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EXAMINING WOOD GRAINS We're going to look at these pieces of woods to compare them. We have pine, fir, ash, birch, redwood, peach, cherry, and walnut (or any kinds of woods, maybe that our parents bought for firewood). We can make a list of each one, telling different things about them. Some of the pieces of wood have been split. On these, we can see lines going in the same direction as the wood grew. This is called the "grain" of wood. If you look at some wood furniture or cabinets that haven't been painted, you can see the grain of the wood. It is smooth, because it has been sanded. The grain of these pieces of wood is not smooth because the wood has been broken apart by a wedge, rather than sawn apart like they do to make furniture. Different kinds of woods have different-looking grains, and when we choose wood for furniture, part of what we look for is the kind of grain it has. Another thing we look for when we choose wood for furniture is the color. Of course, after the furniture (or cabinet) is made, it is usually stained and varnished so it will stay like it is, and be easy to keep clean. Cherry wood looks more reddish than pine wood, which looks yellow. We can tell the color differences in the freshly-cut wood, and add the colors to our lists. Here we have a slice of wood that is cut from the end, and has bark all around it, and you can see the rings. Since it is only about 1/2 inch thick, we can break it easily with our hands. That tells us that wood that is cut "against the grain" is not very strong, unless it is thick. Here we have a piece of wood that is also about 1/2 inch thick, and was cut "with the grain", which means it is cut in the same direction the wood grew. It is very strong, and we cannot break it with our hands. Almost all the things that are made of wood have been sawn with the grain. Slices of wood, cut against the grain, are very pretty, and if you want to keep one just to look at, it just needs a few coats of shellac. It will stay like it is, but will be a little darker and shinier.  Any problems with this page? Send URL to
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