Regardless of whether you are a beginning woodworker or a homeowner who just wants more information when making a decision about your furniture, we all have one common thread: it all starts with wood. Woodworking expert Bruce Johnson is going to share with you his five favorite woods and explain how their characteristics can determine the look and style of any piece of furniture.
Oak - Extremely popular
- Hard and durable
- Exciting grain pattern
- Looks good in just about any color stain
- Affordable
- First popular in late 1800s, when walnut and rosewood became very expensive
- "Middle class" wood
- Used during the golden oak, arts and crafts era and Swedish modern eras
- Extremely popular in unfinished furniture
- Good for do-it-yourselfers
- Most popular wood for flooring
- 60 American species
- White and red best-known species
- Most often finished with polyurethane to help fill the large pores.
Cherry - Considered a more refined wood than oak
- More subtle grain pattern
- Natural red color seldom requires a stain
- Turns darker as it ages
- More expensive than oak
- Oreserved for fine furniture and kitchen cabinets
- Best logs sliced into veneer for stereo cabinets, pianos, furniture
- Most often finished using a hand-rubbed oil.
Walnut - Grown in America
- Prized for its distinctive grain and natural brown color
- Seldom stained
- Hard and durable
- Used for gun stocks for more than 300 years
- Used for fine furniture
- Often sliced into veneers
- Carves well since the tight grain does not splinter like oak
- Considered a more formal wood than oak
- Presently not as popular as the lighter woods, but is prized among collectors of 19th-century antique furniture
- Often hand-rubbed with an oil for natural look.
Hard Maple - Several different species
- Most common species is soft maple (also called red maple
- Red maple not as highly regarded as hard maple (also known as sugar maple)
- Maple syrup is obtained from sugar maple trees
- Heavy, strong wood noted for its even texture
- Used extensively in furniture construction
- Used in gym floors, bowling alleys, internal parts of pianos
- Turns well on lathe
- Favored for spindles
- Can be stained, but also looks great natural with either polyurethane varnish or hand-rubbed oil finish.
Pine - Least expensive of these woods
- Has been used for hundreds of years, mainly because it is readily available
- Although not valued as highly for fine furniture as hardwoods (oak, cherry, walnut), maintains its popularity for the "country" look
- Always best finished natural or with only a light stain
- When stained dark, tends to turn blotchy (apply a wood conditioner before staining to reduce blotchiness).
So remember: - Oak is a great all-purpose wood that accepts and looks great in any color stain.
- Not all maples are created equal, so ask for hard maple when strength and durability are critical.
- If you must stain pine or any softwood, always apply a wood conditioner first.
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