Tell me about wood grain

Definition: texture and appearance of the wood fibres; longitudinal arrangement of wood fibers or the pattern resulting from such an arrangement

Pith: the very center; in some trees, this is much softer and possibly a different color than the surrounding heartwood

Heartwood: made up of dead cells that no longer serve any purpose except to support the tree; darker than sapwood

Sapwood: is new wood; is the tree’s pipeline for water moving up to the leaves; as newer rings of sapwood are laid down, inner cells lose their vitality and turn to heartwood

Cambium: is the growing part of the trunk; annually produces new bark and new wood in response to hormones that pass down through the inner bark with food from the leaves

Bark: protective layer covering the cambium

Springwood: created light coloured when cambium grows rapidly at the beginning of each growing season

Summerwood: as the climate warms, it slows down and produces darker summerwood; this later growth is somewhat denser and harder than the early springwood

Growth rings: produced as the weather turns cold, the cambium becomes dormant until the next spring producing these distinctive rings

Wood grain terminology

Open grain vs. Closed grain

Open grain: large pores, coarse appearance (ex. elm, ash, walnut, oak); need to prepare them before applying any finish; if you apply stain on such wood without preparation it will be absorbed unevenly due to the large pores

Closed grain: smaller pores, fine appearance (ex. birch, maple); ability to accept most finishes without any issues; smooth surface gives the wood an amazing and sleek look

Differences in terms of refinishing:

The size of the pores gives closed-grain wood the ability to accept most finishes without any issues. Not to mention the smooth surface gives the wood an amazing and sleek look.

In the case of open-grained woods, you need to prepare them before applying any finish. If you apply stain on such wood without preparation it will be absorbed unevenly due to the large pores.

Soft wood vs. Hard wood

Soft wood:

comes from evergreen trees (conifers)
softwood trees are typically faster growing and less dense than hardwood
different density makes softwood easier to work with as it takes screws and nails with a lower risk of splitting
is widely used as framing (construction) material, furniture building, and paper products

Hard wood:

comes from broad-leaf deciduous trees that lose their leaves annually
these trees tend to be slower growing and provide a higher density wood
most common applications are high-end furniture manufacturing, flooring, tools, construction, and cooking

How is wood cut (or as it’s called – sawn!)

How to identify different woods (in very simple terms)

Factors to consider when trying to identify:

colour, grain pattern, unique characteristics, weight, origin

It took me a long while to learn to identify different wood grains. To speed up the process, I visited my local lumberyard (Turkstra Lumber) as well as a specialty store (Exotic Woods).

I bought samples of each and created stain boards so I knew how each wood would take the stain.