Try scratching an inconspicuous area of the furniture with your fingernail if you don’t notice any marks to see if it is easy to put a mark into, which can indicate that it is made out of softwood. Softwoods come from conifers like pine, redwood, and cedar.
Remember that if your furniture is stained or weathered, it will be harder to tell what kind of wood it is based on the color. You can still try to determine what it is from other features like the grain pattern. Pine is used frequently for indoor rustic casual furniture like tables and dressers, for example.
Cedar is commonly used in outdoor furniture because of its weather resistance, as well as to build indoor furniture like wardrobes and chests because of its moth repellent properties.
Redwood is commonly used for outdoor furniture because it is very weather-resistant. If you can’t decide whether a piece of wood furniture that is red is made out of cedar or redwood, smell it. Redwood does not have the woodsy aromatic scent that cedar does.
Douglas fir is usually used for cheaper applications, so if your furniture is not expensive and it is made out of softwood, it might be made from Douglas fir. Painted furniture is often made out of douglas fir as well, because of the fact that the grain pattern is not super prominent.
Hardwoods come from flowering trees like walnuts, oak, and maple. Some hardwoods, such as maple, have smooth grain patterns like softwoods do.
Both red oak and white oak are commonly used in furniture and have a similar light brown color. However, as the name implies, red oak can have some hints of red in it. Oak can be used to make all kinds of furniture, including built-in furniture like cabinets. It is also commonly used for homewares like cutting boards.
Maple is mostly used for indoor applications where the woodgrain is highly visible because of its unique and beautiful grain patterns. For example, high-end dining room tables and chairs are often made out of maple.
If the wood is from a young walnut tree that was still growing, it can also have pale yellow growth rings that contrast the dark growth rings. Walnut is expensive, so it is typically only used for high-end luxury furniture. It is often used in ornate carved furniture, such as mantelpieces or headboards.
Mahogany is used to make many types of furniture and is often used as a cheaper alternative to walnut.
Ash can look similar to oak, but generally has less brown hues in its color and never has red hues.
Beech wood is often used to make curved pieces of furniture, such as curvy chairs, because it bends well using steam.
If the end grain looks different and doesn’t have the same wood grain pattern wrapping around, the furniture is probably made out of engineered MDF, OSB, or particleboard, rather than a solid piece of wood, and laminated with veneers made to imitate the look of wood. If your furniture is made out of laminated MDF, OSB, or particleboard, the end grains will usually look like sawdust or wood shavings compacted and glued together. They could have a strip of veneer glued to them to hide the engineered wood’s appearance, but the grain pattern won’t match that on the surface of the furniture.
Veneers are typically made from either printed laminate or wood-colored plastic made to resemble wood grain.
If you don’t spot any signs of man-made wood composites or plastic veneers meant to imitate the appearance of wood, you can proceed to try and identify the type of solid wood used to build the furniture. If you do notice that your furniture is made out of engineered products, there is nothing to identify.
