cherry | poplar | red oak | hard maple | soft maple
Appearance: Cherry is a darker red-brown, with narrow brown pith flecks and small gum pockets. It has a straight grain and a fairly fine. Even texture
Properties: The wood dries fairly rapidly, with a strong tendency to warp and shrink and with medium movement in service. It has medium bending and crushing strengths and resistance to shock loads, low stiffness and very good steam bending rating. It works well with both hand and machines tools, with moderate blunting effect on cutting edges, but cross-grained timber tends to tear in planning. The wood holds screws and nails well, glues easily, and takes stain and polishes to an excellent finish. It is moderately durable; the sapwood is liable to attach by the common furniture beetle, but is almost immune to attack by powder post beetle. The heartwood is moderately durable and resistant to preservative treatment.
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Appearance: The heartwood, not clearly defined from the sapwood, varies from cream-white to very pale straw and in some species to pale brown or pink-brown. It is usually straight grained and rather woolly, but with a fine even texture.
Properties: The wood dries fairly rapidly and well with little degrade, and there is medium movement in service. It has low bending straight, very low stiffness and shock resistance, medium crushing strength and very poor steam-bending rating. It works easily with hand or machine tools, but very sharp and thin-edged cutters are required. Poplar holds screws and nails well and glues easily, but staining can be patchy. The wood will paint and varnish to satisfactory finish. Logs are liable to attach by beetles and wood-boring caterpillars. The sapwood, which constitutes a large portion of the tree, is perishable but permeable for preservation treatment.
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Appearance: The tree outwardly resembles a white oak, except that the heartwood varies from biscuit-pinkish to reddish-brown. The grain is usually straight; southern red oak is coarser textured than northern. Both species produce a less attractive figure than white oak due to the larger rays. There is considerable variation in the quality in red oak; northern red oak grows comparatively slower and compares favourably to white oak, while red oak form the southern states grow faster and produces a broader, heavier wood.
Properties: It dries slowly, and care is needed in air and kiln drying to prevent degrade. There is medium movement in service. The dense wood has medium bending strength and stiffness, high shock resistance and crushing strength, and very good stem-bending classification. It usually offers a moderate blunting effect on cutters, which should be kept sharp. It requires pre-boring; gluing results are variable, but red oak takes stain well and polishes to a good finish. The wood is non- durable, moderately resistant to preservative treatment, and unsuited for exterior work.
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Appearance: The wood is creamy-white with a reddish-brown heart. It is usually straight-grained, but often curly or wavy, with fine brown lines marking the growth rings on plain-sawn surfaces. The texture is even, fine and lustrous. Pith flecks are sometimes present.
Properties: Rock maple dries fairly slowly with little degrade, and there is medium movement in service. The wood is of medium density, has good bending and crushing strengths, with low stiffness and shock resistance and a good stem-bending classification. It has a moderate blunting effect on tools, with a tendency to create tooth vibrations when sawing. Irregular grain tends to pick up when planning or moulding on quartered surfaces, and a reduced cutting angle is recommended. The wood has a tendency to ride on cutters and burn during endgrain working. Rock maple requires preboring for nailing, but it glues very well and polishes to an excellent finish. The wood is non-durable, liable to beetle attack, and subject to growth defects, now as pith flecks, caused by insects. The heartwood is resistant to preservation but the sapwood is permeable.
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Appearance: The sapwood is indistinguishable for the heartwood, which is creamy-white in colour with a close, straight grain and indistinct growth rings on plain-sawn surfaces. The texture is even, fine and slightly less lustrous than rock maple and lighter in weight.
Properties: The wood dries rather slowly, with little degrade and there is medium movement in service. Soft maple is of medium density, with good bending and crushing strengths and low stiffness and shock resistance. It has a good steam-bending classification and works well with both hand and machine tools in all operations, as it offers a moderate blunting effect on tools. Nailing and screwing are satisfactory with care. Gluing is variable but it can be brought to a good finish. The wood is non- durable an moderately resistant to preservation treatment; the sapwood is liable to insect attack, but permeable.