|
| Welcome |
| Who We Are |
| Flooring |
| Paneling |
| Contact Us |
|
Wood species AshWhite ash is also known a "poor man's oak". It is valued for its wood, which is strong, straight-grained, and fairly light-weight. Widely known as White Ash, the heartwood of this wood has a grey-brown color while the sapwood tends to be a creamy color. Weighs 3.2 pounds per board foot and is very durable. Generally straight grained and even textured. Relatively light weight if compared to its strength - very strong. A good substitute for Red Oak. Main Uses Furniture, flooring, doors, architectural millwork and moulding, kitchen cabinets, paneling, tool handles, baseball bats, hockey sticks, billiard cues, skis, oars and turnings. General Description The sapwood is light-colored to nearly white and the heartwood varies from greyish or light brown, to pale yellow streaked with brown. The wood is generally straight-grained with a coarse uniform texture. The degree and availability of light-colored sapwood, and other properties, will vary according to the growing regions. Working Properties Ash machines well, is good in nailing, screwing and gluing, and can be stained to a very good finish. It dries fairly easily with minimal degrade, and there is little movement in performance. Physical Properties Ash has very good overall strength properties relative to its weight. It has excellent shock resistance and is good for steam bending. The dense wood is used in turning and steam bending, flooring, furniture, veneer, containers, plywood, pulp, charcoal, and wood fuel Beech is very shade tolerant, and assumes dominance on many northern hardwood sites in association with sugar maple and yellow birch. Older, large trees are often hollow and were once used commonly as culverts in road building. Pale reddish brown in color. It has a straight grain with a fine even texture, and weighs 4.0 pounds per board foot. Machines cleanly and has good nailing and gluing properties. An excellent turning wood. Often used in cabinetry, flooring, turning, furniture and tool handles. Can be finished to resemble more expensive woods. Heavy wood weighing 4 pounds per board foot. Where it Grows Throughout the Eastern U.S., commercial concentration is in the Central and Middle Atlantic states. Average tree height is 120 feet. Main Uses Furniture, doors, flooring, millwork, paneling, brush handles, woodenware, bending stock, toys and turnings. It is particularly suitable for food and liquid containers since there is no odor or taste. Relative Abundance 0.4 percent of total U.S. hardwoods commercially available. Did You Know? Beech was used to make snuff boxes as well as mortars and pestles. General Description The sapwood is white with a red tinge, while the heartwood is light to dark reddish brown. The wood is generally straight-grained with a close uniform texture. Working Properties Beech works readily with most hand and machine tools. It has good nailing and gluing properties and can be stained to a good finish. The wood dries fairly rapidly but with a strong tendency to warp, split and surface check. It is subject to a high shrinkage and moderate movement in performance. Physical Properties Beech is classed as heavy, hard, strong, high in resistance to shock and highly suitable for steam bending. Good resistance to abrasive wear. The color ranges from a light yellow sapwood to a reddish brown heartwood. Has a medium weight density with a straight and close grain. This wood weighs 3.6 pounds per board foot and is easily worked with a moderate dulling effect. It glues and takes stains well. Available sorted for sapwood if a clear white appearance is desired. Main Uses Furniture, millwork and paneling, doors, flooring, kitchen cabinets, turnings and toys. Did You Know? Native Americans often rolled and burned birch bark to keep mosquitoes away. General Description Yellow birch has a white sapwood and light reddish brown heartwood. The wood is generally straight-grained with a fine uniform texture. Generally characterized by a plain and often curly or wavy pattern. Working Properties The wood works fairly easily, glues well with care, takes stain extremely well, and nails and screws satisfactorily where pre-boring is advised. It dries rather slowly with little degrade, but it has moderately high shrinkage, so is susceptible to movement in performance. Physical Properties The wood of yellow birch is heavy, hard and strong. It has very good bending properties, with good crushing strength and shock resistance. Availability Reasonable availability, but more limited if selected for color.
Cedar, Northern White commonly used for fencing, posts, lumber, poles, cabin logs, paneling, siding, and shingles. Cedar - White (Domestic): The fragrant wood of cedar is soft, straight grained and brittle. Color is white to yellowish brown. Lightweight and durable when in contact with moisture. Used for fence posts, outdoor furniture, bird feeders, paneling and cabin logs. It weighs only 2 lbs per board foot.
