About Our Wood

Wood has always been a favorite material for making furniture, and for good reason!

Wood is available in various colors, grains, and hardnesses. It can be cut and shaped into a large variety of attractive designs. Wood is shock-resistant and very durable, generally outlasting synthetic materials. Scratches and nicks are easy to touch up. Wood has lasting value. Genuine wood furniture often grows in value and can be handed down from one generation to the next.

Ready-to-Finish furniture is available in many types of wood, each with special characteristics. Every tree yields lumber with its own grain patterns and character markings—giving each piece of genuine wood furniture a unique personality. You may not be familiar with every type of wood, but all make quality furnishings of various types.

Here are the kinds of woods commonly used to make ready-to-finish furniture:

	Alder Is a hardwood from the Pacific Northwest. It is very consistent in color and takes stain well. Alder ranks third, behind oak and pine, as the wood most commonly used for ready-to-finish furniture. Giving the look of many fine hardwoods, at a reasonable price and with a similar grain pattern to maple, cherry, aspen, and beechwood makes it a perfect alternative to more expensive woods.

	Ash Is one of the hardest woods available for furniture. It is a close-pored, light-colored wood. It is very similar to birch or maple and has a very detailed wood grain similar to oak. Because of its strength, ash is used to make baseball bats and shovel handles, as well as high-quality home furnishings.

	Aspen Is about 30% harder than pine, is very light in color, and even-grained. It blends with cherry and maple due to its similar grain pattern. It is highly recommended to use a pigmented stain on this wood for best results.

	Beech Grows primarily in the Northeast and Canada. It is a cream-colored hardwood that is often confused with maple due to its similar characteristics. It is most commonly used to make chairs and stools.

	Birch Is a close-pored, flat-grained hardwood, which is prevalent in the Northeast and Canada. It is very light in color and is commonly used in butcher block tops, chairs, stools, and kitchen carts.

	Maple Is especially abundant in the eastern U.S. It is a very light-colored hardwood with a very even grain texture. Eastern maples are generally harder than western maples because of the colder winters and shorter growing seasons. It is highly recommended to use a pigmented stain to achieve the best results.

	Nyatoh Or "Teak-Like" is a Plantation-Grown Hardwood (not rain forest wood). It is a lovely reddish-brown color that fades to a silvery-gray color as does Teak. Some people prefer the weathered look, while others prefer the original reddish-brown color. To maintain the wood's original color, a periodic application of teak oil is suggested.

	Oak Is a very hard wood and the most commonly used wood for ready-to-finish furniture. It is open-pored and has a very detailed grain. It is available in red and white varieties. Red oak, which is the more popular of the two, has a pinkish cast. White oak has a slightly greenish cast and tends to cost less to purchase, but is every bit as durable.

	Parawood Is an extremely hard wood, similar to oak, maple, and ash. It is plantation-grown and comes from the Far East. It is slightly yellow in color. Most parawood trees are small in size, so most larger pieces of furniture made with this wood have parquet tops. This wood is widely used for all furniture types and finishes well with any type of stain.

	Pine Is a soft wood that comes in many varieties from various parts of the world. In the U.S., Eastern white pine, ponderosa pine, and sugar pine are some of the varieties used to make furniture. All have yellow coloring with brown tones and are excellent for staining. With some stains, a sealer helps prepare the wood for a more even look.

	Radiata Pine Is a plantation-grown tree that is 35% harder than white pine. It is virtually knot-free and has a very detailed grain similar to oak or ash. Originally native to California, it is now grown in plantations from Australia to South America.

	Shorea Is used to construct our "teak-like" outdoor furniture. It is a plantation-grown hardwood that has properties quite similar to teak but is stronger, heavier, and less expensive. It is stained a reddish-brown color. To maintain the color, a periodic application of teak oil is suggested.