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Picking the right wood for your furniture is easily the most important call you'll make in any project. It dictates the final look, how strong the piece will be, and how long it'll last. The "best" wood really just depends on what you're building—from the deep, rich tones of Black Walnut for a showstopper dining table to the bright, clean grain of Cherry Wood for a modern bookshelf, Or the wild grain of Exotic Black Limba for an end grain cutting board.
Choosing the perfect lumber for a furniture piece is where the art and science of woodworking really meet. It's so much more than just picking a colour you like; it’s about understanding how a wood’s natural traits will hold up over time. The journey from a rough-sawn board to a family heirloom starts with this one decision, influencing everything from the tools you'll need to the final finish you apply.
I like to think of wood species as ingredients in a recipe. A delicate, elegant piece might call for the fine, straight grain of Cherry, which darkens beautifully as it ages. On the other hand, a rustic farmhouse table that needs to survive daily abuse from kids and homework would be much better off built from the rugged durability of Oak. Each species brings its own unique character into the workshop.
Every piece of lumber you'll ever work with falls into one of two main categories. Getting this down is the foundation of wood selection.
Hardwoods: These come from deciduous trees (the ones that lose their leaves every year). Woods like Walnut, Maple, and Ash are typically denser, stronger, and more durable. They are the go-to for fine, long-lasting furniture because of their strength and beautiful grain patterns.
Softwoods: Sourced from coniferous trees (the cone-bearing evergreens), softwoods like Pine and Fir are usually less dense and more affordable. You’ll often see them used for rustic pieces, painted furniture, or projects where keeping the weight down is a priority.
The names "hardwood" and "softwood" can be a bit misleading. The distinction is botanical, not a direct measure of toughness. It's all about the tree's biology—whether it's leaf-bearing or cone-bearing—which determines the wood's cellular structure and, ultimately, how it behaves in the shop.
This guide is your practical roadmap to navigating these options with confidence. We’ll explore the workhorses of North American furniture making and even touch on a few unique exotic species. To see a curated collection of these materials, you can explore the different types of wood for furniture available at The Knotty Lumber Co. and find the perfect match for your vision.
When you start digging into different woods for furniture, the first big fork in the road is hardwoods versus softwoods. It’s a foundational concept, but one that’s easy to get wrong. The names make it sound simple—one is hard, one is soft, right? But the real story is rooted in botany, not just brute strength.
Think of it this way: hardwoods come from deciduous trees. These are the trees that drop their leaves every fall, like oak, maple, and walnut. Softwoods, on the other hand, grow on coniferous trees—the evergreens that have needles and cones, like pine and fir. That’s the true dividing line.
Deciduous trees are generally slow growers. This slow pace creates a denser, more complex cell structure, which translates to wood with tighter grain, greater stability, and just plain better durability. It’s this built-in strength that makes hardwoods the undisputed champion for high-quality, long-lasting furniture.
The preference for hardwoods in furniture making isn't just about tradition; it's all about performance. Their dense fibres grip screws and nails tighter, they stand up to intricate joinery, and they resist dents and dings far better than most softwoods. This makes them perfect for pieces that take a beating every day, like dining tables, chairs, and bed frames.
Beyond strength, hardwoods usually bring richer colours and more interesting grain patterns to the table. You’ve got everything from the deep, swirling chocolate tones of Black Walnut to the creamy brightness of Hard Maple. They also take stains and finishes more evenly, letting you achieve that flawless, professional look that lasts for generations.
This clear edge in both performance and looks is why hardwoods are king in the world of fine furniture. In fact, hardwoods make up a massive 61.9% of the wooden furniture market in North America. Globally, this market is expected to hit $643.3 billion by 2034, with Canadian suppliers playing a huge role. For an even deeper dive into what makes these materials so special, check out our ultimate guide to hardwoods and specialty lumber.
While the general rule of thumb—hardwoods are hard, softwoods are soft—is usually on the money, there are a few famous exceptions that prove the botanical distinction is what really matters.
