Alder, Knotty

Red alder is a tree which grows in the western United States. Although the alder tree is a hardwood, its wood is not exceptionally hard. It is harder than pine but softer than oak or maple. It's a casual looking "warm" wood suited of rustic decors.

Alder, Superior

Top grade in Alder. It's primarily used for moldings and applications where clear faced cuttings are required.

Ash, Black

This is a medium dense wood similar to a black walnut and softer then its white ash cousin. It is open pored, and in grain pattern much like white ash and red oak with pale brown colored wood, with no yellow or pink shade. It’s easy to work with, very stable and nice to finish.

Ash,White

White ash is very similar in appearance and characteristics to red without the pink overtones. The sapwood is typically creamy white to pale straw colored, with reddish brown heartwood. It is typically easy to sand and machine. Like oak it is open pored so a little harder to get a quality finish. Using pore filler is always a possibility for those high-end projects.

Basswood

This is a soft textured white wood (occasional brown or gray streaks), with very little grain. The planks are ideally suited for relief carving, chip carving, wood burning and turning. It has no sap problems when painting, so presents an ideal raw material for all your painted woodworking projects. Basswood does not yellow. Great wood for beginner and advanced basswood carving and has enough structural integrity to allow for intricate designs and is very dimensionally stable so it holds its shape. It glues well.

Birch, White sap/heart mix

The wood of paper and yellow birch are mostly identical in appearance. Both are of medium density, creamy white/yellow sapwood to reddish brown heartwood, although the yellow birch has a higher quantity of heartwood. Wood is typically easy to sand, machine and finish.

Birch, White sap

Birch, Yellow

Cherry

American Black Cherry is a soft to medium density wood, closed pored, tight grain like maple, beautiful pink/reddish brown colors that darken significantly with age to a very rich russet brown. Cherry has pale yellowish sapwood that never darkens to the same color of the heartwood. It often shows a waving curly figure when finished. It is as strong as maple but only about 2/3rds as hard.

Elm, Gray

American elm is also called soft elm, gray elm, or white elm. Flat sawn will show a distinctive characteristic “U” or “V” shape ring pattern. Also evident in the late wood can be irregular jagged lines that appear as feathers. This is a unique characteristic of elms. It has a light tan color.

Elm, Red

Red elm lumber is distinct from the others due to its red brown color

Hickory

Hickory heartwood is tan or reddish brown with sapwood that is white to cream. It is this extreme contrast between the heart and sapwood that makes it easy to differentiate from other wood species. Its hardness makes the woodworking tasks somewhat more difficult. It is harder to machine than the traditional species of oak or maple. It can add country charm to the home environment.

Maple, Hard White (Rock)

Sugar maple (or rock maple) is the most common hard maple found in the U.S. It tends to have cream to white sapwood and light reddish brown heartwood, usually straight grained and sometimes found with high figured bird's eye or burl grain. Bird's-eye resembles small circular or elliptical figures and only found in sugar maple. It is heavy, hard, strong, tough, stiff, close grained and possesses a uniform texture. It sands to a beautiful tight finish and has excellent resistance to abrasion, indentation and shock. Often the heartwood shows black mineral lines and darker gray streaking. It is usually sorted by color within the industry.

Oak, Red

Red Oak is of medium density, pale pink overtones, and open pored, grainy wood. Best known as a great cabinet quality wood, and very common for flooring and other household mill work. It finishes and stains easily. It has none of the blotching problems that are associated with birch or maple. The open pores absorb more stain, so the grain pattern becomes quite evident when a dark stain is applied to red oak. Due to slower growth, wood cut in northern US and southern Canada has a finer texture, more consistent pale pink color and somewhat denser, than central or southern U.S. oak.

Oak, Red Quarter sawn

Oak, Red Rift sawn

Oak, White

White Oak has a finer texture than Red Oak. Heartwood is decay resistant and suitable for exterior uses. Good turning and steam bending qualities. It varies in color from light tan to pale yellow-brown with a pinkish tinge. It’s used in furniture, cabinets, flooring, boat building, fences, indoor mill work, moldings, veneer, desks, and baseboard.

Oak, White Quarter sawn

When the lumber is quarter sawn, the boards are cut on a radius from the very center of the tree to the bark. The saw is cutting parallel to the large wood rays, and a very characteristic ray, flake, or fleck results and you'll see this used in antiques, mission style furniture.

Oak, White Rift sawn

Rift cut oak results when the rays are intersected at a 45 degree angle. In this situation, the ends of the rays appear somewhat larger than in flat sawn lumber; but more importantly, the wood appears pencil stripped as the alternating large early wood pores run parallel to the small dense late wood pore.

Walnut, Black

American Black Walnut is a soft to medium density wood, closed pored, tight grained. The sapwood is creamy white. Heartwood is a rich chocolate or purplish brown in color, with a dull sheen. Black walnut is noted for its beautiful grain characteristics, producing more figure variation than any other wood. Over the years the wood develops a lustrous patina. Walnut lumber is used for fine furniture, architectural woodwork, musical instruments, decorative panels, interior trim, and flooring. Large amounts are also used for veneer. Its stability and shock resistance make it the wood of choice for gun stocks. Many customers appreciate its "easy of use" and beautiful colors to use as a craft wood in all their small turning and scroll saw projects. The fact that it is the only dark North American wood, has added to its reputation. Walnut takes any finish and most complement the lovely satin sheen of the wood. It polishes well. Wood is rated tough and hard with good steam bending qualities. The wood and sawdust of black walnut are known to cause irritation of the eyes, nose, skin and lungs, and may stimulate allergies and asthma - precautionary measures are advised... a good dust mask is essential.