Wood Articles

General Wood Information

• Are Rosewoods (and Bubinga) really banned by CITES?
• Common US Hardwoods
• Ebony: Dark Outlook for Dark Woods?
• How Wood is Formed in Trees
• Restricted and Endangered Wood Species
• State Trees of the United States
• The Ten Best Woods You’ve Never Heard Of
• Top Ten Most Overrated Woods

Identifying Wood

• The Truth Behind Wood Identification
• Wood Identification Guide
• Hardwood Anatomy
• Softwood Anatomy
• Fluorescence: A Secret Weapon in Wood Identification

Mechanical Properties

• Bow Woods (from a mathematical perspective)
• Top Ten Hardest Woods
• Top Ten Heaviest Woods
• Top Ten Softest Woods

Separating Specific Woods

• Ash Wood: Black, White, and Everything in Between
• Distinguishing Red Oak from White Oak
• Differences Between Hard Maple and Soft Maple
• Distinguishing Brazilian Rosewood from East Indian and Other Rosewoods
• Elm Wood: Hard and Soft
• How to Tell Genuine Lignum Vitae from Argentine Lignum Vitae
• Mahogany Mixups: the Lowdown
• Pine Wood: An Overall Guide
• Poplar, Cottonwood, and Aspen: What’s What?
• Separating Spruce and Other Lookalikes
• Sorting Out Satinwoods
• True Hickory and Pecan Hickory

Safety and Health

• Wood Allergies and Toxicity
• Wood Dust Safety

Reference/For the Shop

• Fraction and Metric Conversion Chart
• Wood Images for Desktop Backgrounds

Working with Wood

• Drying Wood at Home
• Finishing Exotic and Tropical Hardwoods
• Gluing Oily Tropical Hardwoods
• How to Turn a Bandsaw Bowl from a Board
• Preventing Color Changes in Exotic Woods
• Wood Finishes: What Works When