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Glossary
 

Lumber Species 

We offer many popular species of hardwood lumber. The list below offers information on some of the species we carry. If you do not find the information you are looking for, be sure to contact us so we can assist you.

ALDER

MAHOGANY
(African) 

OAK, RED

ASH

MAHOGANY
(S. America)

OAK, WHITE

BIRCH

MAPLE
(Hard)

OBECHE

CEDAR, AROMATIC

MAPLE
(Soft)

POPLAR

CHERRY

MERANTI

SAP GUM

FIR

PINE, KNOTTY 

WALNUT

 

HICKORY 

 

Alder, Red (back to top)

Source:  Pacific Coast (California and north).
Color:  Pale pinkish-brown to almost white.
 Pattern:  Not distinct.
 Characteristics:  Good working properties; strength between Red Gum and  American tulipwood.
 Uses:  Unexposed structural parts for furniture; core stock.
 Availability:  Rare as veneer, limited as lumber.

 Ash, White (back to top)

Source: Eastern USA, Lake States, New England and Central States.
Color:

Warm brown heartwood with narrow light brown sapwood.
 Pattern: Straight moderately open grain.
 Characteristics: Heavy, hard, strong, stiff and high shock resistance with excellent blending qualities and above average workability.
 Uses: Interiors, furniture, handles of tools and implements, sporting and athletic goods.
 Availability: Ready as veneer and lumber.

 Birch (back to top)

Source: Canada and the USA (Lake States)
Color: Cream or light brown tinged with red, with thin, nearly white sapwood.
Pattern: Both rotary and sliced, plain and often curly or wavy.
Characteristics: Heavy, very strong, hard closed-grained, even texture.
Uses: Furniture, interiors, interior and exterior doors, store fixtures, accessories.
Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.
Special Notes: As veneer the sapwood of rotary birch is sold as "white birch" and the heartwood as "red birch". The greater volume produced is "natural birch" and contains a combination of color tones.

Cedar, Aromatic (back to top)

Source: Eastern USA and Southern Canada
Color: Light red with streaks of creamy white.
 Pattern: Soft, straight-grained with a fine, even texture. Very knotty with  distinctive cedar aroma.
 Characteristics: Soft, easy to work but knots may present some difficulties. Easy to finish, very distinctive cedar aroma.
 Uses: Linen and blanket chests, pencils, boxes.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

 Cherry (back to top)

Source: Maine to Dakotas and Appalachians, Pennsylvania to West Virginia.
Color: Light reddish-brown.
 Pattern: Straight-grained, satiny, some figured, small gum pockets are normal markings.
 Characteristics: Light, strong, rather hard, fine-grained.
 Uses: Fine Furniture, woodworker and engravers blocks.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

 Fir (back to top)

Source: Northeastern Canada and USA to Southwest into Mexico.
Color: Heartwood varies with conditions of growth from pinkish-yellow to reddish-brown; sapwood lighter. Hem-Fir lumber is lighter and brighter in color, varying from a creamy, nearly-white to a light, straw-brown color.
 Pattern: Fine grained and even textured, lending formality to wood paneling, cabinets and trim.
 Characteristics: Dense, hard, stiff, durable, strong.
 Uses: Douglas Fir: Heavy duty construction such as wharves, trestles, bridge parts and commercial buildings. Hem-Fir: Solid wood doors, louvers, shutters, moulding, case goods, furniture.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

 Hickory (back to top)

Source: Northeastern Canada and USA to Southwest into Mexico.
Color: White to cream with inconspicuous fine brown lines and tan heartwood.
 Pattern: Hickory is a ring porous woods, meaning that the pores of the spring wood form a well-defined ring.
 Characteristics: Extremely tough and resilient, quite hard and only moderately heavy.
 Uses: As veneers-furniture, skis and moulding and bent plywood requiring extreme strength.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

  Mahogany, African (back to top)

