Hardwood Species - The Ultimate Guide

Accoya® wood is a leading product, with properties that match those of the best tropical hardwood. It is manufactured using a proprietary acetylation process and uses fast-growing timber – such as Radiata Pine - from sustainable sources. Accoya is very durable and has excellent paint/finish. It is used for interior and exterior joinery, cladding, decking, and structural applications.

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Uses: Interior and exterior joinery, such as doors and windows; cladding, decking and structural applications. 

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American ash is similar in appearance to European ash. The sapwood is light-colored to nearly white and the heartwood varies from greyish brown to light brown, to pale yellow streaked with brown. It is non-durable, excellent for machining, and has a large moisture movement. It is used for coachwork, interior joinery, furniture, and kitchen doors.

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Uses: Coachwork, interior joinery, furniture, kitchen doors. 

Workability: Despite its durability, ash exhibits favourable workability, allowing it to be easily processed and shaped using various tools and machinery. Additionally, it lends itself well to achieving a reasonably smooth finish. Ash can be effectively bonded, stained, and polished, offering versatility in its applications.

Steamed European Beech has a reddish-brown color due to the steaming treatment. It is typically straight-grained, with a fine, even texture. It is non-durable, excellent for machining, and has a large moisture movement. It is used for joinery (interior), shopfitting, and flooring.

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Uses: Joinery (interior), shopfitting and flooring.

Workability:  Redheart is exceedingly challenging to work with. Beech, exhibits some variability in its workability and machinability, influenced by growth characteristics and the state of drying. Therefore, relatively tough material or inadequately dried stock may cause saw binding or burning during cross-cutting. Additionally, if distorted due to drying, it can present challenges during planing. Nevertheless, overall, beech is relatively workable, allowing for the attainment of a smooth surface. It turns well, readily accepts glue, and can be stained and polished satisfactorily. Furthermore, it yields excellent veneer.

Unsteamed European Beech is strong, straight-grained with a plain appearance. It is non-durable, excellent for machining, and has a large moisture movement. It is used for joinery (interior), shopfitting, and flooring.

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Uses: Joinery (interior), shopfitting and flooring. 

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The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red to reddish-brown and will darken on exposure to light. In contrast, the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform straight grain, smooth texture, and may naturally contain brown pith-flecks and small gum pockets. It is moderately durable, excellent for machining, and has a medium moisture movement. It is used for high-class joinery, musical instruments, pattern making, boat interiors, and cabinets.

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Uses: High-class joinery, musical instruments, pattern making, boat interiors and cabinets. 

Workability: As a hardwood, it possesses a moderate level of durability, making it suitable for various applications. It demonstrates favorable workability, allowing for relatively easy shaping and manipulation. Moreover, it excels in turning applications, and its surface can be polished to an excellent finish.

Ekki is a hard, heavy wood with sapwood that is pale pink and sharply defined from the heartwood, which is red-brown to dark brown with a slightly speckled appearance due to white deposits in the pores. The grain is usually interlocked and the texture is coarse. It is very durable, difficult to machine, and has a large moisture movement. It is used for structural heavy use such as decking and marine construction.

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Uses: Structural heavy use such as decking and marine construction.

Workability: Ekki, can be particularly difficult to work with hand tools due to its hardness. However, when using machinery, the challenges are relatively reduced. It is important to pre-bore when nailing Ekki.

The heartwood of Elm is a dull brown color, clearly defined when green from the lighter-colored sapwood. The irregular growth rings together with the cross-grained character of the wood give it an attractive appearance, but the large early-wood pores produce quite a coarse texture. It is non-durable, medium for machining, and has a medium moisture movement. It is used for furniture, interior joinery, and flooring.

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Uses: Furniture, interior joinery and flooring.

Workability: Elm presents moderate difficulty when working with it, as it tends to pick up during planing and molding, and may bind on the saw. However, the working characteristics of Elm are somewhat influenced by the carefulness of the drying process, as distorted wood can result in wasteful planing and molding. Dutch elm is slightly less resistant, but both species can be finished to achieve a smooth surface with proper care. Elm can be satisfactorily glued, and it can also be stained, polished, or waxed. It has the ability to hold nails without splitting and can yield a high-quality decorative veneer.