The classification of hardwoods and softwoods is based on the tree's method of reproduction, not its physical density. Hardwoods are angiosperms (flowering plants), while softwoods are gymnosperms (non-flowering). This biological origin is the true dividing line.
Let's look at a couple of curveballs that challenge the common assumption:
These outliers are the perfect example of why knowing the source of the wood is so important. Sure, you'll almost always reach for a hardwood for a durable furniture project. But understanding the why behind the label makes you a smarter woodworker. It lets you look past simple names and judge a species on its actual stats—its Janka hardness, grain structure, and workability—to find the perfect material for your vision.
Stepping into the world of domestic hardwoods is like opening up the classic North American furniture maker’s toolkit. These woods are the backbone of countless heirloom pieces, each with its own unique personality, feel, and way of behaving in the shop. They’re loved not just for their beauty but for their reliability and deep roots in our woodworking traditions.
Here, we'll get to know some of the most trusted types of wood for furniture, all found right here at home. We'll look at timeless favourites like Black Walnut, Ambrosia Maple, Cherry, and Ash. Think of each profile as a quick-start guide to help you match the right wood to your next project's vision.
Black Walnut is often considered the royalty of domestic hardwoods, and for good reason. Its rich, chocolate-brown heartwood—sometimes touched with purplish hues—and creamy white sapwood create a stunning natural contrast. The grain can be anything from dead straight to beautifully figured with swirls and burls that make every board a piece of art.
Looks aside, Walnut is a dream to work with. It's strong and stable but not so dense that it fights you every step of the way, making it easy to cut, shape, and sand. This workability, paired with its luxurious appearance, makes it a top choice for high-end furniture like dining tables, headboards, and executive desks.
A key characteristic of Black Walnut is its exceptional stability. Once properly dried, it resists warping and seasonal movement better than many other hardwoods, making it a reliable choice for projects requiring tight joinery and flat panels.
To bring out its deep, lustrous colour, a simple oil finish is often all you need. It enhances the natural grain without hiding its character.
This quick chart gives you a visual rundown of the fundamental differences between hardwoods, like the domestic species we're discussing, and softwoods.
As the graphic shows, it all comes down to the tree. Hardwoods come from leafy, deciduous trees, while softwoods come from conifers. It's as simple as that.
Ambrosia Maple isn't a specific species but rather regular Maple that's been touched by nature's paintbrush. The Ambrosia beetle bores into the tree, bringing along a fungus that stains the wood, creating beautiful, winding streaks of grey, brown, and even blue against the creamy white maple.
This natural artistry makes Ambrosia Maple perfect for modern furniture where you want a clean look with a bit of organic character. It's often used for:
While it has the same hardness and workability as Soft Maple (because it is soft maple), the streaks are purely cosmetic—they don't compromise the wood's structural integrity one bit. To finish it, a clear, non-yellowing coat like a water-based polyurethane is the way to go. It preserves the bright colour and makes those unique streaks pop.
For a complete overview of various wood types and to see how Ambrosia Maple stacks up against others, be sure to explore our comprehensive wood species guide.
Cherry wood is beloved for its warm, reddish-brown hue and incredibly smooth, fine-grained texture. When first milled, it often looks like a pale, pinkish-tan, but its real magic happens over time. With exposure to light and air, Cherry develops a deep, rich patina.
This graceful aging process makes it a favourite for traditional and heirloom-quality furniture—think cabinets, chests of drawers, and rocking chairs. It’s also a pleasure to work with, as it cuts cleanly, sands to a silky finish, and holds fine details beautifully.
One thing to keep in mind is that Cherry can get blotchy if you apply a stain directly. To get an even finish, it's smart to use a pre-stain conditioner or a gel stain. Honestly, though, many woodworkers prefer to let its natural aging process be the only "finish" it needs, protecting it with just a clear oil or lacquer.
Ash is a true workhorse. This hardwood is known for its impressive strength-to-weight ratio, which is a rare and valuable combination. With a bright, creamy white to light brown colour and a bold, straight grain similar to Oak, it offers a clean and classic look that fits just about any style.
