Rate your wood preference

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
Domestic hardwoods freely available only please.

My list:

1 Cherry
2 Walnut
3 Hard Maple
4 Soft Maple
5 Red Oak
6 White Oak flat sawn
7 White Oak quarter sawn
 

Phil S

Phil Soper
Staff member
Corporate Member
1. Cherry
2. Honduran Mahogany
3. Walnut
4. Sycamore
5. Sapele
6. Maple
7. Alder
8. Holly
9. Free
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Willem, my list would be very similar to yours, depending on the project and the style. For Mission or Arts & Crafts, I would prefer QS White Oak. On the other hand, for Shaker I would go w/ Cherry or Walnut. The biggest change I would make to your list is Red Oak. For most of my projects I consider it a secondary wood, for drawer boxes and interior frame parts.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Mine is a bit odder

Maple
Iroko
Afrormosia
Cherry
Sapele
Walnut
Kiawe
Honduran Mahogany
Ebony
Paduk
Ironwood
Sitka Spruce
Cypress
Passion Tree
Free ..... this one I am especially fond of
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
My favorite domestic hardwoods that are freely available:
  1. Cherry
  2. Walnut
  3. Quartersawn white oak
  4. Maple
  5. Quartersawn sycamore
  6. Quartersawn beech
Not a big fan of red oak right now, but it might grow on me again.
 

zapdafish

New User
Steve
1. Ash
2. QS White Oak
3. Maple
4, QS Red Oak
5. Poplar, for experimenting on before using 1 of the above
 

ScottM

Scott
Staff member
Corporate Member
1. Soft maple
2. Poplar
3. Walnut
4. Red oak
5. Cherry
6. Anything free
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
Domestic hardwoods readily available only? You're asking for North American hardwoods only, correct?

There are a lot of exotic woods included as well by others
No worries.
I picked up close to 1,000bf 5/4 Beech at an auction for $250.00. Did not list it because it is hard to find. Loved working with it, left my planer and jointer with a shiny smooth finish. Used the last bit yesterday, only a few cut-offs left.
 

McRabbet

Rob
Corporate Member
Cherry
Walnut
White Oak (both rift and quarter sawn)
Hard Maple (Curly and straight grained)
Baltic Birch Plywood
Soft Maple
Ash
Thin Craft Woods (thin stock for boxes, inlay and intarsia)
 

Sourwould

New User
Taylor
I'm really going to be the outlier here...

Old pine/heart pine/whatever
Poplar
Fir
Syp
Cedar/cypress

If sheet goods are included, my #1 is MDF and my #2 is Baltic birch.
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
I picked up close to 1,000bf 5/4 Beech at an auction for $250.00. Did not list it because it is hard to find. Loved working with it, left my planer and jointer with a shiny smooth finish. Used the last bit yesterday, only a few cut-offs left.
Beech is an underrated wood, definitely the Goldilocks of domestics. Not too hard, not too soft, not too light, not too dark. Easy to work with, batteries included, free shipping, no break-in period.

1,000 bdft for 5/4 material for $250 easily qualifies as a steal of epic proportions, even if it was 10 years ago. Or even 20.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Beech is fun to work with. it is pretty reactive to the humidity out here, not sure why. Monkeypod is fun to work with (similar to Koa) but it only here this is its only shout out.
 

pcooper

Phillip Cooper
Corporate Member
I work with so many that it's hard to list them, but my favorites are anything figured, curly, crotch figured, and bright colors. I do a lot of exotics and have learned how to work with many that have some strange properties. Like others mentioned, free is one of my most favorites ones.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Maybe preferences should be qualified as to application.
For me:
Primary for furniture: Walnut & Cherry
Secondary for furniture web frames and drawer sides: Oaks, hard maple, & birch
Outdoors: CAH redwood
Fun to work with: Clear white pine
 

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top