Ultimate Wood Selection Guide for Furniture Makers

Selecting the right wood for a furniture project ranks among the most consequential decisions any maker faces. Beyond appearance, wood species determine how tools behave during construction, how joints hold over time, and how the finished piece ages across decades of use. This comprehensive guide examines the characteristics, working properties, and best applications for the most important furniture woods.

Understanding Wood Properties

Before examining individual species, understanding the properties that distinguish woods from one another provides essential context. These characteristics interact in complex ways, making wood selection a nuanced decision rather than a simple comparison.

Hardness, measured by the Janka scale, indicates a wood’s resistance to denting and wear. Higher numbers mean harder wood, which holds fine details well but demands sharp tools and patient approach. Softer woods work easily but dent during use and may crush under clamp pressure during glue-ups.

Density relates to hardness but isn’t identical. Dense woods generally prove stronger and more durable but weigh more in finished pieces. Heavy furniture feels substantial and stable but proves difficult to move. The relationship between weight, strength, and practicality varies by application.

Stability describes how much a wood expands and contracts with humidity changes. More stable species cause fewer problems in wide panels and cross-grain construction. Less stable woods demand more careful design to accommodate movement without causing structural problems.

Workability encompasses how pleasantly and predictably a species behaves under tools. Some woods cut cleanly in any direction; others tear unless approached at specific angles. Some sand smoothly; others clog abrasives with resin or produce powdery rather than curly shavings. Experience with particular species reveals these characteristics better than any chart.

The American Hardwood Classics

Black Walnut

American black walnut remains the prestige choice for fine furniture, combining rich color, excellent working properties, and sufficient availability for ambitious projects. Its heartwood ranges from purplish-brown to chocolate, sometimes with spectacular figure in crotch or burl sections.

Walnut works beautifully with both hand and power tools, planing to a satiny surface that needs minimal sanding. Its moderate hardness allows easy cutting while providing adequate durability for most furniture applications. Glue joints hold reliably, and the wood accepts stains and finishes predictably.

Steam bending proves possible with walnut, though not as readily as with some other species. Mortise-and-tenon joints hold exceptionally well due to the wood’s favorable combination of density and grain structure.

Pricing runs approximately 30-50% higher than cherry or oak, depending on grade and figure. Wider boards, clear of knots and sapwood, command significant premiums. Many makers incorporate sapwood creatively rather than paying to avoid it.

Cherry

American black cherry offers warmth and elegance at more moderate pricing than walnut. Fresh-cut cherry appears almost bland, but exposure to light triggers the darkening that produces its characteristic rich red-brown color within a year or so of completion.

Cherry machines and hand-planes superbly when tools remain sharp. Dull blades cause burning that proves difficult to remove entirely. The relatively soft grain structure accepts carved details well, making cherry popular for period reproductions requiring ornamental work.

Stability rates excellent for a domestic hardwood, making cherry particularly suitable for wide panels and tabletops. The wood’s fine, even texture produces smooth surfaces after minimal sanding. Many makers apply only oil finishes, allowing the natural patina development to proceed unimpeded.

Gum pockets and mineral streaks occasionally appear, considered defects by some makers but character marks by others. Selecting boards carefully, or integrating such features into designs, manages this concern. Cherry from the Appalachian highlands generally shows less figure than trees from other regions.

White Oak

White oak combines strength, durability, and distinctive appearance in ways that explain its popularity across centuries of American furniture making. Quartersawn stock displays prominent ray fleck that defines the Mission and Arts and Crafts aesthetic but suits many other styles equally well.

The wood’s hardness provides excellent dent resistance for tabletops and wear surfaces. Traditional joints in oak hold securely for generations. The closed-grain structure resists moisture penetration, explaining oak’s traditional use in barrels and outdoor applications.

Working white oak demands respect. Its hardness dulls tools faster than softer species, and tear-out occurs readily when planing against the grain. Careful grain orientation during layout and consistently sharp tools manage these challenges. The effort repays in furniture that remains sound after centuries of use.

Fuming with ammonia chemically ages white oak’s appearance, a technique favored by Gustav Stickley and his contemporaries. The reaction with tannic acids in the wood produces rich brown tones impossible to achieve through conventional staining. Modern makers continue this tradition, though safety precautions with ammonia require serious attention.

Hard Maple

Sugar maple, also called hard or rock maple, offers maximum durability among common furniture woods. Its exceptional hardness resists wear in high-traffic applications like tabletops, flooring, and chair seats. The typically pale color brightens spaces and accepts stains well when color is desired.

Figured maple varieties, including bird’s-eye, curly, quilted, and spalted patterns, provide spectacular visual interest for special pieces. These figured boards command significant premiums and require adjusted techniques to prevent tear-out during surfacing. The visual payoff often justifies the additional investment and effort.

Maple’s density makes it somewhat challenging to work, particularly when cutting mortises or other deep recesses. Sharp tools and patient technique overcome these difficulties. The wood glues reliably despite its hardness, and joints in maple furniture rarely fail from structural weakness.

Finishing maple presents unique challenges due to its tendency to blotch when stained. Pre-treating with sealing preparations helps achieve even color absorption. Many makers prefer clear finishes that celebrate maple’s natural appearance rather than fighting against its staining characteristics.