Its toughness and flexibility are legendary. In fact, Ash was historically the wood of choice for baseball bats, tool handles, and bentwood furniture. For home projects, it excels in any application that demands durability:
Stair Parts and Handrails: The strength and elasticity of ash make it well suited for high traffic areas that experience
Ash also takes stains and finishes very well, allowing you to easily match it to other woods or achieve a specific colour.
To give you a quick way to compare these foundational woods, here’s a chart breaking down their key features.
This table offers a side-by-side look at our top domestic hardwoods, helping you quickly decide which species is the best fit for your project's needs—from hardness and looks to how it behaves with a finish.
| Wood Species | Janka Hardness | Color & Grain | Best For | Finishing Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Walnut | 1010 lbf | Rich chocolate-brown heartwood, creamy sapwood. Straight to figured grain. | High-end furniture, tables, desks, headboards. | Finishes beautifully with oil to enhance natural lustre. |
| Ambrosia Maple | 750-900 lbf | Creamy white with grey, brown, or blue streaks from the Ambrosia beetle. | Modern furniture, tabletops, decorative items. | Use a clear, non-yellowing finish to preserve bright colour. |
| Cherry | 950 lbf | Pinkish-tan when new, deepens to a rich reddish-brown patina over time. Fine grain. | Heirloom furniture, cabinets, rocking chairs. | Prone to blotching; use a pre-stain conditioner or let it age naturally. |
| Ash | 1320 lbf | Creamy white to light brown with a bold, straight grain. Strong and flexible. | Chairs, table legs, tool handles, anything requiring durability. | Takes stains very well, allowing for a wide range of colour options. |
| Red Oak | 1290 lbf | Pale pinkish tan to light brown with a bold, open grain pattern. Strong, resilient, and easy to work. | Chairs, table legs, furniture frames, interior cabinetry, trim, shelving, and anything requiring strength and ease of workability in indoor applications. | Accepts stain easily, producing bold grain contrast and a wide range of colour options with minimal effort. |
| White Oak | 1360 lbf | Creamy beige to light tan with a tight, straight grain and subtle ray fleck. Dense, durable, and highly stable. | Chairs, table legs, flooring, cabinetry, stair parts, outdoor furniture, and anything requiring durability, moisture resistance, and long term stability. | Takes stain and finish evenly, highlighting its grain and ray fleck while offering excellent colour depth and consistency. |
Choosing the right domestic hardwood really comes down to balancing the look you want with the performance you need. Whether you prioritize the unmatched elegance of Walnut or the rugged dependability of Ash, each of these species brings something special to the workshop.
While domestic hardwoods are timeless and reliable, some projects demand a little more drama. This is where exotic hardwoods make their grand entrance, offering a stunning palette of intense colours and mesmerizing grain patterns you just won't find anywhere else. These are the woods that create instant focal points and turn a piece of furniture into a work of art.
Working with exotics is a true adventure. They bring a unique personality to the shop, from their distinct scents to their often surprising density. For woodworkers looking to push their creative boundaries, species like Wenge, Padauk, and Purpleheart are the perfect way to craft something undeniably one-of-a-kind.
But this journey into global lumber requires a bit of preparation. These woods often come with a higher price tag and unique working characteristics that demand respect—and a slightly different approach than your familiar North American species.
Hailing from Central Africa, Wenge is a powerhouse. It’s famous for its deep, almost-black heartwood, which is beautifully streaked with fine, lighter brown lines that create a bold and sophisticated look. Its coarse, straight grain gives it a very textural appearance that adds incredible visual depth.
Thanks to its exceptional hardness (Janka rating of 1,930 lbf), Wenge is incredibly durable and resistant to wear, making it a fantastic choice for:
A word of caution: Wenge is notorious for its splinters, which are brittle, sharp, and painful. It's also incredibly dense, so sharp tools are an absolute must to avoid tear-out. To finish it, an oil-based finish is often preferred to fully saturate the grain and bring out its deep, rich tones.
