Fagus spp. of the family Fagaceae, including at least the following, with some of the associated common names
F. crenata (Japanese, siebold's)
F. engleriana (Chinese)
F. grandifolia (American, Carolina, red, stone, white, winter)
F. longipetiolata (Chinese)
F. moesiaca (Yugoslavian)
F. multinervis (Korean)
F. orientalis (Eastern, oriental)
F. purpurea (purple)
F. sieboldii (Japanese)
F. sylvatica (aisatic, carpathian, copper, English, European, Japanese, Turkish, and MANY other country names)
According to wikipedia, there are only 10 Fagus species of beech, so I may have them all.
There are another set of species that used to be lumped in with the Fagus species but have been broken out (due to genetic differences) into a genera called Nothofagus and given their own family name as well (Nothofagaceae). This set of species has many "beech" common names because of the former association. I am not familiar enough with the two genera to say whether or not there is any easy way for the casual observer to distinguish between them.
NOTE: In addition to the species of the genera Fagus and Nothofagus, there are ANOTHER 80 or so species of a large number of other genera that have the word beech as all or part of one or more of their common names, SO ... "beech" is not always a very helpful designation, but I do believe that most of the pics on this page are from the genus Fagus just because that's what North American vendors have.
With beech, the wide light-colored sapwood is more used than the darker heartwood. The primary way to ID beech is that it pretty much always has lots of fairly evenly spaced small, short, elongated "dots" shown on flat cut or rift cut (not quartersawn) surfaces, like this:
Quartersawn surfaces often show nice ray flakes that sometimes seem surprizingly large, given the small size of what shows on the flat cut surfaces.
my samples --- many of my veneer pics have too much red & need to be fixed. The planks have accurate color except as noted
both sides of a rift cut sample plank of American beech / Fagus grandifolia
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
sample plank and end grain of a piece sold to me as American beech / Fagus grandifolia
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a quartersawn sample plank of European purple beech / Fagus sylvatica, subspecies purpurea
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a flat cut sample plank of steamed European beech / Fagus sylvatica
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides and both ends of a sample piece of beech (no species specified)
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
European beech plank and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
Europenan beech plank and end grain
several views of some beech that Gerry Fey salvaged from an old building. He worked the wood and sent me these excellent pics of the results. I have confidence that the colors are quite accurate, as they are identical to some of the beech veneer that I have.
both sides and both ends of a sample piece of very lightly spalted beech
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
The next several spalted beech planks were donated to the site by Rich Kopitsch whom I thank for this and other contributions.
spalted beech plank
spalted beech plank
spalted beech planks
spalted beech plank
both sides of a pair of spalted beech planks cut from the larger ones above and sanded down for the pics.
end grain of the two planks directly above
end grain closeups of the two planks directly above
flat cut veneer
flat cut veneer and closeup
veneer, rift cut
quartersawn flaky veneer, with too much red tint in the pics
quartersawn flaky veneer --- this one goes all the way up to a second enlargement so you can really see these heavy flakes up close
quartersawn flaky veneer with a knothole, showing some interesting curly figure
steamed european veneer
steamed european flakey beech veneer --- the wood isn't quite as shiny as this picture makes it look
flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
beech (Fagus ferruginea) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views
web pics --- it seems unlikely that all of the colors are accurate
planks with wet and dry sections; the first one is rift cut and was listed as Fagus sylvatica and the other two are flat cut
planks
plank showing some rot in the pith area
plank listed as haya / F. sylvatica
quartersawn planks with ray flakes
European "lace" planks. "Lace" appears to be a designation meaning quartersawn flaky with stong ray flakes
AH ... WELL ... no, actually what it means is that I'm careless --- this is not beech at all. As correspondant Jean Turner pointed out, it is actually sycamore.
I've left it here as a reminder to myself be more careful.
flaky veneer --- the color on these is way off --- the wood is tan, not green. See my own sample of flaky veneer for a better representation of the color.
turning blocks
bowl turning blank
bowl blank listed as American beech
veneer
quartersawn veneer
steamed veneer
rotary cut veneer --- grain shows up better on enlargement
white beech
American beech --- color seems totally unlikely
"unsteamed" veneer
curly veneer
veneer pictures with hilarious color !!! Every now and then I just HAVE to include one of these silly shots to show what you sometimes find on the Internet.
steamed European planks
European beech
European rift cut veneer
curly European beech
European beech veneer
European flat cut curly veneer
European flat cut veneer
European curly beech veneer
European figured veneer
European quartersawn figured veneer
European quartersawn veneer
European quartersawn mottled veneer
European quartersawn veneer, not listed as mottled but clearly is
"European steamed quartersawn" beech
european steamed veneer and a closeup of the same sheet --- clearly one of the colors is wrong, possibly both.
steamed European beech veneer --- both levels of enlargement are available; I doubt the pinkish color --- the actual wood is probably more tan
European steamed veneer, all from the same vendor
European steamed veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement. These are from the same vendor as the set directly above.
steamed European veneer
unsteamed european veneer, all from the same vendor
unsteamed European veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement. These are from the same vendor as the set directly above.
"European white" beech
wormy beech veneer
bowl
8" diameter bowl by Steve Earis
spalted beech & product
spalted beech
spalted English beech
bowl made from spalted English beech
spalted beech bowls with light finish
spalted beech bowls (raw)
spalted beech bowls ... not sure if it's raw and polished or has a finish
spalted beech bowl ... not sure if it's raw or finished
spalted beech bowl by Steve Earis, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.
spalted beech bowl with finish
spalted urn
3 sets of pics, each of a bowl and a closeup. I shot these indoors at a craft store and the color came out too orange. I've corrected it as much as I could but it is still a little too orange in each of them (the closeups are somewhat better). Another one that I shot with the flash on came out much better for true color, and it's directly below
bowl and closeup, with correct color (unlike the ones directly above, which are too orange)
another bowl, also shot with the flash and with correct color
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