Throughout our website you will encounter trade-specific language about our materials and craft. This page will help decode the lingo.
General Wood Terminology
Figure – Refers to the appearance of the wood grain, “figured” wood grain is not plain but has a unique quality that sets it apart
Chatoyancy – An optical reflectance effect found in both woods and stones. Chatoyant materials glow when exposed to light and are dynamic as the object is moved around. Chatoyancy can be vibrant in plain wood but all of the different types of figured wood accentuate the effect beautifully.
Quartersawn – A type of lumber where the wood’s growth lines run 90 degrees to the surface of the lumber, it looks like this from the edge: (IIIIIIIIII) This is the most uniform looking wood but can also accentuate certain figures.
Rift Sawn – A crossover between quart sawn and flaw sawn where the grain is diagonal to the surface of the board, it looks like this from the edge: (//////////)
Flat sawn – A type of lumber where the grain lines are parallel to the surface of the board, it looks like this from the edge: (========) flat sawn produces “Cathedral grain” that can be visually striking
Straight Grained – Wood that does not have any figure, the grain is straight and uninterrupted. Most trees grow this way
Dyed and Stabilized - A process wood undergoes that adds density and strength to an otherwise lighter and softer wood by impregnating the wood under vacuum with resin. The resin can be accompanied with dye to alter the wood’s color.
Types of Figured Wood
Burl – likely the most coveted figured wood. Burls are cancer-like growths that trees grow unpredictably. Burls can form in the branches or on the trunk of a tree but often are buried in the ground with the root system. Burl can be extremely rare and unbelievably beautiful
Curly / Curl figured – A phenomenon in wood where the tree has grown in a zigzag fashion. This growth produces a 3d-looking grain that has the appearance of waves
Fiddleback – Another term for “curl figured”
Quilted – Similar to curl figure but usually the peaks and valleys of the curl are wider apart, less uniform, but still highly defined edges. Usually the most 3D looking wood grain. Sometimes the heaviest curl is just considered quilted
Flame – A broad curl in a chatoyant wood without defined edges to the curls
Bees Wings – A from of curl figure that certain wood species exhibit, it is often chatoyant.
Birdseye – Wood with small blister-like dots in the grain, they can resemble “eyes” and are typically very small with highly defined edges
Pomelle – A figure similar in ways to birdseye but the blisters are larger and “bubbly” looking distorting the grain. The wood on a whole is very dynamic. Very rare
Black line figure – Wood that has black lines running randomly through the grain. This figure is most often represented in rosewood species
Landscape figure – Grain that looks like uniquely shaped layers of the wood are laid on top of each other. It can look like a landscape of rolling hills. Only a few species grow this way, most notably Ziricote
Ribbon Figure – Alternating bands of chatoyant wood that blend into each other seamlessly. Most common in woods like Mahogany and Sapele
Spalting - Figure that is caused by fungal decay in dead wood. Spalting most often produces black lines (though not all black line figure is spalted wood), general discoloration, and streaks of contrasting wood
Lace – A figure that looks like many small veins of contrasting wood weaving intricately in and out of each other all overlaid on a darker or lighter backdrop. Can be exquisite and unique to very few species
Crotch / Feather crotch – Wood that is from the middle of the “Y” between two major branches In a tree. It has a highly distorted look and is usually combined with curl or quilting. “Feather” refers to an effect in crotch wood that looks like feathers
Xylay – The rarest form of figure, only known to us in Afzelia Wood from S.E. Asia. It is a type of curl but the curls are not parallel and connect on the edges. Very 3D looking and unique
Product Categorizing Terminology
Cane – A walking aid that has some kind of horizontal handle that is 90 degrees to the shaft.
Walking Stick – A walking aid with a straight shape from top to bottom but a larger, rounded top for one’s hand to rest down on top of. Measuring for a walking stick is the same as measuring for a cane.
Staff – A tall piece of wood that is grabbed at shoulder height
Lapidary – The art form of shaping and polishing stones
Fibonacci – The name of an Italian Mathematician credited with the Fibonacci sequence (Fn) which ties into the perfect spiral of the ammonites we adorn the top of our “Fibonacci staffs” with. Even though they are technically not “staffs” but actually walking sticks, we just liked the name better.
Lathe – A machine used to make pieces of wood round by spinning them at a high speed from a center point. We use a lathe for our travel canes and our walking sticks.
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