Oak Wood
Quercus spp.
A
common tree in the Eastern United States, Oak has an easily recognizable
grain pattern of concentric arches, cathedrals and misshapen ovals. The
open-grain of oak gives it a deep texture. Available in both Red Oak
and White Oak, both have a similar appearance and durability. The
sapwood of Red Oak is white to light brown and the heartwood is a
pinkish reddish brown. White Oak sapwood is light-colored and the
heartwood is light to dark brown.
Oak is a hard and heavy wood with good bending and
crushing strength and great wear resistance. Its open grain stains well
with a wide variety of colors. In addition to the various stains, Oak
can be milled in a process called Quarter Sawing. When Oak is quarter
sawn, the grain appears tight and straight, instead of the arch and oval
swirls found in flat sawn Oak.
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Cherry Wood
Prunus serotina
A beautiful, closed-grained
wood, natural cherry has a light pink color that darkens to orange amber
if aged naturally. The process, most noticeable in the first two years,
gives the cherry wood a unique color and grain variation that cannot be
simulated with stain. The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red to
reddish brown while the sapwood is a creamy white. The wood has a fine
uniform, straight grain with a satiny, smooth texture, and may contain
brown pith flecks and small gum pockets.
Cherry wood is easy to machine, nails and glues well
and, when finished properly, produces an excellent smooth finish. The
wood is of medium density with good bending properties, low stiffness
and medium strength and shock resistance. Because of its medium
crushing strength, cherry wood dents easily and does not make the best
wood for table tops that will receive heavy, everyday use. Although
with the use of a table pad, table cloth or desk blotter you can still
have the beauty of cherry without having to worry about “dents and
dings”.
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Maple Wood
Acer saccharum,
Acer nigrum
Maple wood, available in both
Hard and Soft varieties, has a very smooth surface with a subtle grain
pattern. The sapwood is creamy white with a slight reddish brown tinge
and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. Both
heartwood and sapwood can contain pith flecks.
Hard Maple, which we refer to as simply Maple, is very
hard and heavy, with great strength properties and high resistance to
wear and abrasion. Soft Maple is used for distressed finishes and is
exactly as the name implies, soft.
Hickory Wood
Carya spp.
Hickory is the hardest,
heaviest and strongest of the woods. The sapwood is white, tinged with
inconspicuous fine brown lines while the heartwood is pale to reddish
brown. The grain has a course texture and is usually straight or
slightly wavy.
Hickory is an extremely tough and resilient wood with
good strength and shock resistance. Because of its strength, it is
difficult to work with, so the styles available in Hickory are limited.
Walnut Wood
Juglans nigra
The
sapwood of Walnut is creamy white, but is usually steamed to darken it.
The heartwood is light brown to dark chocolate brown, occasionally
containing a purplish cast and darker streaks. The wood develops a rich
patina that grows more lustrous with age. Usually straight-grained,
Walnut can have a wavy or curly grain appearance.
Walnut is a tough hardwood of medium density and
moderate bending and crushing strength therefore, it is easy to work
with hand tools and it screws and glues well. Because of toxic material
occurring in the tree roots naturally, many builders will not use Walnut
because of the difficulty of disposing of scraps and saw dust.