Greenheart is a hard, heavy, and elastic timber, but inclined to splinter when fractured. Greenheart is one of the strongest woods in tropical America. The sapwood is pale yellow/greenish, and is not clearly demarcated from the heartwood which varies in color from yellowish-green, greenish-yellow, or light olive through golden yellow, dark olive, or yellowish-brown to very dark brown. It is very durable, difficult to machine, and has a medium moisture movement. It is used for structural, heavy use in freshwater and marine applications.

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Uses: Structural, heavy use in freshwater and marine applications. 

Workability: Difficult - Greenheart presents a moderate level of difficulty when working with both hand and machine tools. It exhibits resistance to cutting similar to tough grades of English oak. Cutting edges tend to dull quickly, but with careful workmanship, it is possible to achieve a fine, smooth, and lustrous surface. Machining cross-grained or end-grain material requires caution to avoid breakouts and splintering at the tool's exit point due to the wood's low cleavage resistance. Greenheart turns easily and can be finished well with wax, oil, or polish without the need for a filler. However, it is not ideal for nails and should be pre-bored. Gluing Greenheart yields fairly good results. Notably, the wood has a very low acid content of approximately 0.48% acetic acid in air-dried wood, minimizing corrosive effects on nails, spikes, and metal fastenings.

Idigbo is a durable medium weight timber with a plain, pale yellow to light brown colored wood, sometimes showing a zonal figure originating in the growth rings, suggesting plain oak. There is little distinction between sapwood and heartwood, though the heartwood is darker in color. The grain is straight to slightly irregular, and the texture is uneven and coarse. It is used for furniture and interior/exterior joinery.

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Uses:  Furniture and interior / exterior joinery.

Workability: Medium - Idigbo wood exhibits ease of workability with both hand and machine tools. It has minimal impact on cutting edges, allowing for clean finishes in most operations. However, caution should be exercised when planing quarter-sawn material as there is a tendency for the grain to pick up. To achieve smooth surfaces, reducing the cutting angle to 200 or less is advisable. Idigbo turns well and offers satisfactory nail and screw holding properties. It also responds well to glue, effectively takes stains, and reacts positively to various finishing treatments.

Ipe has a heartwood which is yellow/green when first cut, turning a light to dark olive-brown with lighter or darker streaks. The texture is fine; the grain is straight to occasionally irregular, and the lustre is low to medium. It is very durable, difficult to machine, and has a medium moisture movement. It is used for decking and flooring; mouldings, furniture and tool handles plus exterior joinery.

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Uses: Decking and flooring; mouldings, furniture and tool handles plus exterior joinery.

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Iroko is a durable attractive and strong timber, which has a heartwood that is a distinct yellow color when cut; but on exposure to light it quickly becomes golden-brown. The sapwood is narrow and the grain is usually interlocked and the texture is rather coarse but even. Large, hard deposits of calcium carbonate called ‘stone’ deposits, are sometimes present in cavities, probably as a result of injury to the tree. They are often enclosed by the wood and not visible until the time of sawing, though the wood around them may be darker in colour, thus giving an indication of their presence.

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Uses: Interior and exterior joinery, bench-tops and laboratory equipment plus boat-building.

Workability: Medium to difficult - When working with Iroko, it generally cooperates well with most tools, although they may experience some dulling on their cutting edges, particularly when calcareous deposits are present. Quarter-sawn stock of Iroko tends to have interlocked grain, leading to a tendency for the grain to pick up. To achieve a smooth surface, it is typically necessary to reduce the cutting angle to around 150. If the grain is filled, an excellent finish can be achieved. Iroko demonstrates good nail and screw holding properties and can be satisfactorily glued.

A lightweight timber with a stable nature and easily worked. Soft and slightly brittle, the wood is creamy-white when first cut turning a pale straw colour after exposure. The planed wood is lustrous or very lustrous, without any figure, but slit-like radial passages may be seen on tangential lines as lens-shaped bodies. The grain is usually straight, and the texture is fine and even.