Cherry is used for veneer, furniture, cabinets, paneling, flooring, interior trim, handles, crafts, toys, scientific instruments, etc. The rich reddish-brown heartwood of Cherry has made it one to the most popular cabinet woods available. Cherry weighs from 3 to 3-1/2 pounds per board foot and has a fine, straight closed tight grain. Machines, glues, finishes very well and darkens with age. Where it Grows Throughout Midwestern and Eastern U.S. Main commercial areas: Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and New York. Average tree height is 60 to 80 feet. Cherry trees can live to the extreme ages of 150 to 200 years. Main Uses Fine furniture and cabinet making, mouldings and millwork, kitchen cabinets, paneling, flooring, doors, boat interiors, musical instruments, turnings and carvings. Relative Abundance 3.9 percent of total U.S. hardwoods commercially available. Did You Know? Early printmakers used cherry for their engraving blocks. General Description The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red to reddish brown and will darken with age and on exposure to light. In contrast, the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform, straight grain, satiny, smooth texture, and may naturally contain brown pith flecks and small gum pockets. Working Properties Cherry is easy to machine, nails and glues well and when sanded and stained, it produces an excellent smooth finish. It dries fairly quickly with moderately high shrinkage, but is dimensionally stable after kiln-drying. Physical Properties The wood is of medium density with good bending properties, it has low stiffness and medium strength and shock resistance.
Hickory is used for furniture, flooring, paneling, tool handles, ladder rungs, sporting goods, fuelwood, charcoal, meat-smoking, etc. Heartwood is light reddish brown and the sapwood white. Hickory weighs 4.4 pounds per board foot, rough and kiln dried. Medium coarse texture and straight grain, very hard, elastic and strong. Machines, burns, and steam bends well. Used for vehicle and implement parts, cabinets, flooring and is famous for smoking meats. Where it Grows Eastern U.S., principal commercial areas: Central and Southern states. Tree height ranges from 60 to 120 feet. Hickories grow slowly and it is not unusual for a tree to take 200 years to mature. Main Uses Tool handles, furniture, cabinetry, flooring, paneling, wooden ladders, dowels and sporting goods. Did You Know? Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the U.S., was nicknamed “Old Hickory” because of his toughness during disputes. General Description The hickories are an important group within the Eastern hardwood forests. Botanically they are split into two groups; the true hickories, and the pecan hickories (fruit bearing). The wood is virtually the same for both and is usually sold together. Hickory is the hardest, heaviest and strongest American wood. The sapwood of hickory is white, tinged with inconspicuous fine brown lines while the heartwood is pale to reddish brown. Both are coarse-textured and the grain is fine, usually straight but can be wavy or irregular. Working Properties The heaviest of American hardwoods, the hickories can be difficult to machine and glue, and are very hard to work with hand tools, so care is needed. They hold nails and screws well, but there is a tendency to split so pre-boring is advised. The wood can be sanded to a good finish. The grain pattern welcomes a full range of medium-to-dark finishes and bleaching treatments. It can be difficult to dry and has high shrinkage. Physical Properties The density and strength of the hickories will vary according to the rate of growth, with the true hickories generally showing higher values than the pecan hickories. The wood is well-known for its very good strength and shock resistance and it also has excellent steam-bending properties. Extremely tough and resilient, even texture, quite hard and only moderately heavy. Availability Readily available, more limited if sold selected for color as either red or white hickory.
Sugar maple is used to make furniture, veneer, paneling, flooring, gunstocks, tool handles, plywood dies, cutting blocks, woodenware, bowling pins, musical instruments, etc. Color ranges from a premium white sapwood to a brown heartwood. Also known as Rock Maple or Sugar Maple and can be tapped to extrude the sap for syrup. Weighs 4 pounds per board foot. Moderately difficult to work with as it tends to dull machinery rather quickly. Takes stain, glue and polish satisfactorily. A favorite for flooring and butcher blocks. were it Grows Eastern U.S., principally Mid-Atlantic and Lake states. A cold weather tree favoring a more northerly climate, its average height is 130 feet. Main Uses Flooring, furniture, paneling, ballroom and gymnasium floors, kitchen cabinets, worktops, table tops, butchers blocks, toys, kitchenware and millwork: stairs, handrails, mouldings, and doors. Did You Know? A single sugar maple tree produces up to 12 gallons of sap a year. General Description The sapwood is creamy white with a slight reddish brown tinge and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The amount of darker brown heartwood can vary significantly according to growing region. Both sapwood and heartwood can contain pith fleck. The wood has a close fine, uniform texture and is generally straight-grained, but it can also occur as "curly," "fiddleback," and "birds-eye" figure. Working Properties Hard maple dries slowly with high shrinkage, so it can be susceptible to movement in performance. Pre-boring is recommended when nailing and screwing. With care it machines well, turns well, glues satisfactorily, and can be stained to an outstanding finish. Polishes well and is suitable for enamel finishes and brown tones. Physical Properties The wood is hard and heavy with good strength properties, in particular its high resistance to abrasion and wear. It also has good steam-bending properties. Availability Widely available. The higher quality grades of lumber are available selected for white color (sapwood) although this