In wood, figure refers to the appearance of wood, as seen on a longitudinal surface (side-grain).

Description

In wood, figure refers to the appearance of wood, as seen on a longitudinal surface (side-grain). A ''figured wood'' is not plain. The figure of a particular piece of wood is, in part, due to its

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

and, in part, due to the cut, or to innate properties of the wood.

Types

A few of the tropical

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

s, like the rosewoods, may have a unique figure. Types of figure include: * angel step * bear scratches * bird's eye * blister *

burl A burl (American English) or burr (British English) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from d ...

* curl * ribbon curl * dimple * fiddleback *

flame A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasm ...

* wide flame * ghost * pin stripe * quilted * spalted * tiger stripe Wood Wood-related terminology {{woodworking-stub