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Uses: Pattern making and core for fire-check doors.

Workability: Good - This timber is highly workable with both hand and machine tools, making it easy to handle during various woodworking processes. It can be finely finished, resulting in a very smooth surface. Additionally, it readily accepts stains, polish, and varnish, allowing for versatile finishing options. When it comes to joining, it exhibits satisfactory properties for nails, screws, and glue, ensuring secure and reliable connections.

The keruing grain is usually straight but may be shallowly interlocked, and the texture is moderately coarse or coarse, but even. The timber contains an oleo-resin which exudes in a number of pieces especially on the end grain when exposed to sunlight.

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Uses: Structural use, vehicle body building, farm buildings, door and window sills.

Workability: Difficult - The different species and variations within them, including resin content, grain type, and hardness, significantly impact the ease of working, cutting tool dulling, and finishing properties. These timbers range from hard to very hard, posing challenges when cutting across the grain due to their toughness. While straight-grained material can achieve a clean and slightly fibrous finish during planing and molding, quarter-sawn or interlocked-grained material tends to pick up during these operations unless cutting angles are reduced to 200. Staining is generally satisfactory, but varnishing and polishing require careful attention due to the resin content. The wood accepts nails and screws reasonably well, but its gluing properties can vary.

Koto is similar to Ramin with strength properties close to European Ash, but it is not as hard or tough and more susceptible to splitting. There is no distinction between the sapwood and heartwood and the timber is cream in colour, sometimes with a greyish tint. The texture is coarse and the grain interlocked.

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Uses: Interior joinery.

Workability: This wood shares similar strength properties to European ash, but it falls short in terms of hardness, toughness, and particularly resistance to splitting.

The wood has a close fine texture and is generally straight grained, but it can also occur as ‘curly’, ‘fiddleback’, and ‘birds-eye’ figure. Hard maple is strong, heavy and hard with heartwood that is light reddish-brown with deeper-coloured late-wood bands. The sapwood is white in colour, and furnishes the white maple prized for certain uses. It differs mainly from the soft maples in its greater density and firmer texture.

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Uses: Flooring, musical instruments, joinery, furniture and sports goods. Doors, worktops and mouldings.

Workability: Medium - Soft maple demonstrates a relatively easier workability and machineability compared to hard maple across all operations.

Quite durable and well suited to joinery, the sapwood is lighter in colour and distinct from the heartwood which is red-brown darkening to a dark red; planed surfaces fairly lustrous, stripe figure on radial surfaces. Grey-coloured narrow streaks are often present on all longitudinal surfaces, caused by concentric layers of resin canals. The texture is rather coarse but even, and the grain is interlocked and wavy.

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Uses: Cladding, internal and external joinery. 

Workability: Medium - The wood from meranti exhibits good workability and is generally capable of achieving a smooth surface. However, when a tendency for grain tearing becomes noticeable, reducing the cutting angle to 200 is advisable. The extent of dulling on saws and cutters varies among the species but is typically minimal, except for white meranti, which tends to have a relatively high silica content in the ray cells. The various species can be satisfactorily glued, nailed, and screwed. They also respond well to staining and polishing after suitable filling.

A non-durable timber which varies in colour from pink to pale reddish-brown; there is often a reddish cast to the wood although sometimes it approaches white oak in colour. The large rays do not produce such an attractive figure as they do in white oak, and generally speaking, the wood i s coarser in texture. The quality of red oak depends greatly on growth conditions.

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Uses: Interior joinery, flooring and furniture.

Workability:  Despite its hardness and heavy weight, American Red Oak possesses remarkable flexibility, making it an excellent choice for steam bending applications. Red Oak also exhibits good machineability, although pre-boring, as with White Oak, can be beneficial. Additionally, it boasts high crushing strength, further enhancing its durability and suitability for various purposes.

