If you know how to identify wood in furniture, you are better able to take care of your wood furniture. In addition to that, if you’re restoring an heirloom piece, information about the wood will affect your working strategies like sanding and staining, etc.
Some people enjoy a back story to their furniture. How it was made. Where did the wood come from? Knowing things like that makes them feel more connected to their home. If you’re one of them and love wood furniture, being able to identify wood in your furniture is going to be an enjoyment for you.
HOW TO IDENTIFY WOOD IN FURNITURE
Nature is amazing. There are so many types of wood that even experts may sometimes find it hard to identify the exact species. There is no simple “scratch and sniff” hack to identify wood in furniture. You need to have some basic information about wood and implement it to figure out the type of wood.
MOST COMMON TYPES OF WOOD
Not just for making furniture, wood is generally divided into two types:
1. Hardwoods
2. Softwoods
HARDWOOD
Hardwood comes from deciduous trees; which means the flowering trees that reproduce by seeds enclosed in a fruit/shell. They have signature broad leaves and shed leaves annually. Typical examples are oak, mahogany, cherry, walnut, maple, etc. Hardwood trees grow slowly and therefore are dense.
SOFTWOOD
Softwood isn’t necessarily soft. It is named as such because it is easier to work with. It is malleable. Softwood trees are coniferous trees that reproduce with naked seeds. They grow faster than hardwood trees. Examples of softwood trees include pine, spruce, redwood, cedar, and hemlock, etc.
Now that we have muddied the waters a little bit, let’s get back to our topic of discussion. How to identify wood in furniture?
1. Confirm it’s wood!
This may seem obvious. Before you take a deep dive trying to identify wood in furniture, make sure that it’s wood. You won’t be able to link any information about wood identification to something that is made of man-made composite material. Sometimes, even plastic may be painted and carved to look like wood.
Look to see if you can find the end grain. Man-made wood such as particleboard and MDF have distinct patterns that are a giveaway of their true identity. Solid wood will always have “growth rings”. Growth rings are formed because of yearly growth in trees. Similarly, look for a repeating grain pattern. This is linked to veneer. A veneered piece will have distinguishable repeating grain patterns.
Another important thing to consider is to see if the piece of furniture has been laminated with wood-colored plastic. Sometimes, MDF or particleboard pieces are simply painted to appear like wood grain. Such pieces are referred to as “pseudo-wood”. They are made by combining sawdust, resins, and durable plastic using glue.
2. Identify the Color
Look at the color of the wood in the furniture. Is it a natural wood color or is it stained? If the color is natural, you can be sure that it is solid wood. If it is stained, it will make identification of the wood a little harder. To see if the wood is stained, sand the surface to remove the stain. It will reveal the original color of the wood. (Sand an inconspicuous part of the furniture if you aren’t restoring it.)
If the wood isn’t stained, there may be a chance that the wood has aged. Wood tends to change color over time. To see the original color of the wood, sand it. Check out the following guide to identify wood by color.
3. Observe the Hardness and Weight
The weight of the wood can give you an idea of the type of wood. Since hardwood is denser than softwood, therefore it will be heavier. Some manufacturers offer a sample block of wood that is used to make furniture. Weigh it and compare it to the known woods. Use the length, weight, and thickness to find out the density. Refer to the database of wood densities to identify the species.
If you are not able to access the sample wood, simply try gouging the wood with the edge of your fingernail to get a sense of its density. The deeper dent you can create, the softer the wood is. Look for the dents in the piece of furniture you’re enquiring about. Depending on the age and use of the piece of furniture, softwood furniture will have deeper dents.
4. Identify the Grain
If you’re trying to identify wood in furniture, you will not be able to see the grain. If you can get the sample wood from the manufacturer, observe the grain. Most softwoods have no grain indentations. They are smooth to the touch. On the other hand, hardwoods have obvious open pore structures. However, some hardwoods, especially maple are smooth to the touch.
The grain of the wood also depends on whether it is plainsawn or quartersawn. Some figures, curls, or burls are distinctive for some types of wood. Sand a part of furniture you’re investigating and observe the end grain under a good quality magnifying glass. Below you will find some grain patterns for the most common types of wood.
5. Find out the History
Don’t let go of logic when trying to identify wood in furniture. For instance, if a furniture piece is Amish (Pennsylvanian), it is unlikely that the wood is jatoba or African Wenge. Most of the Amish furniture is made with black walnut or cherry. A little prejudice to where the furniture is made can go a long way in identifying the type of wood.
The antique pieces made by family-owned skilled craftsmen will use specific species. They use the same type of wood for decades. Similarly, if you know if the manufacturer gets their wood from a lumber mill where the wood is processed from local trees, you can make an educated guess about the type of wood.
In addition, knowing how old the piece of furniture it can also help you make a logical guess about the type of wood. For example, many antique furniture pieces in the US are usually made with white oak.
6. Testing to Get a Final Result
Once you have got a few guesses of what type of wood you’re looking at, you can finalize your result with some tests. One of these tests is identifying the odor of freshly sanded wood. Of course, you will need plenty of experience for this. Some chemical tests can help differentiate between two closely related species. One such test involves applying a diluted reagent to the wood surface. It reacts with the wood and gives a color change. This test is usually used to differentiate between Red and White Oak or Red and Hard Maple.
Some types of wood exhibit a phenomenon called Fluorescence. Under white/natural light many kinds of wood appear to be the same color. However, when exposed to certain wavelengths, the wood reflects different wavelengths of light.
At Woody’s, we will be able to directly answer your questions about the type of wood in furniture. For example, our wood dining table Apex is solid wood, that comes from cherry trees. Hopefully, we have helped you figure out how to identify wood in furniture. If you’re still stumped, visit us in-store for a chat. Two heads are better than one. We may figure it out together.