If you want a splash of vibrant colour, look no further than Padauk. Sourced primarily from Africa, this wood is famous for its brilliant reddish-orange hue when freshly cut. The colour is so intense it can almost feel unreal, making it a popular choice for statement pieces that need to command attention.
Padauk's brilliant colour will gradually mellow over time with exposure to UV light, shifting to a deep, rich reddish-brown. To preserve its initial fiery colour for as long as possible, a UV-inhibiting finish is essential.
Beyond its stunning appearance, Padauk is quite durable and naturally resistant to decay. However, its most notable working quirk is its fine, red dust, which gets everywhere and can stain lighter-coloured woods it comes into contact with. Excellent dust collection isn't just a suggestion here; it's non-negotiable.
Purpleheart is another exotic that absolutely lives up to its name. When first cut, it often appears as a dull grayish-brown, but with exposure to air, UV light, or heat, it magically transforms into a deep, vibrant purple. This natural chemical reaction makes it one of the most unique woods available for furniture.
This South American hardwood is incredibly dense, hard, and water-resistant, making it exceptionally durable. Its fine, straight grain also makes it predictable to work with, despite its impressive hardness.
Key considerations for Purpleheart:
Choosing an exotic wood is about making a statement. While they present their own unique challenges, the reward is a breathtaking piece of furniture with a story and visual impact that domestic woods simply cannot replicate.
Knowing which type of wood you want for your furniture project is a massive first step. But walking into a lumberyard for the first time can feel like visiting a foreign country where you don't speak the language. To turn that knowledge into real buying power, you need to understand the lingo.
Let's break down a few key concepts. Grasping these will make sure you walk out with the right material for your build, all at a fair price. This isn't just about picking out pretty boards; it's about seeing their potential and understanding their value.
The first hurdle is usually the terminology. You’ll hear a few key terms that describe how lumber is measured and sold. They might sound confusing at first, but they’re actually quite simple once you know what they mean.
Board Foot: This is the standard unit of volume for hardwood in North America. Think of a board foot as a piece of wood that measures 12 inches wide x 12 inches long x 1 inch thick. Pricing is almost always calculated per board foot, not per individual board.
Lumber Thickness (4/4, 5/4, 8/4, 12/4): Pronounced "four-quarter", "five-quarter", "eight-quarter", and "twelve-quarter", these fractions tell you the rough thickness of the wood in inches. A 4/4 board is roughly 1 inch thick, while an 8/4 board is about 2 inches thick. Keep in mind, this is the measurement before the board is milled smooth, so the final, usable thickness will be a little less.
S2S and S4S: These acronyms tell you how finished the board is. S2S means "surfaced two sides," so the top and bottom faces are surfaced. S4S means "surfaced four sides," telling you all four sides have been milled flat, square, and parallel—ready for your project.
Getting comfortable with these terms means you'll know exactly what you’re buying and can accurately figure out how much wood you really need.
Hardwood lumber is graded based on how much clear, defect-free wood can be cut from a board. For furniture making, the grade you'll see most often is Select & Better (S&B). This is the second highest quality hardwood grade, meaning one face hits the highest grade while the other side is cabinet grade or better. FAS (Firsts and Seconds) is the highest grade and means both faces guarantee a very high percentage of clear wood These 2 grades are perfect for big, beautiful pieces like tabletops and fine joinery projects.
The grade of a board tells a story about its potential. While a lower grade might have more knots or imperfections, it can be perfect for smaller components or projects where a rustic character is desired. Never dismiss a board until you've assessed its usable sections.
In a market as large as California's, where the furniture store industry is valued at a whopping $18.9 billion, the demand for top-tier domestic hardwoods like Walnut and Cherry is enormous. This has also pushed sustainability to the forefront, with 33% of U.S. wood furniture now being eco-certified. This trend is a direct reflection of what customers are looking for: beautiful, responsibly sourced lumber. You can discover more insights about the furniture market and see how it shapes wood sourcing trends.