American white oak is more variable in colour than European Oak, ranging from pale yellow-brown to pale reddish-brown, often with a pinkish tint. The numerous series of rays are generally higher than those of the red oaks producing a more prominent and attractive silver-grain figure on quarter-sawn surfaces. The grain is generally straight, and the texture varies from coarse to medium coarse.

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Uses:  High-quality interior and exterior joinery, flooring, boats, barrels and structural work.

Workability: The working properties of this timber can vary based on the rate of growth, with slow-grown material generally being easier to work than fast-grown material. However, with proper care, both types can be finished smoothly. In planing, it is often beneficial to reduce the cutting angle to 20°. The timber exhibits good characteristics for gluing, staining, and polishing. It also accepts nails and screws effectively.

Normally straight grained but this, as well as the quality, will vary depending upon the origin of the timber. The heartwood ranges from yellow / brown to deep brown, whilst the sapwood is a lighter colour.

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Uses: Boat building, high-class joinery, coffins, flooring and ecclesiastical work. Sleepers, decking, cladding and structural applications. 

Workability: In general, Oak finishes well when processed through planers or molding machines. However, in some cases, reducing the cutting angle to 200 is preferable. Oak responds well to staining, polishing, waxing, and gluing. It also accepts nails and screws effectively, although pre-boring is recommended near edges. Oak can be successfully treated with liming and fuming techniques.

A fairly soft, but stable timber with a fine and even; the grain is often interlocked, giving a faintly striped appearance on quarter-sawn surfaces, otherwise there is seldom any decorative figure. The timber is creamy-white to pale yellow in colour with little or no distinction between the sapwood and heartwood; the sapwood however, may be up to 150mm wide.

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Uses: Mouldings, cabinet work, furniture and specialist joinery in musical instruments.

Workability: Good - The timber's relatively soft nature makes it highly workable with both hand and machine tools. It is advisable to use sharp, thin-edged tools to prevent picking up and crumbling during cutting. Achieving an excellent finish is effortless, and the timber responds well to staining and polishing. However, light filling is necessary to achieve a high-quality finish. Obeche exhibits good nail and screw holding properties and offers reliable gluing capabilities. It can be peeled and sliced with reasonable ease.

Red Grandis is a high-quality hardwood that is renowned for its versatility and sustainability. This eco-friendly wood species is characterized by a uniform, reddish color, straight grain, and medium to coarse texture. It's a popular choice for furniture, cabinetry, and outdoor applications due to its impressive durability and resistance to decay

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Uses: ladding Flooring Joinery - Exterior Joinery - Interior Mouldings.

Workability: Moderate - This timber demonstrates moderate workability, although planing may present some challenges due to intermittent interlocked grain. However, it exhibits good properties for nailing and screwing. It can achieve a good finish and is suitable for satisfactory gluing.

A moderately durable timber with a pleasing appearance, Sapele is characterised by a marked and regular stripe, particularly pronounced on quarter-sawn surfaces. Occasionally mottle figure is present, It is fairly close textured, and the grain is interlocked. The sapwood is pale yellow or whitish, the heartwood pinkish when freshly cut, darkening to typical mahogany colour of reddish-brown.

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Uses: Interior and exterior joinery; cladding, decking and structural applications. 

Workability: Medium - This timber generally works quite well with both hand and machine tools. However, the presence of interlocked grain can pose challenges during planing and molding operations. To achieve a good finish, it is recommended to reduce the cutting angle to 150. The timber demonstrates good properties for accepting screws and nails, satisfactory gluing capabilities, and easy stain absorption. Additionally, it can be polished to an excellent standard.

 Straight grained and quite course in texture, the sapwood is narrow, and distinct from the heartwood which is yellowish-brown in colour; closely resembling oak in appearance. The grain may be straight, but is more commonly spiral, particularly in wood from old trees, while logs are liable to cup and ring-shake. It contains tannin, so blue-black discolourations are prone to appear on the wood, when it comes into contact with iron or iron. Due to its acidic character, chestnut tends to accelerate the corrosion of metals, particularly when moist.

