  ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

metalspinner

SD,
I tryed scanning some samples, but definition in the pic is already lost prior to optimizing for forum uploading.  Any tips to get the resolution you have in your samples?  The scanner I am using is 2400 X 4800dpi.  I used a razor to shave a clean surface.  How large were your samples that you scanned?  Did you crop them after scanning?

Thanks, Chris
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

metalspinner

This is the best resolution I've come with so far.





The actual growth ring width is about 5/16".  Under a 10x hand lens I could not distinguish any more detail than with the naked eye. 

My guess is that this is sweetgum.  Others have guessed that as well here...

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=22793.0
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

WDH

Definitely a diffuse porous hardwood.  Looks most like sweetgum or blackgum to me.  I would not argue with sweetgum with what you show here.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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