Wood Species
Trying to decide what wood species to use in your next project? Check out our samples below to get an idea of wood options!
Wood Species Guide
Welcome to our wood species guide! We have collected some of the more common wood species folks select for their projects.
While this isn’t an exhaustive list, we hope the list below sparks inspiration for the project you’re dreaming up! Also included at the bottom is a bit of information about natural variations found in wood, and how wood is milled.
We hope you find this guide inspirational!
Have Questions?
Black Walnut
Black walnut (Juglans nigra) is one of North America’s most prized hardwoods, celebrated for its rich color, distinctive grain, and exceptional workability. Its heartwood ranges from deep chocolate brown to purplish-black, often highlighted by lighter, honey-toned sapwood, creating a striking natural contrast. Over time, the wood deepens in color, developing a lustrous patina that enhances its beauty.
The grain of black walnut is typically straight but can feature attractive variations such as curls, waves, and occasional knots. These natural inconsistencies add character and visual depth, making each board unique. Its fine, even texture and moderate natural luster contribute to its luxurious appearance.
Black walnut is a top choice for fine woodworking projects. It’s ideal for high-end furniture, cabinetry, gunstocks, turned objects, and heirloom-quality items such as cutting boards or jewelry boxes. Its strength, stability, and natural beauty also make it a favorite for architectural millwork and decorative veneers.
Sample Projects Featuring Black Walnut
Wild Cherry
Wild cherry, also commonly known as black cherry (Prunus serotina), is a beloved North American hardwood valued for its warm color palette, smooth grain, and graceful aging. Also referred to simply as “cherry” in the woodworking world, this species is distinct from fruit-bearing cherry trees and is prized for its fine furniture-grade timber.
Freshly milled cherry heartwood starts as a light pinkish-brown or reddish tone and matures over time to a rich, deep amber or reddish-brown with exposure to light and air. The sapwood is pale and creamy, often used intentionally for contrast or removed for a more uniform appearance. Its grain is typically straight and satiny, with occasional natural features such as gum pockets, small pitch streaks, or subtle curly figuring, all of which add to its visual appeal.
Cherry’s workability is exceptional—it machines, sands, and finishes with ease, making it a favorite among cabinetmakers and artisans. Its refined look and consistent grain make it ideal for furniture, cabinetry, interior millwork, paneling, and turned or carved items. It’s also well-suited for heirloom boxes, musical instruments, and other fine objects where a warm, elegant aesthetic is desired.
Sample Projects Featuring Cherry
Hickory
Hickory is a tough, resilient North American hardwood known for its strength, rustic character, and bold color variation. Belonging to the Carya genus (which includes species like shagbark hickory and pecan), it is sometimes referred to as true hickory when distinguishing it from pecan hickory in commercial lumber.
One of hickory’s most distinctive traits is its dramatic color range. The heartwood can range from medium brown to reddish tones, while the sapwood is often a stark, creamy white. When both are present in the same board—common in “calico hickory”—the result is a striking, high-contrast look. The grain is usually straight but can occasionally be wavy or irregular, and the texture is coarse but even, giving it a rugged, natural appeal.
Hickory is extremely dense and hard, which makes it durable but also challenging to work with using hand tools. Despite this, it’s a favorite for applications where strength and impact resistance are key. It’s commonly used in tool handles, flooring, cabinetry, rustic furniture, and butcher blocks. Its dramatic look also lends itself well to decorative wall paneling and statement pieces where natural wood patterns take center stage.
Sample Projects Featuring Hickory
Maple
Maple is a versatile and widely used hardwood known for its durability, smooth grain, and light, clean appearance. Native to North America, several species of maple are used in woodworking, each with its own unique characteristics. The two most common commercial types are hard maple (Acer saccharum, also known as sugar maple) and soft maple, a category that includes several species such as red maple (Acer rubrum), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), and bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum).
Hard maple is prized for its strength, fine texture, and resistance to wear. Its creamy white to light tan heartwood and nearly white sapwood provide a bright, consistent look. It often features subtle grain patterns but can also include figured variations such as curly, birdseye, or quilted maple, which are highly sought after for decorative applications.
Soft maple, while still quite durable, is slightly lighter and easier to work with than hard maple. It shares a similar appearance but may have more variation in color, ranging from pale white and light gray to pink or reddish-brown hues, depending on the species.
Maple is a favorite for clean, modern designs as well as traditional pieces. Its smooth grain and hardness make it ideal for furniture, flooring, cabinetry, butcher blocks, cutting boards, musical instruments, and turned or carved objects. Figured maple varieties are especially popular for guitar backs and necks, veneers, and high-end custom furniture where visual impact is key.
