Hardwoods

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Beech Oak Ash Mahogany Teak Walnut Balsa Parana
Pine Scots Pine Red Cedar Spruce
Hardwoods Softwoods
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Hardwoods
Hardwoods are considered to come from trees with
Broad Leaves.
Oak
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Softwoods
Scots Pine
Softwoods are considered to come from trees with
needles
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Beech
Beech is used in cabinet and furniture making,
work benches, desks, chairs, turnery, tool
handles, mallets, decorative veneers and domestic
flooring.
Advantages
Straight Grain, Easy to work with.
Disadvantages
Unsuitable for exterior projects as it rots
quickly
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Oak
Oak is used in cabinet and furniture making, boat
building, barrels and flooring.
Advantages
High Strength, Hard wearing, Does not rot easily,
Attractive grain
Disadvantages
High Cost, Difficult to work with when dry
Green Oak is often used in House Building
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Ash
Advantages
Ash is used in furniture and cabinet making,
hockey sticks, baseball bats, cricket stumps,
turnery
Hard wearing, Tough, Elastic, Attractive grain
Disadvantages
High Cost,
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Mahogany
Mahogany is used for high quality cabinet and
furniture making, Drum panelling, pattern making,
decorative veneers and plywood.
Advantages
High Strength, Hard wearing, Easy to carve,
Attractive grain
Disadvantages
High Cost, Many species of mahogany come form non
renewable sources
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Teak
Teak is used in Boat building, Garden furniture,
(where weather resistance is required) Furniture
making, flooring, laboratory benches and
decorative veneers. Note It is best to use an
oil finish with this timber. Teak can be
difficult to glue and it's dust is known to be a
skin irritant.
Advantages
Hard wearing, Weather resistant,
Disadvantages
High Cost, Difficult to work with.Many species
of Teak come form non renewable sources
Difficult to glue due to its oily nature Skin
and repertory system irritant High mineral
content make it hard to machine
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Walnut
Walnut is used for high quality furniture, boat
building, musical instruments, carving and
veneers.
Advantages
Hard wearing, Attractive Grain
Disadvantages
Very Expensing , Rare
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Balsa
Balsa is the lightest commercial hardwood.
Predominately used for model making.
Advantages
Light weight, Easy to cut
Disadvantages
Weak
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Parana Pine
Parana Pine is a straight grained timber often
used for stair cases and furniture making
Advantages
Straight Grain, Stable (tends not to warp)
Disadvantages
Fairly expensive
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Scots Pine
Scots Pine is often used in the building industry
for Roof timbers, Stairs and Skirting boards It
is also used for Telegraph Poles, fences and
paper pulp
Advantages
Straight grain with few Knots
Disadvantages
Slow growing therefore limited availability
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Red Pine
Red pine wood is grown primarily for the
production of wood used for poles, Floorboards,
building timber railway ties, post, pulpwood, and
fuel.
Advantages
Low cost
Disadvantages
Knots,
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Spruce
Spruce (whitewood) is mainly used for paper
manufacture but is also used in general
construction and for the production of musical
instrument sound boards
Advantages
Straight Grain,
Disadvantages
Soft
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The End