can limit availability. Figured maple (birds-eye, curly, fiddleback) is generally only available in commercial volumes as veneer. Northern red oak is used for flooring, furniture, cabinets, paneling, timbers, agricultural implements, handles, caskets, boats, pallets, slack cooperage, and millwork, fuel and pulpwood. Also referred to as Pin Oak and Black Oak. Salmon pink color, and weighs 3 pounds per board foot. Medium open-pored texture with straight grain. Very hard, heavy and strong. Easy to work, turns, carves, and bends well. Finishing qualities are excellent. Used for interior trim, cabinets and furniture. Where it Grows Widespread throughout Eastern U.S. The oaks are by far the most abundant species group growing in the Eastern hardwood forests. Red oaks grow more abundantly than the white oaks. The red oak group comprises many species, of which about eight are commercial. Average tree height is 60 to 80 feet. Main Uses Furniture, flooring, architectural millwork and mouldings, doors, kitchen cabinets, paneling and caskets. Did You Know? The bark from oak trees is rich in tannin. General Description The sapwood of red oak is white to light brown and the heartwood is a pinkish reddish brown. The wood is similar in general appearance to white oak, but with a slightly less pronounced figure due to the smaller rays. The wood is mostly straight-grained, with a coarse texture. Working Properties Red oak machines well, nailing and screwing are good although pre-boring is recommended, and it can be stained to a good finish. It can be stained with a wide range of finish tones. It dries slowly. Physical Properties The wood is hard and heavy, with medium bending strength and stiffness and high crushing strength. It is very good for steam bending. Great wear-resistance. Oak, White May also be referred to as Chestnut Oak. Color is pale-yellow brown. This closed pore wood makes it relatively heavy, the grain is straight and it is a hard and tough timber. Working properties are fair with the slower growth northern trees easier to work. Weighs 4.2 pounds per board foot. Stains and polishes to a good finish. Used for furniture and cabinets and makes excellent paneling. White oak is impervious to liquids, and has been used extensively for ship timbers, barrels and casks. Where it Grows Widespread throughout the Eastern U.S. The white oak group comprises many species, of which about eight are commercial. The trees prefer rich well drained soil, and average height is 60 to 80 feet. Main Uses Furniture, flooring, architectural millwork, mouldings, doors, kitchen cabinets, paneling, barrel staves (tight cooperage) and caskets. Did You Know? Native Americans and early settlers would boil and eat white oak acorns. General Description The sapwood is light-colored and the heartwood is light to dark brown. White oak is mostly straight-grained with a medium to coarse texture, with longer rays than red oak. White oak therefore has more figure. Working Properties White oak machines well, nails and screws well although pre-boring is advised. Since it reacts with iron, galvanized nails are recommended. Its adhesive properties are variable, but it stains to a good finish. Can be stained with a wide range of finish tones. The wood dries slowly. Physical Properties A hard and heavy wood with medium bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam bending. Great wear-resistance. Eastern white pine is used for lumber, furniture, doors, moldings, trim, siding, paneling, cabinets, matches, extracts, and Christmas trees. This light colored wood resembles straw in appearance. Soft straight grained and even textured wood weighing 2.2 pounds per board foot. Works very easily with hand and machine tools. Glues well and takes stain, paint very well. The most valuable softwood in North America, as it can be used in almost any piece of furniture or most any form of general carpentry.
Black walnut is used for veneer, fine furniture, gunstocks, interior paneling, flooring, and specialty products. Heartwood variegated dark chocolate brown, sapwood nearly white. Weighs 3.75 pounds per board foot. Texture is fine and even and the grain straight to irregular. Moderately dense and hard with excellent machining properties and finishing qualities, considered the most valuable furniture and cabinet timber in the U.S. Walnut is principally used in fine furniture, fixtures, cabinets, gun stocks, and trim. Where it Grows Throughout Eastern U.S., but principal commercial region is the Central states. Average tree height of 100 to 150 feet. Did You Know? Walnut is one of the few American species planted as well as naturally regenerated. General Description The sapwood of walnut is creamy white, while the heartwood is light brown to dark chocolate brown, occasionally with a purplish cast and darker streaks. The wood develops a rich patina that grows more lustrous with age. Walnut is usually supplied steamed, to darken sapwood. The wood is generally straight-grained, but sometimes with wavy or curly grain that produces an attractive and decorative figure. This species produces a greater variety of figure types than any other. Working Properties Walnut works easily with hand and machine tools, and nails, screws and glues well. It holds paint and stain very well for an exceptional finish and is readily polished. It dries slowly, and care is needed to avoid kiln degrade. Walnut has good dimensional stability. Physical Properties Walnut is a tough hardwood of medium density, with moderate bending and crushing strengths and low stiffness. It has a good steam-bending classification.
What is a Board Foot?
What does 4/4, 8/4, 12/4 Mean? Square footage multiplied by the thickness of the lumber (4/4=1; 8/4 =2; etc.) equals the board footage. Take all measurements in inches and use the following formula: T x W x L / 144 = BF. How are Hardwoods Graded?
Michigan Tree facts and links http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/LandownerFactsheets/results.cfm http://www.forestandrange.org/ http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/index.html
|
||||||