The objective of this study was to evaluate shear strength characteristics of four commonly used Japanese species, namely, Japanese cedar-sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don), Japanese cypress-hinoki (Chamaecyparis obusta Endl.), false arborvitae-hiba (Thuobsis dolabrate Sieb. et Zucc.), and Japanese larch-karamatsu (Larix leptlepis Gordon), as function of their surface quality. Samples with radial and tangential grain orientations from each species were prepared using a planer and sanded with one of the sandpapers with 80-, 120-, and 240-grit size. A stylus type of equipment was employed to determine surface roughness of each sample before they were bonded in radial and tangential pairs using polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesive at a spread rate of 260 g/m². None of the samples showed any superiority from each other in terms of their surface quality based on three parameters: average roughness (R_a), mean peak-to-valley height (R_z), and maximum roughness (R_max). Average roughness value of both tangential and radial surfaces of the samples sanded with 80-grit sandpaper resulted in significant differences from those of the control samples. The highest shear strength value was 96.1 kg/cm² for the radial karamatsu samples sanded with 80-grit sandpaper followed by tangential hinoki samples with the value of 79.6 kg/cm². In general, the samples finished with 80-grit sandpaper resulted in higher shear strength values than the others tested in this work. It appears that stylus-type equipment can be used to evaluate surface quality of such solid wood samples. Based on the results of this study, sanding of the samples with 80-grit sandpaper improved overall shear strength of the specimens by developing a better glue line between two pieces.