Hardwood glossary

The crucial process of allowing newly purchased lumber to adjust to the temperature and humidity of its final environment before cutting or installation. Proper acclimation prevents warping, cupping, and splitting in finished furniture.

A highly sought-after exotic hardwood known for its deep reddish-brown color, straight to interlocked grain, and medium texture. It is a popular, cost-effective alternative to genuine Honduran Mahogany for custom furniture and cabinetry.

An exotic hardwood famous for its vivid, striking red-orange color that naturally deepens to a rich purplish-brown over time. It has a coarse texture and interlocking grain, making it a favorite for accent pieces and premium turnings.

A moderately soft hardwood with a straight grain and even texture, ranging in color from pale yellow to reddish-brown. It is highly workable and takes stains exceptionally well, often used to mimic more expensive woods like Cherry or Mahogany.

A premium domestic hardwood prized for its smooth grain, fine texture, and rich reddish-brown color that darkens beautifully as it ages and is exposed to light. It is a top choice for high-end furniture and cabinetry.

Also known as Eastern Red Cedar, this wood is famous for its pungent, natural oils that repel moths and insects. It features a beautiful, knotty appearance with a mix of pale yellow sapwood and deep purple-red heartwood.

A light-colored, highly durable domestic hardwood known for its exceptional toughness, flexibility, and pronounced grain. Often light brown with darker streaks, it is widely used for tool handles, baseball bats, and bentwood furniture.

Technically a highly renewable grass rather than a tree, bamboo is processed and pressed into dense, durable boards used as a sustainable alternative to traditional hardwood for flooring and cutting boards.

A type of sawmill that utilizes a continuous loop of toothed metal (a bandsaw blade) to slice raw logs into lumber. Bandsaw mills create less sawdust waste (kerf) than circular mills, yielding more usable wood per log.

An exceptionally light and soft hardwood with a fine, even texture and pale white to light brown color. Because it rarely splinters and has very little grain pattern, it is widely considered the ultimate wood for hand carving.

A hard, heavy, and strong domestic wood with a straight grain and fine texture. Ranging from pale cream to pinkish-brown, it is highly resistant to abrasion, making it ideal for workbenches, cutting boards, and chairs.

A versatile domestic hardwood known for its light color, tight grain, and excellent strength. It is frequently used for high-quality plywood veneers, cabinetry, and internal furniture framing.

An exotic African hardwood featuring a light yellowish-brown background intersected by dramatic, striking black and dark brown streaks. It is highly valued by luthiers for custom electric guitars and fine furniture makers.

One of the most highly prized domestic hardwoods, Black Walnut is famous for its rich, dark chocolate-brown heartwood. It is dimensionally stable, shock-resistant, and the premier choice for luxury furniture and premium live edge slabs.

The standard unit of volume measurement used in the lumber industry. One board foot is equivalent to a piece of wood that is 12 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 1 inch thick (144 cubic inches).

A tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed, highly irregular manner, usually resulting from stress or injury to the tree. Burls yield spectacular, swirling, highly figured wood prized by woodturners and resin artists.

Often called ‘White Walnut,’ Butternut is a beautiful, light-colored hardwood with a rich, coarse grain and a very soft texture. It is a favorite among woodcarvers and is highly valued for interior trim and boxes.

A visually striking exotic hardwood native to South America, featuring a pale yellow-orange background heavily streaked with vibrant reds, purples, and browns. It has a fine texture and is excellent for turning and accent pieces.

A highly resilient softwood known for its distinct aroma and incredible natural resistance to rot, decay, and insect damage. It is widely used for outdoor furniture, decking, fencing, and exterior siding.

A premium domestic hardwood prized for its smooth grain, fine texture, and rich reddish-brown color that naturally deepens and darkens as it ages and is exposed to sunlight.

A historically significant, lightweight hardwood with a warm, reddish-brown color and an open grain similar to oak. Due to the chestnut blight of the early 1900s, most chestnut available today is reclaimed from antique barns.

Wood harvested from the ‘Y’ intersection where a massive branch diverges from the main trunk of a Maple tree. The compression of the wood fibers creates spectacular, swirling, flame-like figure patterns.

