About wood... types, uses and color samples

            Black Walnut

Used for many years for the finest furniture, gun stocks and even paneling.  Dark brown in color and provides a very smooth surface for finishing. 

          Cherry

A popular cabinet and furniture wood for centuries.  Color ranges from light to a dark reddish-brown.  Takes a smooth natural finish well and darkens with age.

         Maple

Provides a beautiful light wood with slight grain and the sugar maple also gives us sap for making maple syrup.  Uses include furniture, flooring, trim and veneer.  Sometimes shows a prized "birds eye" grain.  Very hard wood and often know as rock maple.

           Mahogany

Mahogany is known as American, Honduran, African and Philippine.  Wherever it comes from it is a popular furniture and cabinet wood as well as for doors.  Very fine straight grain and uniform color,  open grained so it most be filled to get a smooth finish. 

         Ponderosa Pine

From the western US and Canada.  Used most commonly for doors, windows, trim, and framing lumber for residential construction.  It is also used to produce pressure treated wood for decks and outdoor furniture.

        Southern Pine

Found in the southeastern US and used primary for construction lumber.  This is the wood of choice for pressure treated wood because it has a unique cell structure that allows the treatment chemical to penetrate well.  Hard for a pine it is also used as flooring.

         Northern Red Oak

Grows in the northeast and north-central US and Canada.  For many years the most popular wood for kitchen cabinets, household furniture, shelving, desks as well as veneer and flooring.  The natural color is a light salmon that accepts stains very well to create or match as needed.  Open grained so filling is needed for a smooth finish.  Very strong wood.

          Birch

The Birch family of trees provides us with everything from beer to toothpicks, using the full tree from sap to bark.  Common uses of Birch wood are cabinets, flooring, paneling and doors.  Birch is easy to finish because of its hard close grain and even texture.

          Eastern White Pine

One of Americas hardest working woods.  This lightweight, soft, even textured wood is used for millwork, knotty pine paneling, siding, boxes, crates, coffins, boats, doors, furniture, carving, and musical instrument parts.  Some of the older New England homes still have there original White Pine clapboard siding and wide plank floors.  White Pine is very workable, durable and takes a finish well.