Exceptional Exotics

Honduran Mahogany

True mahogany, increasingly rare and expensive due to overharvesting, remains the benchmark for cabinet woods worldwide. Its combination of stability, workability, and beauty explains centuries of preference among furniture makers from Chippendale to contemporary studios.

The wood planes to a satiny surface with minimal effort, accepting both hand and power tools gracefully. Its interlocked grain produces attractive figure but requires alternating passes with hand planes to avoid tear-out. Modern random-orbit sanders have made this characteristic less problematic than it once was.

Mahogany’s stability ranks among the highest of any furniture wood, making it ideal for case pieces, tabletops, and any application where flatness matters. The relatively light weight for its strength allows construction of substantial pieces that remain moveable.

Sustainability concerns limit mahogany’s use in conscientious workshops. Certified sustainable sources exist but command premium prices and require careful verification. African mahogany, sapele, and other alternatives provide some of mahogany’s characteristics at lower environmental cost, though none perfectly replicates the original.

Teak

Teak’s legendary durability stems from high natural oil content that resists moisture, insects, and decay without chemical treatment. Originally prized for shipbuilding, teak now appears most commonly in outdoor furniture where its weather resistance proves essential.

Working teak requires attention to the oil that can contaminate glue surfaces. Wiping joints with acetone before gluing ensures reliable adhesion. The oil also dulls tools faster than most woods and can cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals.

Plantation-grown teak has largely replaced old-growth sources, offering environmental sustainability at some cost to wood quality. Modern plantation stock often shows less dramatic grain and lighter color than older material, though finishing can address some of these differences.

Indoor use of teak makes less practical sense given its cost and the challenges of working its oily surface. Other woods provide comparable beauty at lower price for projects not requiring teak’s exceptional weather resistance.

The Underappreciated Domestics

Ash

White ash provides exceptional value as a furniture wood, combining excellent strength, flexibility, and attractive grain at prices below cherry or walnut. Its open-pore structure resembles oak but with less prominent rays and slightly easier workability.

Steam bending suits ash perfectly, making it traditional for chair backs, tool handles, and other curved applications. The wood flexes without breaking under stresses that would crack many alternative species. Baseball bats, though now often made from maple, were traditionally ash precisely because of this resilience.

Ash accepts stains readily, allowing makers to achieve a range of color effects from natural blonde to deep brown. The prominent grain pattern remains visible through stain, providing visual interest that solid-color woods lack.

The emerald ash borer, an invasive pest, has devastated ash populations across eastern North America. This crisis makes reclaimed ash from dying trees increasingly available while threatening the species’ long-term viability as a furniture resource. Using ash now, particularly from salvage sources, may represent both environmental responsibility and aesthetic opportunity.

Butternut

Butternut, sometimes called white walnut, offers walnut’s working characteristics in a lighter color range and at typically lower prices. The wood machines beautifully, glues reliably, and finishes to an attractive honey-brown tone that darkens modestly with age.

Softness limits butternut’s suitability for heavy-wear applications but makes it excellent for carved pieces. The wood cuts cleanly in any direction, holding fine details without chipping. Colonial furniture makers used butternut extensively, and the species remains traditional in Pennsylvania German work.

Availability has declined as butternut canker, a fungal disease, spreads through remaining populations. Where obtainable, butternut provides an excellent, affordable alternative to walnut for pieces where hardness matters less than workability and color.

Sycamore

American sycamore, also called planetree, deserves more attention from furniture makers. Its quartersawn face displays dramatic ray fleck comparable to quartersawn oak, though with a lighter base color and subtler tone. The wood’s density and hardness suit demanding applications while its stability accommodates wide panels.

Lacewood, a common name for quartersawn sycamore, appears primarily in European usage. American makers often undervalue this domestic resource, importing similar material from overseas at unnecessary cost. Seeking local sycamore offers both economic and environmental advantages.

Making the Selection

Wood selection ultimately balances multiple considerations against each other. Appearance matters but shouldn’t override functional requirements. Budget constraints are real but shouldn’t force compromises that doom projects to premature failure. Working properties affect shop experience but can be managed with appropriate techniques.

Match species to intended use. Dining tables need dent resistance; jewelry boxes don’t. Outdoor furniture requires weather tolerance; bedroom pieces can prioritize appearance over durability. A rocking chair that will see daily use for decades demands different material than a display cabinet that visitors rarely touch.

Consider the finish early in species selection. Woods that accept stain evenly allow color matching to existing furniture or decor. Those that blotch require working with natural color variations or using specialized techniques. The intended finish should inform wood choice, not the reverse.

Personal working experience proves more valuable than any written guide. What planes beautifully for one maker may frustrate another whose tools or techniques differ. Building sample projects in unfamiliar species reveals characteristics that descriptions cannot convey. Developing hands-on knowledge across multiple woods builds the judgment that informed selection requires.

Start projects with species whose behavior you understand, expanding your range gradually as experience grows. The finest furniture results when maker and material work together harmoniously, each bringing out the best in the other. That harmony develops through accumulated experience that no amount of reading can replace.