Sample Projects Featuring Maple
White Oak
White oak (Quercus alba and related species) is a classic American hardwood valued for its strength, durability, and timeless beauty. It has been a staple in fine woodworking and architectural applications for centuries, thanks to its resilience, distinctive grain, and exceptional moisture resistance.
The heartwood of white oak ranges from light to medium brown with olive or gray undertones, while the sapwood is paler and less defined. Its grain is generally straight, though it can occasionally show interesting patterns like ray flecks or tiger striping—especially prominent in quarter-sawn boards, which display striking medullary rays that give white oak a signature look in craftsman and mission-style furniture.
White oak’s closed cellular structure (as opposed to red oak’s open pores) makes it highly resistant to water penetration, which is why it has long been used for barrels, boatbuilding, and outdoor furniture. It machines and finishes well but can be tough on blades due to its density.
Ideal applications for white oak include furniture, cabinetry, flooring, architectural millwork, doors, paneling, and outdoor projects like decks and garden structures. Its natural strength and refined grain also make it a top choice for heirloom-quality furniture and custom woodwork that will last generations.
Red Oak
Red oak (Quercus rubra and related species) is one of the most widely used domestic hardwoods in North America, prized for its affordability, availability, and classic wood grain character. It has a bold, open-grained appearance and excellent workability, making it a go-to species for builders, woodworkers, and furniture makers alike.
The heartwood of red oak ranges from light to medium brown with warm, reddish undertones, while the sapwood is generally lighter, almost white. Its grain is typically straight but prominent, with a coarse, open texture that readily absorbs stains and finishes—allowing it to be easily customized to fit a wide range of aesthetics, from traditional to modern.
Unlike white oak, red oak has large, open pores that make it more porous and less resistant to moisture, so it’s best used in interior applications. It’s easy to machine, glue, and finish, though the open grain may require filling for ultra-smooth finishes.
Red oak is ideal for flooring, furniture, cabinets, doors, staircases, millwork, and interior trim. It’s especially popular in mission-style and traditional American furniture, where its bold grain adds character and warmth.
White Ash
White ash (Fraxinus americana) is a strong, elastic hardwood known for its light color, attractive grain, and excellent shock resistance. Once widely used across the U.S., white ash has become harder to source in recent years due to the spread of the emerald ash borer—a factor that adds value to responsibly harvested or reclaimed stock.
The heartwood of white ash is light to medium brown, while the sapwood is pale beige to nearly white, often indistinguishable from the heartwood in appearance. Its grain is usually straight with a uniform, coarse texture similar to oak, but with a slightly more subdued figure. It takes stain and finish well, making it highly adaptable to different styles and color tones.
White ash is prized for its strength-to-weight ratio and is incredibly resilient under stress, which has made it a top choice for tool handles, baseball bats, and sports equipment. In woodworking, it’s commonly used for furniture, cabinetry, flooring, millwork, and interior paneling, especially where a clean, open grain look is desired.
Its natural beauty and versatility also make white ash a good choice for modern or minimalist designs, especially when a light, airy aesthetic is preferred.
Purple Heart
Purpleheart (Peltogyne spp.) is a striking exotic hardwood known for its vibrant color and extreme durability. Native to Central and South America, this dense tropical wood is highly valued for its dramatic appearance and toughness, making it a favorite for bold accents and fine woodworking.
Freshly cut, purpleheart appears dull brown, but it quickly transforms to a rich, deep purple upon exposure to air and light. With time and UV exposure, the color can darken to a purplish-brown, so finishing with a UV-protective topcoat is often recommended to help preserve its vibrant hue. Its grain is typically straight, but it can also be wavy or irregular, with a fine, even texture and a natural luster when polished.
Purpleheart is extremely dense and strong, ranking high in hardness and impact resistance. However, its toughness can make it challenging to work with—it may dull tools quickly and sometimes release a sticky resin when cut. Despite this, it sands and finishes beautifully with proper preparation.
This wood is ideal for inlays, accents, turned objects, fine furniture, cutting boards, cabinetry, flooring, and musical instruments. Its dramatic color also makes it popular for decorative boxes, jewelry, and high-end custom pieces where visual impact is key.
Sample Projects Featuring Purple Heart
Osage Orange
Osage orange (Maclura pomifera), also known as bois d’arc, hedge, or horse apple, is a dense, durable North American hardwood renowned for its brilliant color, extreme hardness, and resistance to decay. Native to the south-central United States, osage orange has historically been used for everything from fence posts to longbows, thanks to its toughness and elasticity.
Freshly cut, the heartwood glows with a striking golden-yellow to bright orange hue, which gradually darkens to a warm, deep amber or brown with age and exposure to light. Its grain is typically straight but can occasionally be wavy or interlocked, with a fine, uniform texture and a natural sheen when finished.