Lumber doesn't just come in long, random-width boards. Suppliers like The Knotty Lumber Co. offer different formats designed to fit various projects and skill levels, making it much easier to get started.
Bundles and Variety Packs
If you're just starting out or working on a smaller project, pre-selected bundles are a fantastic way to go. They save you the time and hassle of digging through huge stacks of lumber to find what you need.
Live Edge Slabs
For a truly unique, organic statement piece, nothing beats a live edge slab. These incredible pieces keep the natural, uncut edge of the tree, complete with all its curves and character. Each slab is one-of-a-kind, making it the perfect choice for river tables, bar tops, and benches where the wood itself is the star of the show. When you source a live edge slab, you're directly translating the tree's natural form into your furniture.
Stepping into the world of lumber always brings up a few questions. It doesn't matter if you're a seasoned woodworker or just kicking off your first project—getting clear answers from the start can be the difference between a build that succeeds and one that doesn't. This section tackles some of the most common queries we hear about choosing the right wood for furniture.
Think of this as your go-to reference. We'll reinforce some of the key ideas we've already covered and give you some practical advice you can take straight to the workshop.
When you’re building furniture that has to stand up to heavy daily use—think dining tables, chairs, and kitchen countertops—durability isn't just a feature, it's a requirement. For these kinds of projects, dense domestic hardwoods are your best bet. Species like White Oak, Hard Maple, and Ash are absolute champions of longevity, offering incredible resistance to dents, scratches, and the general chaos of everyday life.
The industry standard for measuring this toughness is the Janka hardness test, which basically tells you how much force it takes to dent a piece of wood. While some exotic woods like Wenge are off-the-charts hard, the smartest choice always balances raw strength with how easy the wood is to actually work with. For most heirloom-quality pieces, a dense, closed-grain domestic hardwood gives you that perfect blend of durability and hassle-free construction.
The most durable wood is one that fits the project's purpose. A bookshelf doesn't need the same impact resistance as a dining chair. Matching the wood’s natural strength to its final use is the smartest way to build furniture that lasts.
Pine is a softwood, and it's popular for a few very good reasons. It’s affordable, lightweight, and incredibly easy to work with, which makes it a fantastic choice for beginner projects, rustic builds, or that classic farmhouse-style furniture. It cuts, sands, and takes a finish with minimal fuss.
But its softness is also its biggest weakness. Pine dents and scratches very easily, so it's not the best material for high-wear surfaces like tabletops unless you're actually aiming for that distressed, lived-in look that develops over time. When it comes to furniture you want to pass down through generations, hardwoods are a far superior investment for their long-term durability and structural integrity.
Outdoor furniture plays by a completely different set of rules. The wood you choose has to come with its own natural, built-in resistance to the triple threat of moisture, decay, and insects. Without it, even the strongest wood will fail pretty quickly once it's exposed to the elements.
Your top choices are going to be species rich in natural protective oils and tannins.
While some exotic hardwoods like Sapele also hold up well outdoors, it's critical to select a species specifically rated for exterior use. And no matter which one you go with, applying a high-quality outdoor finish is non-negotiable if you want to protect the wood and get the most life out of it.
These fractions are the standard language for lumber thickness in North America, and getting a handle on them is essential for buying your materials. The whole system is based on quarters of an inch, describing how thick a rough-sawn board is before it's been milled smooth.
After the board gets surfaced and planed flat on both sides (a process called S4S, or "surfaced four sides"), its final thickness will be a little less—typically around 3/4" for 4/4 lumber. Knowing this system lets you accurately plan your project's dimensions and figure out exactly how much wood you need to buy, saving you from headaches and extra trips to the lumberyard.
At The Knotty Lumber Co., we provide a wide selection of premium domestic and exotic hardwoods, live edge slabs, and project-ready bundles to bring your vision to life. Explore our collection and find the perfect wood for your next masterpiece.
