Specie Identification
Use this guide to identify valuable hardwoods on your property.
Ash
Fraxinus Americana
A hard, heavy wood with a straight, moderately open grain and medium texture. Its heartwood is light brown and the sapwood is beige or light brown and somewhat luminescent.
Basswood
Tilia Americana
This straight grain, fine textured wood is moderately strong. The heartwood and sapwood are not well-defined and are pale white to light brown.
Beech
Fagus Grandifolia
A straight grain wood with fine to medium texture. Typically, it is a pale cream color with a pink or brown hue that can show silvery fleck when quarter-sawn.
Birch
Betula Alleghaniensis
This straight grain and finely textured wood is heavy and very strong. The color is cream to light brown with sapwood that is nearly white.
Cherry
Prunus serotina
Usually straight grain, curly wood is also found among this specie. It is of fine texture with medium density and strength. The heartwood is a light pinkish-brown that will significantly darken with exposure to sunlight. The sapwood is blonde.
Hickory
Carya Myristiciformis
Straight grain with a medium texture, this wood is known for its strength and hardness. Its sapwood is nearly white to pale yellow-brown and the heartwood is pale to medium reddish-brown.
Hard Maple
Acer Saccharum
This hard and strong wood is known for its fine, uniform texture. Usually straight grained it can also produce curl, or birds eye, or fiddle-back patterns. The sapwood is creamy-white with a reddish or golden hue while the heartwood tends to be darker reddish-brown.
Soft Maple
Acer Rubrum
A close, relatively straight grain wood that is softer in texture and strength than Hard Maple. Its sapwood is white and the heartwood is a light brown.
Red Oak
Quercus Rubra
Hard and heavy with a straight grain course texture, its heartwood ranges from light to medium brown often with a reddish cast. Sapwood is nearly white to light brown.
White Oak
Quercus Alba
With a pronounced coarse grain, this wood is very strong and heavy. The heartwood color ranges from light to dark brown with an olive hue while the sapwood is creamy-white.
Walnut
Juglans Nigra
A moderately heavy and strong wood with a straight grain and medium texture. The heartwood is light to dark brown with a purplish cast. The sapwood is light brown in color.