The specialized process of cutting, jointing, and planing raw logs or rough lumber into specific, non-standard dimensions based on a woodworker’s unique project needs. We offer premium custom milling services.

Softwood lumber that has been pre-cut to standardized width and depth sizes (e.g., 2×4, 4×4, 2×6) primarily for use in structural home building and residential framing.

One of the most prominent structural softwoods in the world, renowned for its exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and dimensional stability. It is the premier choice for timber framing and exposed architectural beams.

A highly aromatic wood with a striking contrast between its pale yellow sapwood and reddish-purple heartwood. It features a fine, straight grain and is naturally resistant to decay.

The highly porous surface of wood exposed when a board is cut perpendicular to the growth rings. End grain is incredibly durable and absorbs finish (and glue) much faster than face grain.

A two-part chemical polymer (resin and hardener) used to fill voids, stabilize bark inclusions, or cast spectacular ‘river tables’ using live edge slabs.

A classification of Maple wood that displays extraordinary, three-dimensional grain anomalies such as curly, quilted, flame, or birdseye patterns. It is highly prized by fine furniture makers and luthiers.

An incredibly strong, dense, and heavy domestic hardwood with a fine, even texture. Its light color ranges from creamy white to pale yellow. It is the standard wood used for butcher blocks, bowling alleys, and basketball courts.

The standardized system established by the NHLA used to classify the quality of a board based on the percentage of clear, defect-free wood it contains (e.g., FAS, Select, #1 Common).

Wood harvested from broad-leaved, deciduous trees (angiosperms) that lose their leaves in the fall. Examples include Oak, Walnut, Cherry, and Maple.

The older, central core of a tree trunk. Heartwood no longer conducts sap; it is structurally stronger, naturally darker, and much more resistant to decay than the outer sapwood.

The hardest, heaviest, and strongest commercial wood available in North America. It features a stark contrast between its pale sapwood and dark brown heartwood, giving it a highly rustic, ‘calico’ appearance.

Wood that has been scientifically dried in a specialized, climate-controlled oven (kiln) to bring its moisture content down to a stable 6-8% for indoor furniture building.

A heavy, dense exotic hardwood known for its spectacular, highly pronounced ray flecks that look like leopard spots. It has a rich reddish-brown background and a medium texture.

Massive, premium cuts of timber that retain the natural, organic outer edge of the tree directly beneath the bark. Browse our extensive inventory of high-quality live edge slabs for your next dining or river table project.

Thick, decorative, structural pieces of wood (often solid hardwood beams or live edge slabs) mounted above fireplaces to provide an architectural focal point in a home.

A highly versatile domestic hardwood characterized by its light, creamy-white color, tight grain, and excellent durability. It is divided into ‘Hard Maple’ (Sugar Maple) and ‘Soft Maple’ (Red or Silver Maple).

An exotic European wood famous for its chaotic, swirling grain and dense clusters of burl ‘eyes.’ It has a light-to-medium brown color and is highly prized for luxury veneers and resin art.

The percentage of water weight inside a piece of lumber. For indoor furniture, hardwood must be dried to an MC of 6% to 8% to prevent the wood from warping, shrinking, or cracking in your home.

Harvested from newly felled Southern Yellow Pine, this wood boasts a rich amber color, dense structural integrity, and a straight grain interspersed with classic knots. It is a highly popular flooring choice.

An incredibly dense exotic wood harvested primarily from agricultural olive trees. It is famous for its distinct, high-contrast, wavy dark brown streaks against a yellowish background.

Flat, wooden structural platforms used for shipping and transporting industrial goods. While often made of low-grade oak or pine, reclaimed pallet wood is highly popular for rustic DIY projects.

A modern architectural wall cladding made from Pine. It features a specialized lap joint that automatically creates a perfect, consistent ‘nickel-sized’ gap between the boards when installed.

The milling process of feeding rough-cut lumber through a thickness planer to create two perfectly parallel, smooth faces, bringing the board down to your exact desired thickness.

A highly affordable, lightweight hardwood with a straight grain and a color palette ranging from creamy white to pale green and sometimes purple. It is the industry standard for painted furniture and interior trim.

