New app is a reference guide for wood

Do you know if your hardwood flooring is red or white oak? Why does quarter sawn cost so much more than other cuts of wood? This app is like an instant primer on any carpentry task that involves wood.

Turn your already awesome iPhone into the best thing ever, with a decent wood guidebook. Start by swiping your finger past 50 species, each in a full color—like a coffee table book in your palm. You’ll have the species, botanical, and common name along with a brief description of the wood and what you can do with it—like make furniture or furring strips.

While you’re at the lumberyard, you can open the app’s dimensional lumber conversions and find the nominal dimensions of a 2x4 and all that 1x lumber everyone seems to use. The built in glossary handles over 70 common wood terms, while illustrations show how the different cuts of wood are harvested from a log. So that's why quarter sawn is so expensive?

Overall this is a fun tool if you’re into wood or furniture building, or want to know where to use what kind of wood. The app was released in mid August and retails for $3.