What Are the Different Kinds of Wood Used in Furniture Crafts

Wooden furniture in a home is merely the best. It has a unique aesthetic appeal and structural integrity that other materials cannot reflect. Wood always transform the mood of a room or entire home into a homely and welcoming feel.

According to studies, being surrounded by wood in your home or work has a positive effect on our health. Some of the health benefits include an improved emotional state of mind, balance air quality by moderate humidity which in turn has an impact on easy breathing and it also creates a mood of warmth and comfort. It indeed creates an organic sense.

There are so many reasons why wood is the best choice for furniture. But here are some of the different kinds of woods used in furniture crafts. These are hardwood, softwood and human-made wood.


HARDWOOD

Hardwoods have a more complex structure and are often much slower growth as a result. The dominant feature of "hardwoods" from softwoods is the presence of pores, or vessels.

This kind of wood is generally expensive - so it is becoming more and more rare to have furniture of solid hardwood.  Hardwood is the most durable material. Hardwoods are produced by angiosperm trees that reproduce by flowers and have broad leaves.

Hardwood is more likely to be found in high-quality furniture, decks, flooring and construction that needs to last.

What are the different kinds of HardWood?


Oak. The most widely used hardwood. This can be separated into two varieties white and red. Oak is a dense and durable, light coloured hardwood. It has prominent rings and large pores which gives oak a coarse texture and prominent grain. One of the most popular wood used to craft American and English country designs.  


Maple. Maple is hard and resistant to shocks, it is often used for violin backs. Burls, leaf figure and birds eyes figures found in maple are used extensively for veneers. Maple is used extensively for American colonial furniture.


Walnut. The versatile and popular cabinet making woods. Walnut is hard, strong and durable. The woods are light to dark chocolate brown in colour with a straight grain in the trunk. Walnut solids and veneers show a wide range of figures. It is commonly used in all types of beautiful cabinet work, especially during the 18th century.

Its essential uses are in stable and veneer high-grade cabinet work, and interior trim and paneling Walnut is also much used in the manufacture of church appointments , caskets, carvings, clock cases, museum cases, instrument cases, jewel caskets, showcases, passenger car construction, decorative ornaments, desks,  mouldings, novelties, organs and pianos, boat paneling, trim and instrument boards, radio and television sets, sewing machines, stringed musical instruments, steering wheels and other decorative vehicle parts.

American Beech. It is a hard, durable, dense wood similar to the appearance of Maple. Its attractive finish makes it a popular choice for flooring, furniture and wood crafting. Beech is too thick for wood to be readily cut. The American beech is a single species which grows in the eastern half of the United States. It is often used for frames, a variety of bent and turned parts.  

Beech is a good toy wood because of its non-toxic qualities and its lack of any tendency to splinter on corners of square toys. Its peculiar spine, a combination of strength, stiffness and hardness, adapts it to the manufacture of thin, delicate turnings with high strength requirements, such as skewers, dowels, and candy sticks. It is also much used as a vehicle wood, for agricultural implements, sporting goods, textile, dairy and poultry equipment.


Cherry. A moderately hard Is grown in the Eastern half of US and called fruitwood. The fruitwood is a light brown finish on other woods. Cherry veneers and solids are used in a variety of styles. It has been called New England mahogany and is often used to craft in the 18th century.


SOFTWOOD

Softwood is mostly used by the construction industry and is also used to produce paper pulp and card products. It is the source of about 80% of the world's production of timber including North America. This is typically used in constructions as structural and finishing lumber.

The different kinds of softwood are listed below.


Pine. Pine is used for the country or provincial furniture. Pickled, whitened, painted and oil finishes are often used on this wood. It is a softwood which grows in most areas of the Northern hemisphere.


Ash. It is a hard and heavy hardwood. It has a prominent grain that looks similar to oak and a white to light brown colour. It can be differentiated from pecan which resembles from white dots. It can be used for structural frames and steam bent furniture pieces. Often less expensive than comparable hardwoods.

Ash has properties particularly suitable for furniture; possesses sufficient strength and hardness, but is not too hard to work satisfactorily; holds its shape well, and exhibits a good figure when plain-sawed. It takes an excellent finish, and Ash veneer is pleasing and attractive. An ideal handle wood, it is extensively used for tools, agriculture equipment, and sporting goods. It provides a robust and stiff material for refrigerators and other implements and containers where it is necessary the wood imparts no odours to food products. Ash is also idea for bent work, upholstery and construction frames, vehicle parts, and aircraft parts, such as propellers, longerons, and bearing blocks.


Cedar. Are commonly used as simple cases and storage closets for this light and brittle wood. It is a knotty softwood which has a red-brown colour with light streaks. Several species of cedar grow in the Southern, Central and South America.


Redwood. It used to craft outdoor furniture and decorative carvings. They are rare and valuable. The best quality redwood comes from the heartwood which is relevant to deterioration due to sunlight moisture and insect.