How to Identify Sassafras Wood (Sassafras albidum)

Heartwood medium to light brown, sometimes with an orange or olive hue, darkening with age. Grain is straight, with a coarse, uneven texture. End grain: Ring porous; earlywood pores three to six rows wide, latewood pores commonly in radial multiples and clusters; vessels large in earlywood, small in latewood, tyloses common; parenchyma vasicentric, winged, and confluent; narrow rays, normal spacing.

Janka hardness 630 lbf (side hardness: the force needed to embed a 0.444-inch steel ball to half its diameter). Specific gravity 0.46 at 12% moisture content, so a cubic foot weighs roughly 29 lb. Weight in the hand is one of the quickest checks: compare a piece of known size against a board you already know.

Sassafras tends to have wider rays (visible even without a lens) and wider growth rings, up to six pores wide per row, compared to black ash and American chestnut, whose rings are seldom more than two to three pores wide; sassafras's distinct root-beer-like scent is also diagnostic.

Distinct, spicy scent resembling root beer while being worked; oil from the roots/wood has been shown to be toxic and weakly carcinogenic if ingested.

Utility lumber, fence posts, boatbuilding, and furniture.

Easy to work with both hand and machine tools; good dimensional stability once dry; glues, stains, and finishes well; root/wood oil shown toxic and weakly carcinogenic if ingested.

Photograph a freshly cut or sanded face in daylight, not a finished or stained surface, since stain hides color and finish flattens grain. Add a close-up of the end grain: cut a clean end, wet it or sand it to 220, and shoot from straight on; pore pattern and rays are the most reliable marks. Put a ruler in frame. The app suggests the likely species; confirm with the end grain and weight.