Osage orange is exceptionally hard and heavy—harder than oak or hickory—which makes it challenging to work by hand but highly rewarding in terms of durability and finish quality. It resists rot, insects, and moisture extremely well, making it ideal for outdoor applications and high-wear items.
Common uses for osage orange include bow making (archery), tool handles, fence posts, mallets, turned objects, knife scales, and decorative inlays. It’s also appreciated by woodturners and artisans for small, eye-catching pieces like pens, boxes, and accent furniture parts, where its brilliant color can take center stage.
Sample Projects Featuring Osage Orange
Flame Box Elder
Flame box elder is a visually stunning hardwood prized for its vivid red streaks and unpredictable figure. It comes from the Acer negundo tree—also known as box elder, a soft maple species native to North America. The “flame” effect appears when the tree has been stressed or infected, often by fungal activity, which triggers bright red, orange, or pink streaking through the otherwise pale, creamy-white wood.
The base color of flame box elder is a soft blonde to light tan, often with gray or yellowish hues. The red streaks can vary in intensity and pattern, from delicate wisps to bold, flame-like striations that seem to dance across the grain. The wood is typically straight-grained with a fine to medium texture, and it takes a smooth finish despite its softness.
Because it is relatively lightweight and not as hard as other hardwoods, flame box elder is best used in low-wear, high-visibility projects. It’s especially popular for artistic woodturning, custom furniture, jewelry boxes, knife scales, musical instrument accents, and inlays. Its unique coloration makes every piece one of a kind, perfect for statement pieces and heirloom-quality work.
Flame box elder is not commonly used for structural or high-traffic items, but when stabilized or sealed properly, it can hold up well in decorative and functional art.
Sample Projects Featuring Flame Box Elder
Paduk
Padauk (commonly African padauk, Pterocarpus soyauxii) is a vibrant tropical hardwood known for its bold coloration, natural luster, and excellent durability. Freshly milled, padauk heartwood ranges from bright orange to vivid reddish-orange, often deepening to a rich, brick red or purple-brown over time with exposure to light. Some pieces may even display streaks of purple, black, or yellow, adding dramatic contrast and character. The sapwood is pale and clearly defined.
Padauk’s grain is typically straight to slightly interlocked, with a coarse texture and an appealing natural sheen. It machines well, glues reliably, and finishes beautifully—though its color can fade with UV exposure if not protected with a proper finish.
Thanks to its strength, stability, and visual impact, padauk is ideal for fine furniture, cabinetry, flooring, turned objects, musical instruments, knife scales, cutting boards, and inlay work. Its bold color makes it especially suited for accent elements in multi-wood designs, where it pairs well with neutral tones like maple, walnut, or white oak.
Wenge
Wenge (Millettia laurentii) is a dark, exotic hardwood native to Central Africa, prized for its deep chocolate brown to nearly black coloration and bold, linear grain. Its coarse texture and alternating light and dark streaks create a naturally dramatic, high-contrast appearance—often described as having a “striped” or “rope-like” look. When freshly cut, wenge can appear slightly lighter with hints of purple or reddish undertones, but it quickly darkens with age and finishing.
Wenge is incredibly dense, hard, and durable, making it resistant to wear and well-suited for long-lasting projects. However, its interlocked grain and abrasive texture can be tough on tools, requiring sharp blades and care during finishing. It sands and polishes to a luxurious, almost ebony-like sheen.
Common applications include high-end furniture, flooring, cabinetry, musical instruments, turned objects, and accent pieces. It’s also a popular choice for contrasting inlays and details, pairing beautifully with lighter woods like maple, ash, or flame box elder.
Leopardwood
Leopardwood (Roupala montana), often confused with lacewood, is a South American hardwood known for its stunning spotted figure that resembles the markings of a leopard. Its base color ranges from reddish-brown to light brown, with large, shimmering flecks of silvery or golden grain that appear when quartersawn—creating a textured, three-dimensional look.
The grain is generally straight but can be interlocked, with a medium to coarse texture. While not as dense as some tropical hardwoods, leopardwood is still moderately hard and machines reasonably well with sharp tools. It takes finishes beautifully, especially when polished to highlight its natural iridescence.
Leopardwood is ideal for veneers, fine boxes, furniture accents, knife scales, musical instruments, and decorative inlays. Its dramatic figure makes it a favorite for detail work or statement pieces, often used sparingly to enhance more subdued woods like walnut or cherry.
Sycamore
Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), also known as American sycamore or buttonwood, is a native hardwood appreciated for its subtle beauty, fine texture, and unique grain character. Its heartwood is typically light to medium reddish-brown, while the sapwood is much lighter—often creamy white or pale tan—creating a gentle contrast. When quartersawn, sycamore reveals a dramatic and distinctive lace-like figure, often compared to the flecks seen in quartersawn white oak, but finer and more delicate.
