redbud

open main page for all woods open page 2 for articles

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

redbud / Cercis spp.
Cercis spp. of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family
includes at least the following:

Cercis arizonica --- this is a synonym for Cercis occidentalis

Cercis canadensis --- redbud, American redbud, Judas tree, Eastern redbud, Texas redbud

Cercis occidentalis --- California redbud, Western redbud, Arizona redbud

Cercis reniformis --- Eastern redbud

Cercis siliquastrum --- redbud / Judas tree

2" x 2" flat cut, 2" x 2" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Semi ring porous with weakly ulmiform pores which can cause some obvious feathering in the face grain, rays are thin and often barely visible at 10X

Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) grows throughout the Eastern USA

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

color change in Eastern redbud. I ran across the burl plank shown on the right when pulling out some other stuff and noticed what you see compared to the original pic I took of it 18 months ago. First, the area of the plank that was not covered by another piece, and which was thus exposed to both oxygen and indirect sunlight, has darked appreciably and second, the area that was not exposed to sunlight but was still exposed somewhat to oxygen, has changed from greenish to pure brown.

both sides of a sample plank of redbud / Cercis canadensis --- 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 redbud / Cercis canadensis --- 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 redbud / Cercis canadensis --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet 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 Eastern redbud / Cercis canadensis --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

sample plank and end grain of provided to me as Eastern redbud / Cercis canadensis The crappy quality of the sample (you should see the OTHER side) is fairly common in the samples I got from that organization and I also note that the genus name was spelled incorrectly (Cercus instead of Cercis) --- pretty shoddy for an organization that is supposed to help set the standards.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above --- unlike almost all of the end grain updates, this is a case where the rays in the wood show up better in the "before" pic.

both sides of a piece of Eastern redbud contributed to the site by Neil Scheidt who also sent the pics of the box further down this page. Thank you Neil.

end grain, end grain closeup, and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

All of the pieces in this section are Eastern redbud and were
contributed to the site by Nelson Woodworks. Many thanks, Daren.

both sides of a set of turning stock

end grain of the 3 pieces directly above (the darker and browner color of these, relative to most of the pics in this section, is correct)

end grain closeups of the 3 pieces directly above

both sides of a plank

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

What started out as one long plank (and the next 3 planks below are all from this)

both side of a plank

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a plank

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above but worked from the other end of the piece

a couple more END GRAIN UPDATE shots from pieces above

end of Daren's batch

The three shots below were provided to me as Judas tree by Miles Hember who obtained the piece from a downed tree. It is still quite green (in seasoning). My thanks to Miles for the contribution. Miles sent high-res photos, so both levels of enlargement are available on all 3 pics

Judas tree rough cut log section

same piece after planing

end grain shot of the same piece

both sides of a burly/curly slab

I split the slab so I could give a slice to Mark Peet who has made many contributions to the site. The upper piece has been sanded to 400 grit.

closeups from both sides of the burly/curly slab directly above, but this was prior to my sanding one part of a slice to 400 grit so these surfaces are as I got them

cluster burl slab and closeup

web pics:

tree cross-sections showing end grain and sapwood. I notice that the first one looks EXACTLY like some laburnum I have seen.

Eastern redbud log ends, freshly cut

Eastern redbud log end and the same log freshly split

bookmatched pair of planks and a closeup --- showing once again the difficulty in taking color-correct pics of wood. I believe the distance pic has the color more or less correct.

planks / slabs

plank listed as Judas tree

plank listed as Cercis canadensis and harvested in Texas

plank listed as redbud / Cercis canadensis and harvested in Kansas --- NOTE: this was not listed as a burl, but clearly it is.

plank listed as redbud / Cercis canadensis and harvested in Indiana

slab

bowl blank listed as Cercis canadensis

spalted plank

Eastern redbud turning stock

end grain of some of the turning stock directly above

pen blank smoistened for the pics

burl pen blanks

burl sections (the second one was shot in the shade and is actually a brighter wood than what shows here)

burl section listed as Eastern redbud

Two views of an Eastern redbud box made by Neil Scheidt. It was finished with a coat of natural stain to seal it and then a few coats of semi-gloss polyurethane. The grain shows more clearly in the enlargements.

pens

two views of a rough-turned bowl

bowls

Eastern redbud bowls turned and photographed by Tom Pleatman, whom I thank for these pics and other contributions to the site. Big enlargements are present.

four Eastern redbud bowls, all from the same turner and all with HIGHTLY suspect color. The Eastern redbud bowls by Tom Pleatman, shown driectly above these, are MUCH more representative of Eastern redbud color.

vases, all listed as redbud

two views of a natural edge vase

hollow form

two views of a vase --- the extreme difference in color between the two pics is just another example of how difficult it can be to take color-correct pics of wood

burl bowl, top and bottom

same bowl as directly above --- closeup and a pic showing one side of the bowl when first finished then after it had aged. Note the rather startling change in color of the sapwood.