Choosing a wood species for furniture

The species you choose decides more than colour. It sets how well a tabletop resists dents, how much a panel moves, how easily the wood cuts and planes, how it takes a finish, and what the project costs. Most furniture in North America is built from a handful of domestic species, and knowing their characters makes the choice quick.

What to weigh

• Appearance: colour, grain pattern and how both change with age and light.
• Hardness: resistance to dents and wear. The usual measure is the Janka test, the force needed to press a 0.444-inch steel ball halfway into the wood.
• Stability: how much the wood moves with humidity. See wood movement for coefficients.
• Workability: how cleanly it planes, routes and sands, and how much it burns or tears out.
• Finishing: whether it absorbs stain evenly, blotches, or darkens with age.
• Cost and availability: local supply matters as much as species.

Eight common species

Species	Janka hardness (lbf)	Character	Good for
Eastern white pine	380	Soft, light, knots common	Painted or rustic pieces, shop furniture
Yellow-poplar	540	Soft hardwood, greenish streaks, paints well	Painted furniture, drawer boxes, hidden parts
Black cherry	950	Fine, even grain; darkens to rich red-brown	Fine furniture, cabinets
Black walnut	1,010	Dark brown, works beautifully, usually costly	Show pieces, tops, accents
Red oak	1,290	Open pores, strong figure, widely available	Tables, chairs, cabinets
White ash	1,320	Pale, open grain like oak, tough	Chairs, handles, bent parts
White oak	1,360	Pores plugged, quartersawn ray fleck	Furniture, outdoor and wet uses
Hard maple	1,450	Very hard, pale, fine grain	Workbenches, cutting boards, drawer sides

Hardness values are those commonly published for each species; individual boards vary.

Notes by species

• Pine and poplar are the budget choices. Pine dents easily, which suits a rustic piece and frustrates a fine one. Poplar is a true hardwood, soft but stable and even-textured, and it is the classic secondary wood for drawer boxes and interior parts under a show wood.
• Cherry is easy to work and finishes beautifully, but it can blotch under stain and it darkens noticeably in the first months of light exposure. Most makers leave it unstained and let it age.
• Walnut machines cleanly and needs no stain. Sapwood is pale and contrasts strongly with the heartwood; decide early whether you want it.
• Red oak has large open pores that show through a finish and absorb stain heavily. It is strong, available and affordable.
• White oak has pores plugged with growths called tyloses, which is why it was the barrel wood of choice and why it handles moisture better than red oak. Quartersawn white oak shows the ray fleck associated with Arts and Crafts furniture.
• Ash resembles oak and is tough and flexible, which is why it is used for chair parts and tool handles.
• Hard maple is very hard and wear-resistant. It burns under slow router passes and dull blades, and it blotches when stained.

Primary and secondary woods

Many pieces use a primary wood for the surfaces people see and touch and a cheaper, stable secondary wood for everything else: drawer sides and bottoms, case backs, internal rails. Poplar, pine and plywood are the usual secondary choices. Keep the secondary wood out of sight, or choose one whose colour works with the primary wood.

Stability and grain

Species with lower movement coefficients, and quartersawn boards of any species, stay flatter and move less across the seasons. For wide solid parts such as tops and panels, stability can matter more than hardness. The coefficient table in wood movement shows, for example, that cherry moves noticeably less than red oak for the same change in moisture.

Cost

Prices vary widely by region and year, but in most North American markets pine and poplar are the least expensive, oak, ash and maple sit in the middle, and cherry and walnut cost more. Price is per board foot for hardwoods; see board feet for how to estimate a project before you shop.

Dust

Fine dust from any wood is a respiratory hazard, and some species are known skin or respiratory sensitisers. Collect dust at the source and wear a well-fitted mask when sanding.

In GrainDraft

Each part in GrainDraft carries a species and stock type. Material estimates price hardwood by the board foot and dimensional stock by the linear foot, so you can set prices for two or three candidate species and compare the project total before you decide.

Related: nominal and actual sizes, wood movement.