The grain is usually interlocked, which can cause some challenges during planing, but it finishes smoothly and takes stain and polish well. The texture is fine and even, giving it a soft, silky appearance when finished properly.
Sycamore is moderately hard and not as dense as species like maple or oak, making it easier to work with. It’s best suited for furniture, cabinetry, paneling, boxes, interior millwork, and veneers, especially when the quartersawn figure is showcased. It’s also used for turned items and decorative accents, where its delicate beauty can shine.
Sycamore pairs beautifully with darker woods like walnut or padauk, offering visual balance through contrast.
Poplar
Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), often called yellow poplar, tulip poplar, or tulipwood, is a versatile and affordable hardwood commonly used in both construction and fine woodworking. Despite its name, it’s not a true poplar but is part of the magnolia family. It’s known for being lightweight, easy to work with, and consistent in texture—making it a favorite among woodworkers for utility and painted projects.
The sapwood of poplar is typically creamy white, while the heartwood ranges from light yellowish-brown to green, gray, or even streaks of purple and black, giving some boards a surprising and artistic appearance. The grain is usually straight and uniform with a fine, even texture and a soft, matte sheen when finished.
Poplar machines, glues, and paints exceptionally well, though it is softer than many other hardwoods and dents more easily. Because of its workability and smooth surface, it’s commonly used for furniture frames, drawer sides, cabinetry, interior trim, painted furniture, and millwork. While not typically selected for show surfaces, unique pieces with colorful heartwood are sometimes showcased in artistic or modern designs.
Poplar is also widely used as a secondary wood in fine furniture and for prototyping or practicing joinery.
Thermally Modified Poplar
Thermally modified poplar is a specially treated version of standard poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that undergoes a high-heat, oxygen-controlled process to enhance its durability, stability, and resistance to moisture and decay. This thermal modification transforms poplar from a soft, utility-grade wood into a more durable and attractive material suitable for both interior and exterior applications.
The treatment darkens the wood significantly—changing its color from pale yellow and greenish tones to warm browns, rich ambers, and even coffee-like hues throughout the entire board. The grain remains mostly straight and uniform but now has a deeper, more refined appearance. This new coloration gives it the look of tropical hardwoods at a fraction of the cost, making it an appealing and sustainable alternative.
Thermally modified poplar is lighter in weight and more dimensionally stable than its untreated counterpart, though it becomes more brittle due to the heat treatment. It’s best used in siding, paneling, cladding, decking, trim, and interior accent walls. It also works beautifully in furniture and cabinetry where a darker, consistent tone is desired without using stains.
Reach Out
Have questions? Looking for recommendations? Ready to talk about ordering?
Contact Us
Emphasizing wood’s natural
BEAUTY, CHARACTER, AND CHARM
Natural variations
Curl
Curly wood refers to a type of figure found in certain hardwoods where the grain appears to ripple or “curl” across the board, creating a three-dimensional, wavy effect. This visual texture—also called flame, tiger, or fiddleback figure depending on the intensity—is caused by natural variations in the grain direction as the tree grows.
Ambrosia
Ambrosia refers to distinctive streaks and discoloration in wood caused by ambrosia beetles. These beetles bore into trees, introducing a fungus that leaves behind gray, blue, or black streaks—especially common in maple, box elder, and scyamore. While it doesn’t weaken the wood, ambrosia adds unique, organic character, making each board visually striking and highly sought after in artistic or decorative projects.
Spalt
Spalting is a natural coloration in wood caused by fungal activity, often seen in species like maple, scyamore, birch, and beech. It creates dramatic patterns—such as black lines (zone lines), soft color shifts, or marbled effects—that add visual intrigue. While spalting doesn’t typically compromise the wood’s strength if caught early, it’s prized in turning, furniture, and decorative work for its one-of-a-kind appearance.
Precision milled for
PERFORMANCE, QUALITY, AND STABILITY
Types of Standard Wood Milling
Flat Sawn
Flat sawn lumber is milled with cuts tangential to the growth rings, creating a cathedral or flame-like grain pattern. It’s the most common and cost-effective cut, offering wide boards with minimal waste. While beautiful, it’s more prone to cupping and seasonal movement compared to other cuts.
Quarter Sawn
Quarter sawn lumber is milled by cutting logs into quarters and then slicing boards perpendicular to the growth rings. This results in tight, straight grain and enhanced stability. In species like oak, it reveals striking ray flecks. Quarter sawn wood resists warping and is ideal for furniture, flooring, and fine joinery.
Rift Sawn
Rift sawn lumber is cut at a slight angle to the radial lines of the log, producing a very consistent, linear grain with minimal ray fleck. It’s the most dimensionally stable and visually uniform cut but also the most wasteful and expensive. Rift sawn wood is prized in modern and minimalist designs.