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Uses:  Interior and exterior joinery. Cladding.

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Sycamore is generally straight grained but may be curvy or wavy grained, and the texture is fine it has strength properties similar to that of Oak. There is no difference by colour between sapwood and heartwood, the wood being white, or yellowish -white when freshly cut, with a natural lustre especially noticeable on quarter-sawn surfaces.

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Uses: Interior joinery, cabinet making and kitchen utensils. 

Workability:  Good - This timber is relatively easy to work with and machine, allowing for smooth operations. When the grain is straight, it is capable of achieving a fine and smooth finish. However, when working with material that has curly or wavy grain, there is a tendency for the wood to pick up during planing and molding. To obtain a good finish under such circumstances, it is recommended to reduce the cutting angle to 15°. The timber exhibits excellent turning properties and can be effectively glued, stained, and polished

 An even texture and grain makes this an ideal timber for light construction. The wood is’ straight-grained, fine-textured and fairly soft. The sapwood is white, and in second-growth trees, very wide; the heartwood is variable in colour, ranging from olive green to yellow or brown, and may be streaked with steel-blue.

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Uses: Interior joinery, fittings, mouldings and furniture.

Workability: Good - This timber is easy to work with and can be effortlessly shaped and manipulated. It has the ability to achieve a fine and smooth surface when finished. Notably, it displays good nail-holding properties without a tendency to split. Furthermore, it exhibits excellent gluing capabilities and can be effectively stained, polished, or painted. When it comes to hard enamel finishes, this timber holds them exceptionally well.

A very popular durable hardwood used for high-class joinery. Utile closely resembles Sapele, both in appearance and properties, but is more open in texture due to the larger pores, and generally lacks the cedar-like odour of Sapele. The interlocked grain produces a broad ribbon-stripe, often wider irregular than that of Sapele. The heartwood and sapwood are distinct; the heartwood is pale pink when initially cut, darkening on exposure to reddish-brown.

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Uses: Interior joinery and shopfitting, plus external joinery and decking.

Workability: Medium - This timber demonstrates relatively good workability, although it may have a slight blunting effect on cutting edges. To minimize the risk of tearing caused by interlocked grain during planing and molding, a cutting angle of 150 is recommended. The timber is receptive to stain and glue, and it can be polished effectively after proper filling.

Strong and moderately durable, American black walnut is very fashionable for use in furniture, cabinet making, architectural interiors and high class joinery. Walnut is a tough, hard timber of medium density, with moderate bending and crushing strengths and low stiffness. It has a good steam bending classification. It has a creamy white sapwood, while the heartwood is light brown to dark chocolate brown, occasionally with a purplish cast and darker streaks. The wood is generally straight grained, but sometimes with a wavy or curly grain.

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Uses: Furniture, cabinet making, architectural interiors, high class joinery, doors, flooring, gunstocks and panelling.

Workability: Medium - This timber exhibits a moderate level of workability with most tools, although caution should be taken due to its tendency to pick up on quarter-sawn stock caused by interlocked grain. To address this, a cutting angle of 15° is recommended. Careful attention is necessary when hand turning to avoid tearing, requiring the use of sharp tools. Similar care should be taken when drilling to prevent the fibres from tearing out at the bottom of the hole. Nailing the timber is relatively easy, but there is a slight tendency for splitting. A combination of sanding and scraping can achieve an excellent finish, especially when the timber is filled, resulting in a fine overall appearance.

A durable and easy to work timber with straight grain, it has a rather coarse texture. The sapwood is whitish and the heartwood dark brown with fine, close blackish veining, giving the wood an attractive. Wenge is a very hard and heavy wood

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Uses: Furniture, flooring, veneer and turning. 

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A hard and heavy timber with a grain that is wavy or interlocked, producing alternating hard and soft grained material. The heartwood is a light yellow / golden with narrow veining or streaks of dark brown to almost black, giving the quartered surfaces a zebra-stripe appearance. Zebrano has a coarse texture and a radiant surface finish.

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Uses: Cabinet making, doors, panelling and furniture.

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