Wood Anatomy

[David Ragan]

Anybody here into wood anatomy?

I mean microscopic ID of various types. a few years ago, I accumulated a bunch of stuff to do it, but then discovered a $3K tome to slice pieces would be optimal. I lost heart.

Maybe I need a new approach. Last night, i picked up a bunch of exotics from a guy and, although he ID them all while putting in my truck, when I got home, it was all just a jumble of wood again.

I found a couple of internet sites that go into it with just a 10x loupe. That would be great to be able to ID most common woods with a minimum of equipment:)

A lot of these Jatoba, Brazilian Cherry, and diffo species of what is called mahogany do look pretty similar.

[Bradley Gray]

I had Bruce Hoadley's wood ID book from the library a few years ago. I'm pretty sure all that is required is a 10x loupe to ID end grain.
http://http://www.amazon.com/Identifying-Wood-Accurate-Results-Simple/dp/0942391047/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439295688&sr=1-2&keywords=Bruce+Hoadley

[Christian Hawkshaw]

They guy who runs this site may be of help. He does post here sometimes.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

[Jamie Buxton]

Perhaps a homebrew microtome is in order. A really sharp plane blade can make very fine slices of endgrain. So your homebrew microtome would need a good plane blade, sharpened very well -- which is just woodworking technology -- and a good way of advancing the sample to make a slice. That could be just a fine lead-screw. Sounds like an interesting challenge.

[David Ragan]

I had Bruce Hoadley's wood ID book from the library a few years ago. I'm pretty sure all that is required is a 10x loupe to ID end grain.
http://http://www.amazon.com/Identifying-Wood-Accurate-Results-Simple/dp/0942391047/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439295688&sr=1-2&keywords=Bruce+Hoadley

Great book.

Have it.


They guy who runs this site may be of help. He does post here sometimes.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

Does he have a book. Excellent website. He apparently does the majority of ID via endgrain? Does he have an algorhythm? A book?


Perhaps a homebrew microtome is in order. A really sharp plane blade can make very fine slices of endgrain. So your homebrew microtome would need a good plane blade, sharpened very well -- which is just woodworking technology -- and a good way of advancing the sample to make a slice. That could be just a fine lead-screw. Sounds like an interesting challenge.

Yes, this is an interesting situation. Let us think upon it.......

[Christian Hawkshaw]

Great book.

Have it.



Does he have a book. Excellent website. He apparently does the majority of ID via endgrain? Does he have an algorhythm? A book?



Yes, this is an interesting situation. Let us think upon it.......

I believe he is Paul Hinds on this site http://www.sawmillcreek.org/member.php?128426-Paul-Hinds. Don't know any specifics of his methods, but have seen his posts on several sites.

[Allan Speers]

You could probably also narrow things down drastically if you could accurately determine the piece's specific gravity. There's probably a relatively simple way to do this at home.

[Danny Hamsley]

I can ID the domestic woods, but not the exotics. A good sharp razor knife and a 10X hand lens is all that you need. Plus, a lot of experience. We could do a thread on the fundamentals of wood ID if there is enough interest.

[David Ragan]

I can ID the domestic woods, but not the exotics. A good sharp razor knife and a 10X hand lens is all that you need. Plus, a lot of experience. We could do a thread on the fundamentals of wood ID if there is enough interest.

I am interested. What do we do now, with full knowledge that SMC cannot accomodate all the WW interests that are out there?

[Allan Speers]

I'm also interested.

- Extremely.

[Danny Hamsley]

Let me think about the best way to do this.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

You could probably also narrow things down drastically if you could accurately determine the piece's specific gravity. There's probably a relatively simple way to do this at home.

Not sure how simple it is, but it can be done

I think that it goes something like this:



Make sure you have "representative tree wood"
Dry the wood correctly (correct temperature for correct length of time)
Properly measure the wood volume


I don't remember if Hoadly's book tells you how to do this or not. I have not done it, but I was taught how to do it some years back; not that I remember the details.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf2010/fpl_2010_williamson001.pdf

In the paper above, search for "Specific gravity is not density" on page 521 (no, the paper is not that long, but the publication that contained was I suppose). The next page then tells you about oven drying, where it claims that you want to dry the wood at 101-105 degrees C for 24 to 72 hours depending on sample size. The next section "Volume Measurement" tells you how to determine the volume. I expect that at home you do not have accurate methods of determining volume.

So, that really means that you can read a page or two to see what they say (at least in that paper).

[Andrew Pitonyak]

This will be of interest if you really want specific gravity.

http://prometheuswiki.publish.csiro.au/tiki-index.php?page=Wood+density+protocol