alder

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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt
the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood

alder / Alnus spp.
3" x 3" flat cut, 3" x 3" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Diffuse porous with very small pores often in radial strands or groups. Ring boundaries are often faint but still discernible, partially because marginal parenchyma is present.

Rays are normally tiny but are occasionally very large; these extra large rays are aggregate rays meaning that they are groups of normal rays all fused together side by side (occasionally you will see divisions in them). Alder is one of few common woods to regularly have aggregate rays and you will see them on numerous samples on this page.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

sample plank and end grain sold to me as red alder / Alnus oregona --- This is also known as Oregon alder. Note that the Plant List says that this should be Alnus oregana, but I find that 'oregona' is used slightly more frequently.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of red alder / Alnus rubra --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of red alder / Alnus rubra --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

first face and the end grain of a sample of red alder / Alnus rubra. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A

the second face, before and after sanding, showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

both sides and both ends of a sample piece that was sold to me as "European alder". Some of the rays on this sample are "aggregate rays".

end grain of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of mountain alder / Alnus tenuifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Alnus tenuifolia is just a synonym for Alnus incana subspecies tenuifolia.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of mountain alder / Alnus tenuifolia --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Alnus tenuifolia is just a synonym for Alnus incana subspecies tenuifolia.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sitka alder / Alnus sinuata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Alnus sinuata is just a synonym for Alnus alnobetula subspecies sinuata.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. Note the triangular pith shape, which is strongly indicative of the Alnus genus (in softwoods it is indicative of the genus Pinus).

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of sitka alder / Alnus sinuata --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Alnus sinuata is just a synonym for Alnus alnobetula subspecies sinuata.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of speckled alder / Alnus rugosa --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Alnus rugosa is a synonym for Alnus incana.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of speckled alder / Alnus rugosa --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note the lightly indented rings at the rays on the left side of the lamination (end grain). The heartwood color in the pics has too much green tint but if I get rid of that then the sapwood looks way too red (right now the sapwood looks correct). Alnus rugosa is a synonym for Alnus incana.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of speckled alder / Alnus rugosa --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The color correction could only get one right (heart or sap) so I chose heart ... sapwood should be light tan w/ no red tint (as shown in the two samples directly above this one) and actually, the heartwood still has a very slight green tint that is not in the wood. If I get rid of it, the sapwood looks even more red. Alnus rugosa is a synonym for Alnus incana.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a laminated sample plank of speckled alder / Alnus rugosa --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Alnus rugosa is a synonym for Alnus incana.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of ilite (stunted alder) / Alnus jorullensis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. According to the burned in stamp on the second side, this was pallet wood that was processed in Mexico.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Nepal alder / Alnus nepalensis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

sold to me as "red alder" (veneer). The color on this is not quite right. The wood is a little more creamy than the picture shows.

a long veneer sheet and a couple of closeups from it. The distance pic is just slightly too red but the closeups have very accurate color.

This veneer sheet was loaned to me by John Koehn whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

burl veneer in bookmatched pairs

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
white alder (Alnus rhombifolia, also listed as California alder and mountain alder) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Oregon alder (Alnus oregona, also listed as red alder) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views. Alnus oregona/oregana is a synonym for Alnus rubra.

web pics:

planks with wet and dry sections; the first was listed as Alnus glutinosa and is quartersawn and the second is flat cut

planks

several views of a pile of planks

quartersawn plank listed as American alder / Alnus rubra

turning stock listed as Pacific alder / Alnus rubra

alder burl knife handle scales and a closeup --- both levels of enlargement are present. These are each about 5" long

planks identified as "frogskin" alder --- "frogskin" is just a made-up marketing term. This wood is blistered, to use the correct term for the figure.

alder veneer

bookmatched figured veneer listed as Alnus glutinosa

veneer listed as Alnus glutinosa

veneer listed as American alder / Alnus rubra

veneer listed as European alder / Alnus Glutinosa

burl veneer

red alder planks

red alder veneer

listed as "knotty" alder

turning stock

alder planks all from one vendor

another set of planks, all from one vendor

alder plywood

sets for guitar backs, all from one vendor

spalted alder, some showing end grain --- all of these pics show up better in the enlargements. Alder DOES get black-line spalting but it also is highly prone to white rot, which is a form of spalting. All of these pieces have white rot and some have black-line spalting as well. The different kinds of spalting are produced by different fungii and black-line spalting is produced by regions of fungii fighting at the borders between the two regions and the dead fungii is the black-line spalting.

spalted alder planks all from the same vendor and moistened for the pics (but even moistened, I think the colors are likely much too rich; typical of this vendor). These are from the same vendor as the spalted red alder planks directly below and even though those are labeled red alder and these just alder, I see no indication that there is any difference in the two sets so these are probably also red alder.

spalted red alder planks all from the same vendor and moistened for the pics (but even moistened, I think the colors are likely much too rich; typical of this vendor).These are from the same vendor as the spalted alder planks directly above and I see no indication that there is any difference in the two sets.

spalted red alder planks, all from the same vendor and with HUGE enlargements present. All of these have white rot spalting and some also have black-line spalting

bowl blanks and turning stock with mostly white-rot spalting and some black-line spalting

spalted scales with both black-line and white-rot spalting.

pen blanks --- the first set is listed as spalted angle cut, the second as spalted and the third as wormy. I have no idea how accurate the color is on any of these but I suspect that it is WAY off since this doesn't even begin to look like any alder I've ever seen.

pen blanks with both black-line and white-rot spalting --- these have been stabilized and I don't know how much that caused the darker-than-usual color for alder or these pieces are just unusually dark alder

solid pieces sold as guitar blanks --- the first one is spalted and shows up better in the enlargement

guitar backs

plank listed as 'quilted' plank even though it's clearly blistered

listed as "bird's eye" alder but I'm not confident of either that designation or the color

guitar body

doors made from alder --- I'm guessing that the first 2 have some kind of darkening finish on them, but it could just be the lighting.

kid's box

alder bowls

bowl listed as alder / Alnus rubra --- seems to be heavy with either mineral stain or blue stain

carved alder bowls

segmented alder platter

segmented alder salad bowl

two pics of the same bowl. I suspect the one on the right is closer to the correct color, but in any case this is yet another example of the difficulties of getting color-correct pics of wood on the internet.

hollow form listed as red alder

bowls listed as red alder

bowls listed as spalted alder

spalted alder hollow form

natural edge alder burl bowl