Understanding Wood Grain Patterns

Look at any piece of wood furniture. Those lines running through it—the grain—tell a story. They reveal how the tree grew, what conditions it faced, and how the wood was cut.

Understanding grain helps you choose wood for projects, identify species in antiques, and appreciate why two boards from the same tree can look completely different.

What Creates Grain

Grain is the visible result of a tree’s growth patterns.

Annual rings: In temperate climates, trees grow faster in spring (producing light-colored, porous earlywood) and slower in summer (producing denser, darker latewood). Each ring pair represents one year.

Rays: Horizontal cells that carry nutrients and water across the trunk. In some species, rays are large enough to create visible patterns.

Pores: Vessels that conduct water up the trunk. Their size and arrangement differ between species.

Growth irregularities: Branches, injuries, and uneven growth create deviations in the standard pattern.

When you see grain, you’re seeing these structures sliced at different angles.

Grain Patterns

Straight Grain

The most common pattern. Growth rings run roughly parallel to the board’s length.

What creates it: Tree grew straight, board was cut parallel to the trunk.

Where you’ll see it: Most construction lumber, many furniture pieces.

Working properties: Easiest to work. Predictable behavior when cut. Stable in use.

Species examples: White oak, ash, cherry when cut carefully.

Interlocked Grain

Grain direction alternates—spiraling one way for a few years, then the other way.

What creates it: Some tropical trees naturally spiral as they grow, reversing direction periodically.

Where you’ll see it: Tropical hardwoods, especially African species like sapele and mahogany.

Appearance: Creates a ribbon-like stripe effect, especially on quartersawn surfaces.

Working properties: Difficult to plane—always tearing somewhere. Glues well. Very stable.

Wavy Grain

Grain undulates in waves across the board.

What creates it: Uneven growth, genetic tendency, or environmental stress.

Appearance: Produces “fiddleback” or “tiger stripe” figure—dramatic bands of light and dark.

Where you’ll see it: Prized in figured maple, less common in other species.

Working properties: Challenging to plane without tearout. Worth the effort for the appearance.

Spiral Grain

Grain spirals up the trunk rather than running straight.

What creates it: Trees naturally spiral slightly; some spiral dramatically.

Appearance: Boards cut from spiral-grained logs show diagonal grain.

Problems: Spiral grain causes warping as wood dries. Severe spiral grain makes wood difficult to use.

Figure vs. Grain

Grain is the basic directional pattern. Figure is decorative patterns caused by specific grain arrangements or growth anomalies.

Bird’s Eye

Clusters of small, circular eyes scattered across the surface.

What creates it: Unknown. Only occurs in hard maple, occasionally in other species. The tree produces these tiny conical depressions, and when you slice across them, circles appear.

Where you’ll see it: Decorative veneers, musical instruments, high-end furniture.

Burl

Swirling, chaotic patterns with no regular grain direction.

What creates it: Burls are abnormal growths, possibly triggered by injury, fungus, or genetic mutation. The wood inside has wildly irregular grain.

Where you’ll see it: Turned bowls, decorative panels, dashboard veneers.

Working properties: Hard to work because grain runs every direction. Beautiful when finished.

Quilted Figure

Pillowy, three-dimensional appearance with bulging shapes.

What creates it: Blister-like irregularities in grain direction.

Where you’ll see it: Most common in big leaf maple. Also appears in mahogany and sapele.

Value: Highly prized. Quilted maple can be worth many times the value of plain maple.

Crotch Figure

Flame-like or feather-like pattern.

What creates it: Wood from where a branch or second trunk meets the main trunk. Grain flows around the junction creating swirls.

Where you’ll see it: Furniture panels, gun stocks, decorative accents.

Curly/Fiddleback

Horizontal waves creating alternating light and dark bands.

What creates it: Wavy grain. Light reflects differently off the waves, creating the illusion of depth.

Where you’ll see it: Violin backs (hence “fiddleback”), guitar backs, decorative furniture.

How Cutting Method Affects Grain Appearance

The same log produces different-looking boards depending on how it’s cut.

Plain Sawn (Flat Sawn)

The most common method. Boards cut tangent to the annual rings.

Appearance: Wide, cathedral-like arches of grain. Prominent variation between boards.

Yield: Maximum usable lumber from a log.

Stability: More prone to cupping (edges curling up or down) as moisture changes.

Quarter Sawn

Boards cut radially, perpendicular to the annual rings.

Appearance: Tight, straight parallel lines. In species with large rays (like white oak), ray flecks create a distinctive pattern called “medullary ray figure.”

Yield: More waste, fewer usable boards.

Stability: Very stable—minimal cupping or seasonal movement.

Premium: Quarter-sawn lumber commands higher prices.

Rift Sawn

Between plain and quarter—rings at 30-60 degrees to the face.

Appearance: Straight grain without the ray flecks of quarter sawn.

Use: When you want straight grain without prominent figure.

Grain in Common Species

Oak

Ring pattern: Distinct. Earlywood pores are large and visible.

Rays: Large, especially in white oak. Create dramatic flecks when quartersawn.

Appearance: Bold, open grain with strong character.

Maple

Ring pattern: Subtle. Pores are very small and evenly distributed.

Rays: Fine, not usually visible.

Appearance: Fine, closed grain. Figured maple shows curly, quilted, or bird’s eye patterns.

Walnut

Ring pattern: Visible but not bold.

Color variation: Dramatic difference between light sapwood and dark heartwood.

Appearance: Flowing grain, often with some wave. Color is the primary feature.

Cherry

Ring pattern: Subtle.

Color: Starts light pink-brown, darkens dramatically with age and light exposure.

Appearance: Fine, closed grain. Occasional pitch pockets add character (or are considered defects).

Ash

Ring pattern: Bold, similar to oak.

Rays: Much smaller than oak.

Appearance: Strong, open grain without oak’s ray flecks.

Pine

Ring pattern: Very visible. Dramatic difference between light earlywood and dark latewood.

Appearance: Bold, casual look. Knots common and often considered desirable.

Reading Grain for Woodworking

Grain direction matters for how you work the wood.

Planing

Always plane “with the grain”—in the direction that fibers angle downward into the board. Planing against the grain tears fibers instead of slicing them cleanly.

Reading direction: Look at the board edge. See which way the lines slope. Plane in the direction they angle down.

Chiseling

Same principle. Approach so the chisel separates fibers cleanly rather than tearing them.

Splitting

Wood splits easily along the grain, much harder across it. This is useful (making kindling) or problematic (unwanted splits at joints).

Finishing

Open-grained woods (oak, ash) may need pore filler before finishing. Closed-grain woods (maple, cherry) take finish more evenly.

Grain and Species Identification

Grain patterns help identify wood species in furniture, flooring, or salvaged lumber.

Very open, distinct rings with large rays: White oak or red oak

Open rings without prominent rays: Ash

Fine, closed grain, possibly figured: Maple

Fine grain with color variation (light/dark): Walnut

Bold rings with orange/yellow color: Pine or Douglas fir

Interlocked grain with ribbon stripe: African mahogany or sapele

The Tree Identifier app focuses on living trees, but understanding grain helps you connect trees to the wood products they become. That oak table came from a tree. Those maple floors were once growing in a forest. Grain is the record of that growing, preserved in the finished product.