Before you head out to the hardware store to pick up wood for your next home improvement project, here are some basics about popular types of wood to review, so that you know what to choose. These facts are based upon some research by the United States Forest Products Laboratories and the National Committee on Wood Utilization.

• Beech: Excellent nail-holding properties, strength, and easy finishing make this wood a desirable furniture material. White and red beech indicate the sapwood and heart-wood rather than the species.

• Birch: Yellow and sweet birch are the two commercial types suitable for furniture. This wood has a uniform, dense surface, which takes a high polish and a beautiful natural finish. It is easily worked.

• Cedar: There are many varieties of cedars, but the most used type in furniture work is the Alaska or west coast cedar. It is often used as a veneer because it takes a high polish and is stable under varying moisture conditions.

• Cherry: Relatively scarce, though popular with woodworkers, black cherry wood is rich in color. It is generally lighter in weight than beech or birch and is easily worked.

• Cypress: Cypress heartwood is one of the most decay-resistant kinds of lumber produced. Outdoor furniture might be made from this wood. It is only moderately workable, however.

• Douglas Fir: Douglas fir is one of the strongest woods. Wood from the center is usually reddish and tight-knotted. Outer wood is usually yellow, fine-grained, and moderately soft. This outer section is easily worked.

• Elm: Especially adaptable to bent work, this wood, particularly cork or rock elm, is generally hard and very dense. The color varies. It is not a particularly good furniture material.

• Idaho White Pine: This type is similar to the two previously mentioned pines except that it has a tendency to swell and shrink.

• Northern White Pine: Sometimes called Canadian, Minnesota, or Wisconsin white pine, this material is one of the easiest woods to work. It is light in weight, and the heartwood ranges in color from white, with a pinkish cast, to gray. The sapwood is nearly white. It dries rapidly and does not shrink or swell to any great extent.

• Oak: A traditional material for furniture construction, this wood is usually commercially available in two groups-the white and the red. Both are hard, strong woods which work well and take a good finish.

• Maple: This wood is another type traditionally used for furniture. Hard or sugar maple is strong, heavy, fine-grained, and fine-textured. Soft or silver maple is weaker, softer, and lighter. All maples are easily worked.

• Mahogany: There are many varieties of this wood, but the three principal classifications are West Indian, Tropical American, and African. Commercially, mahogany is divided into two classes regardless of origin: plain and figured. All varieties are moderately strong and uniform in structure-they may be open- or close-grained. Mahogany shrinks or swells very little and holds its shape well. It is a good cabinet wood.

• Ponderosa Pine: Depending on the area in which it is grown, Ponderosa pine (sometimes called California white pine) is usually creamy white or straw-colored. The wood is light, straight, fine-grained, easily worked, and not subject to grain raising.

• Redwood: The heartwood of this tree is light-colored, the balance cherry or dark reddish. It is straight-grained, light in weight, and nonresinous. Like cypress, this is a good outdoor wood.

• Spruce: Sitka spruce, the most important wood in the spruce family, is light in weight, and the heartwood is straw-colored to pinkish. The sapwood is narrow and light-colored. It is comparatively free from warping and checking.

• Sugar Pine: This west coast pine is similar to northern white pine except that it is lighter in color and slightly coarser in texture. It is free from a tendency to warp and twist.

• Walnut: Black walnut is a good furniture wood. It shrinks very little, is shock-resistant, and takes a good polish.

• West Coast Hemlock: This material is similar to Douglas fir. It is flat-grained. It has only fair workability.

• Yellow Pine: Longleaf pine is heavy and close-ringed. It has a large percentage of dark or summer wood. Shortleaf, sometimes called Arkansas or North Carolina pine, is a light-weight wood that warps and checks less than longleaf pine. It is easily worked and seldom splits in nailing.

• Yellow Poplar: A soft-to-medium wood such as poplar finishes smooth and holds its place well when used in furniture. It does not split easily and will take a high finish.

Print this out and take it with you when you need materials for your next your next home improvement project. Good guidelines are always helpful.

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