Source: Africa (Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, French Cameroon, Cape Lopez, Nigeria)
Color: Light pink to reddish-brown and tannish-brown
 Pattern: Although pores are distributed, this wood produces a very distinct, pleasing grain. The most lavish figured mahogany offered in plain stripe, broken stripe, mottle, fiddleback, fine crotches and faux swirl.
 Characteristics: Available in great lengths and widths, milder textured with slightly larger pores than other Mahogany species, relatively hard, works well, lightly lustrous, polishes well, durable.
 Uses: Interior furniture, accessories and art objects, boats.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

 Mahogany, South America (back to top)

Source: Peru, Brazil, Central America (Honduras, Guatemalan, Nicaragua), Mexico, Jamica.
Color: Varies from light reddish or yellowish-brown to rich, dark red, depending upon the country of origin. Mostly yellowish-tan.
 Pattern: A considerable variety of figures, similar to African Mahogany except crotches are not readily available. Straighter grain usually.
 Characteristics: Lighter and softer than Cuban, extremely good strength properties, works well, stains and varnishes well, durable and decay-resistant. Central America produces more figured logs for fancy veneers.
 Uses: Furniture, paneling, fine joinery, boats, ships, pattern-making, exterior uses.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

 Maple, Hard  (back to top)

Source: USA (Lake States), Appalachians, Northwest USA, Canada.
Color: Cream to light reddish-brown heartwood, thin white sapwood tinged slightly with reddish-brown.
 Pattern: Usually straight-grained, sometimes found highly figured with curly fiddleback, blistered, quilted, Birds Eye or burl grain, scattered over entire tree or in irregular stripes and patches.
 Characteristics: Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough, stiff, uniform texture. Excellent resistance to abrasion and indentation.
 Uses: Furniture, interiors, fixtures, flooring, woodenware, cutting surfaces, bakery paddles and other industrial uses, school furniture, decorative inlays and overlays.
 Availability: Plain Maple- readily as veneer; Figured Maple limited as veneer. Readily as lumber.

 Maple, Soft  (back to top)

Source:  USA (Lake States), Appalachians, Northwest USA, Canada.
Color: Cream to light reddish-brown heartwood, thin white sapwood tinged slightly with reddish-brown.
 Pattern: Usually straight-grained, sometimes found highly figured with curly fiddleback, blistered, quilted, Birds Eye or burl grain, scattered over entire tree or in irregular stripes and patches.
 Characteristics: The soft maples are roughly 25 percent softer than the hard maples. Heavy, fairly strong, close-grained, stifff, uniform texture. Good resistance to  abrasion and indentation, however Hard Maple is stronger and more resistant.
 Uses: It is hard to believe, but the same species used for bowling alleys can also be sliced into gorgeous veneers and made into priceless musical intruments.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

Meranti  (back to top)

Source: Philippine Islands. 
Color: Red to brown.
Pattern: Ribbon stripe; interlocking grain.
Characteristics: Course texture, large pores.
Uses: Furniture, doors and cabinet-making.
Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.
Special Notes: Also called  Philippine Mahogany or Red Lauan. At about 36 pounds per cubic foot air-dry, Meranti is heavier than Honduras mahogany. However, it is not nearly as hard nor as strong and lacks the durability and stability of a true mahogany. And you may find brittleness in some boards.

Oak, Red   (back to top)

Source: USA (especially Appalachians), Ohio, Kentucky.     
Color: Slightly redder tinge than While Oak, although difficult for an untrained eye to tell the difference.
Pattern: Flake figure less prominent than white oak's.
Characteristics: Slightly courser grain, with large, rounded, open pores. A little easier to finish than white oak., though both are excellent.
Uses: Nearly all common uses of hardwoods, and especially popular where strength and durability are required. Not for water-tight or water-resistant purposes, were white oak is the choice.
Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.
Special Notes: Except for source and color, Red Oak and White Oak, the two leading American species, are very similar. Quarter sliced and sawn oak has an attractive figure of stripes and leafy grain caused by the distinct layers of springwood and summerwood and the large pores, especially concentrated in springwood. Rift-cut oak has a fine pinstripe. Rotary cut oak has a distinctive watery figure with great contract.