A premium interior wall siding featuring an overlapping joint. Because Poplar is exceptionally stable and takes paint flawlessly, it provides a much cleaner, smoother finish than traditional pine shiplap.

Lightweight Poplar boards milled with an interlocking edge (a protruding tongue on one side, a receiving groove on the other) to create seamless, hidden-nail paneling for ceilings and walls.

An incredibly dense, heavy exotic hardwood native to Central and South America. It is globally recognized for its striking, vivid purple heartwood, which darkens to a deep brownish-purple with UV exposure.

A specialized milling technique where the log is cut radially (at a 90-degree angle to the growth rings). This produces incredibly stable boards that resist cupping and reveal beautiful ‘ray fleck’ patterns.

The gold standard for Arts & Crafts and Mission-style furniture. The quarter-sawing process reveals spectacular, iridescent ‘ray flakes’ (medullary rays) across the face of the incredibly durable White Oak board.

A spectacular natural variant of Yellow Poplar where mineral deposits in the soil have stained the heartwood with vibrant, deep streaks of green, purple, black, yellow, and red.

A cornerstone of American woodworking, Red Oak is hard, heavy, and highly durable. It features a prominent, coarse grain and a distinct reddish-brown hue. It is widely used for flooring and traditional cabinetry.

Raw wood that has been sawn from a log but has not been planed, jointed, or surfaced. It requires custom milling before it can be used for fine furniture.

A milling term indicating that a rough board has been run through a planer so that its top and bottom faces are smooth and parallel, but the two edges are still rough.

A milling term indicating that a board has been planed smooth on both faces, and one edge has been jointed perfectly straight. It is ready to be ripped to final width on a table saw.

Lumber that has been fully milled smooth on both faces and both edges. It is dimensionally perfect and ready to be cut to length and assembled immediately.

A highly popular exotic hardwood from Africa featuring a rich reddish-brown color, a fine texture, and a stunning ‘ribbon stripe’ figure when quarter-sawn. It is the premier substitute for genuine Mahogany.

The living, outermost layers of wood in a growing tree, located just beneath the bark. It is generally much lighter in color than the heartwood and transports water and sap from the roots to the canopy.

Lumber harvested from coniferous trees (gymnosperms) with needles and cones, such as Pine, Fir, Spruce, and Cedar. They grow quickly, making them highly economical for structural framing and construction.

A spectacular wood coloration caused by fungi growing inside decaying logs. It creates striking, erratic black line patterns and contrasting bleached areas. Spalted Maple is incredibly popular for resin art and woodturning.

The unique physical properties (hardness, grain pattern, color, workability, and rot resistance) inherent to a specific type of tree, dictating what that wood is best used for.

A domestic hardwood featuring a fine, uniform texture and a beautiful color palette ranging from light brown to deep pinkish-red heartwood. It is highly workable and excellent for turning and boxes.

A moderately dense hardwood with a fine texture and highly interlocked grain. Quartersawn Sycamore is famous for its spectacular, densely packed ray fleck pattern, often resembling snakeskin.

An advanced, high-tech lumber drying oven that lowers atmospheric pressure to draw moisture out of thick slabs of wood rapidly and evenly, without causing the severe cracking associated with traditional heat kilns.

A premium, highly stable domestic hardwood globally prized for its deep, rich, chocolate-brown heartwood. It machines beautifully, finishes flawlessly, and is the absolute pinnacle of high-end custom furniture.

A lightweight, aromatic softwood famous for its incredible natural resistance to rot and insect damage. It has a beautiful reddish-brown color, a straight grain, and is the premier choice for premium exterior siding, decking, and saunas.

An exceptionally strong, heavy, and durable domestic hardwood. Unlike Red Oak, White Oak has ‘tyloses’ that plug its pores, making the wood completely waterproof. It is the premier choice for whiskey barrels, boat building, and outdoor furniture.

The longitudinal alignment, texture, and visual appearance of the wood fibers within a board. Grain direction dictates how the wood must be milled, glued, and sanded to prevent tear-out.

An exotic South American hardwood famous for its incredibly bright, vibrant, and consistent yellow color. It has a fine to medium texture and is highly prized for intarsia, inlay work, and custom segmented woodturning.