• Sumac

  Staghorn sumac

  There are many different varieties of sumac, all belonging to the Cashew family (Anacardiaceae). As well as the cashew tree, this family also includes the mango and pistachio.

  The two sumacs that George and Ben use most often are Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) and Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra). Another common sumac is Shining Sumac (Rhus copallina). Sumacs are big shrubs or small trees with pinnately compounded leaves. They seldom grow more than 25 to 30 feet tall and tend to be fast-growing but short-lived. Staghorn Sumac twigs have a velvety covering of long hairs, like a deer's velvet, which is presumably why they are so named. The fruits of Staghorn Sumac are also very distinctive; their red spear-like shapes can be seen on the trees from late summer through winter. Many species of birds eat the fruit.

  Sumac is seldom used for woodworking because it's not big enough to provide boards. It is sometimes used for crafts. Looking at the tree, few people realize how beautiful and colorful the grain can be; the wide rings in alternating shades of yellow, orange and brown make it well worth the effort to use it.

  Cross-section of sumac; note the high-contrast rings.	Sumac crotch roughly shaped to be a base. The underlying grain shows its colors.	Close-up of a sumac tree that will form a great base. It has six branches meeting at the crotch!

  Since the pith is soft, short lengths of sumac were used for tapping sugar maples for sap; some have made whistles from sumac twigs. The Native Americans made a drink like lemonade from the fruits of Staghorn and related sumacs, and ate the young shoots as a salad. The bark and leaves also contain a lot of tannin and were used for tanning leather.

  Watch out for Poison Sumac (Rhus vernix or Toxicodendron vernix), which has waxy white berries. The sap is toxic. Poison Ivy (Rhus radicans or Toxicodentron radicans) is also related to the sumacs.

• Maple

  Maples have their own family (Aceraceae). From the woodworker's point of view, there are two kinds of maple, "hard" and "soft." Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), and the closely-related Black Maple (Acer nigrum) which some consider to be a variety of Sugar Maple, are hard. All the other dozens of maple varities (red, silver, Norway, etc.) are soft. This distinction is not to be confused with the terminology of hardwood meaning a deciduous tree (loses its leaves in the winter) and softwood meaning an evergreen tree (keeps its needles year-round)--there can be hard softwoods and soft hardwoods!

  The Sugar Maple is a large tree, growing up to 100 feet tall. It's most famous for producing sap that can be boiled down into maple syrup, but hard maple is also widely used for furniture and flooring. Many different grain patterns can show up in maple--most of the figured wood types listed below appear in maple wood.

  Walnut

  Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is a much-sought-after tree in the Walnut family (Juglandaceae). They are often planted as an investment because the beautiful brown, fine-grained lumber is so desirable for furniture and other uses. The tree reaches 70 to 90 feet at maturity.

  The green-husked walnuts are delicious, but the juice from the husk stains everything it touches a dark brown (useful for dyes). The husks also have a distinctive odor. The roots of the Black Walnut release a chemical that discourages competing growth.

  Flaming walnut with a hand-rubbed oil finish	A sister board, planed but unfinished	The same board after rubbing with a wet rag, which brings out the grain pattern

• Cherry

  Cherry trees are in one of the largest botanical families, the Roses (Rosaceae). The Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) is the largest cherry native to the United States and the most valuable for woodworking, almost as sought-after as black walnut. The cough medicine wild cherry syrup was originally made from the bark, and the fruit is used for wine and jelly. The tree is medium-sized, growing to about 60 feet.

• Oak

  The White Oak (Quercus alba) was also called "Stave Oak" because of the lumber's suitability for making tight barrels. The wood is also used for furniture and flooring. The White Oak is an impressive tree that can grow over 100 feet tall. There are dozens of native varieties of oaks in the Beech family (Fagaceae). The White Oak's acorns are egg-shaped with a cap that tightly covers the top. Many species of animals feed on acorns, and they can be made into flour.

Figured Wood

Many terms are used for interesting grain patterns that develop naturally in some kinds of wood. "A log can hold surprises--both good and bad!" says George. Figured wood is often very sought-after but it can be hard to find in large enough sections to work with.

• Curl

  Curliness can appear in many types of wood, including maple, cherry, walnut, and oak. No one really knows what causes curl. George can often tell by looking at the tree whether it's likely to be cury--he describes it as looking "toned" or muscular. When the bark is taken off, the curl is obvious. As with many figures, the first couple of logs may show curl but the top may not.

  Curly maple with a hand-rubbed oil finish.	Unfinished curly maple. The curl is visible but much less striking.	The same piece of curly maple after rubbing with a wet rag, which brings out the grain pattern.
  Spalted curly maple.	Curly oak. The curl is the "wave" formation across the grain.	Another shot of the curly oak with different lighting.

  A loose curl might be described as "flamey." Fiddleback maple is hard maple with a tight curl that is often used in musical instruments. Birdseye maple is maple that has circular patterns in the curl; it's caused by a fungus.

• Flame

  A flame appears in crotch grain, where two branches are growing closely together and the grain becomes knitted together. Walnut is very likely to form a flame whereas other woods are more prone to including bark instead of the grain interlocking. This flame is over three feet long!

• "Ghost"

  Ghosting is typically seen in maple. It's caused by an insect boring a hole in the wood. As a reaction, the wood around the hole changes color and the result is squiggly lines of a different color.

  A clear "ghost" ("head" pointing left)	Typical "ghost" pattern; different lighting

• Spalting

  Another figure typically seen in maple, spalting happens as the tree is dying. Minerals deposited along some grain lines show up as dark patterns. See the photo in the curly maple section (above) for an illustration.

• Book-matched -- Pieces cut next to each other from the same slab, so that the grain patterns mirror each other.
• Heartwood -- Center of the tree, where the rings are tightest and the wood is hardest and darkest in color.
• Live edges -- The edge of the board is the exterior of the tree (often complete with bark.)
• Quarter-sawn -- Cut so that the grain is straight in cross-section. Especially used in oak.
• Sapwood -- The lighter exterior layer of wood which still had sap running through it when cut.