Oak, White  (back to top)

Source: Eastern USA (especially Central States) and through Appalachian region 
Color: From light brown with a greyish tinge in the heartwood to shades of ochre in the sapwood.
Pattern: More pronounced and longer rays than red oak, and more frequently rift-sawn for the comb-grain, pin striped figure than red oak.
Characteristics: Pores are angular and very numerous and filled with glistening substrate called tyloses, which makes this wood especially suitable for water-tight containers (barrel staves) and where water resistance is required. Tannic acid in the wood protects it from fungi and insects. Closer grain than red oak.
Uses: Nearly all common uses of hardwoods, and especially popular where strength and durability are required. Also for water-tight or water-resistant purposes.
Availability:  Readily as veneer and lumber.
Special Notes: Except for source and color, Red Oak and White Oak, the two leading American species, are very similar. Quarter sliced and sawn oak has an attractive figure of stripes and leafy grain caused by the distinct layers of springwood and summerwood and the large pores, especially concentrated in springwood. Rift-cut oak has a fine pinstripe. Rotary cut oak has a distinctive watery figure with great contract.

Obeche (back to top)

Source: West Africa.
Color:  Creamy white to pale yellow.
 Pattern: Faintly striped when quartered
 Characteristics: Soft, light weight, firm, medium grain, and even in texture.
 Uses: Furniture, interior fittings, joinery, flooring, boat building, and veneer and plywood.
 Availability: Limited as veneer.

Pine, Knotty  (back to top)

Source:  Western - Pacific Northwest, Eastern - Eastern USA and North
Color:  Cream color to light reddish-brown with yellowish-white sapwood.
Pattern:  Knotty
Characteristics: Softwood but occasionally used as cabinet wood. Light, soft, not strong, close, straight-grained.
Uses: Used in construction and interior finishing of buildings, lumber and veneer for furniture.
Availability: Readily available as veneer or lumber.

 Poplar  (back to top)

Source: Eastern USA
Color: White to yellowish cast, sometimes with slight greenish cast, and occasionally with rather dark streaks.
Pattern: Straight grain.
Characteristics: Even texture, light to medium weight, excellent strength, machines easily, stable when dried, excellent gluing and resilience to splitting when nailed.
Uses: As veneer for faces, cross-banding, and backs for plywood. As lumber for furniture component parts, turnery, interior trim and millwork, cabinetry, and exterior trim and siding.
Availability: Readily available as veneer or lumber.

Sap Gum (back to top)

Source: Wide range in United States but commercial production is largely from lower Mississippi Valley.
Color: Its color is pinkish white often blued by sap stains.
Pattern: Plain but not very strong, usually watery.
Characteristics: The interlocking grain which makes it strong and stiff, moderately heavy and closed-grained.
Uses: This is a preferred species for furniture, cabinetry, paneling, doors, and interior trim.
Availability: Readily available as veneer or lumber.
Special Notes: Sap Gum is the sapwood portion of the Gum tree. The heartwood is referred to as Red Gum.

Walnut  (back to top)

Source: Walnut grows throughout the United States and southern Canada, however, its commercial range is confined largely to the Central States.
Color: Light grey-brown to dark purplish-brown.
 Pattern: Plain to highly figured. This one species produces a greater variety of figure types than any other, approached only by mahogany. Longwood (plain and quarter sliced, half-round, both plain and figured, crotches, swirls, stump wood and occasional burls).
 Characteristics: Moderately heavy, very strong for its weight, exceptionally stable.
 Uses: Furniture, architecturally woodwork, gunstocks, novelties.
 Availability: Readily as veneer and lumber.

 

 
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