The Big Wood Directory

I've been woodworking for about twenty years now, and since I first started, I've been collecting information about all different species of woods. All told, there are well over 400 timber species in common international trade, and over 50,000 species of trees on the planet, so compiling information on them all would be nearly impossible.

This page is my best attempt. I've been assembling a database for years, and it contains information on over 1,300 tree species, which are known by nearly 5,000 common names. As a result, I always list species information primarily by scientific name, and include an index of common names to aid in looking up a species. I also list below several links to other sites that have a lot more information on woods. Given the extent of information listed or linked here, chances are pretty good that, if I haven't heard of a particular type of wood, and none of the linked sites have any information either, it either doesn't exist, or it's not used for international trade (or perhaps you're looking under the wrong name).

Wood Species Catalog 2010 A 4.8MB PDF format catalog from my own wood database of 1,300 species. You can use Adobe's "find" function to search the document and look up species by scientific or common name, by color, or whatever.

The Wood Explorer Database An online database with information compiled form many sources on over 3,000 species. The most complete list is the "species list" section.

Species 2000 A database that maintains the most up-to-date records of what a plant species' current correct scientific name really is. Since species are periodically re-classified, this database is useful to keep up with the botanists. The annual checklist is the most complete.

Hobbit House Wood ID Site A nonprofit site with color photos of hundreds of different wood species for aiding in identification, etc. Sort of a virtual wood collection.

Wikipedia If it's not found on any of the above links, you probably won't find it here either, but you never really know until you try...

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This is the official list of plant and animal species that are limited or banned from international trading.

IWCS The International Wood Collectors' Society. This site has links to members' sites and collections, sources of wood information, and more.

Book: The Book of Wood Names Written by Dr. Hans Meyer and reprinted by Linden (Fresno, CA, USA) in 2000. This book cross-references over 30,000 common names with scientific names. Includes English, German, French, Spanish, and local names.

Still can't find it? Send me an email through the "Contact Me" page. Give me as much information as you can, like name(s), area and time of origin, what it's used for (or was made into), color, density, etc. I've still got a bunch of books that I may never get incorporated into my database, so I might have the answer sitting on my bookshelf!

	Wood Species Catalog 2010	A 4.8MB PDF format catalog from my own wood database of 1,300 species. You can use Adobe's "find" function to search the document and look up species by scientific or common name, by color, or whatever.
	The Wood Explorer Database	An online database with information compiled form many sources on over 3,000 species. The most complete list is the "species list" section.
	Species 2000	A database that maintains the most up-to-date records of what a plant species' current correct scientific name really is. Since species are periodically re-classified, this database is useful to keep up with the botanists. The annual checklist is the most complete.
	Hobbit House Wood ID Site	A nonprofit site with color photos of hundreds of different wood species for aiding in identification, etc. Sort of a virtual wood collection.
	Wikipedia	If it's not found on any of the above links, you probably won't find it here either, but you never really know until you try...
	CITES	Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. This is the official list of plant and animal species that are limited or banned from international trading.
	IWCS	The International Wood Collectors' Society. This site has links to members' sites and collections, sources of wood information, and more.
	Book: The Book of Wood Names	Written by Dr. Hans Meyer and reprinted by Linden (Fresno, CA, USA) in 2000. This book cross-references over 30,000 common names with scientific names. Includes English, German, French, Spanish, and local names.