Thread: Grain & bark

There was a suggestion along this line in the small milling forum a couple of years ago.

The problem is that along the grain photos of timber and bark alone are almost useless for timber ID.
EDIT: This is an example of what I mean https://www.woodworkforums.com/f14/wh...-could-178686/

To ID a species the end grain must be finely sanded and polished and sharp macro photos taken, plus photos of fruits/nuts/flowers and leaves provided.

With all respect to those that do know something about plants, can properly prepare the samples and take decent macro photos of the grains, my feeling about this is it would generate too many poor photos and incorrectly classified timbers. To photograph the fruits and flowers one has to be around and the time this happens and most people would not know if they are looking at juvenile forms which can look different to the mature plant.

The next big problem comes about in reverse. i.e. when some one has a piece of wood they want to IS they almost certainly don't have the rest of the ID'ing features.

The final problem is even when all the ID'ing features are available a significant amount of background knowledge in botany is required. This is why plant IDing is a professional activity.

It does not prevent someone kicking this off with entries in the TIMBER forum.

If a suitable specialist could be found to act as an editor of the submissions that would be very helpful but my guess is that a professional botanist probably has more than enough on their plate.

I've done a fair amount of wood ID over the past 45 years, about 250(?)
species in my microscope slide collection. Even wound up in court as an expert witness.

Most (very important word) woods can be identified like fingerprints.
But as you say, the view through the microscope is essential.
Essential also is that the sections MUST be radial, tangential and transverse.
Any old shavings and I won't lift a finger to turn on my microscope light.

I did my PhD with Prof Wardrop @ LaTrobe. He was a big-shot wood science guy.
He had a massive card file box that you could sort with a big needle, sifting out the
"similar" cards as you identified the various features of wood anatomy with a microscope.
Something like 600+ species. Very fuzzy now but I think it was produced by CSIRO
Forest Products Division. In that day and time, weren't they in Hobart?

There are already a fewaround.

here's a good start

ttit - Trees & Turnings

Originally Posted by Avery

There are already a fewaround.

here's a good start

ttit - Trees & Turnings

...a very good resource, thanks to TTiT...
...any more?