Wood Variety

Some Notes About the Wood Below

There are so many variations to all of these, just look up ebony and you’ll see that it’s more than just a dark black wood, you will quickly find some variations with highly contrasting grain. If any of these woods strike you, look them up to see what variations are out there.

In another sense, there’s even more variation in all of these woods just by seeing them at different angles and in different lights, at different points in their life, with different finishes or not finished at all. So again, search the woods that interest you online to get a good sense of what you’re likely to see in your finished product.

Some of these woods are endangered or at-risk. Despite being a one man shop, I don’t want to contribute to this anymore than I have to. I have a few work-arounds available like using veneers or making use of these woods as accent pieces only. And I am in a good position with the products I make scaling from large to very small, this means not a lot of wood gets thrown in the garbage. The smallest item are my finger button inserts. These are about the size of a nickel, meaning my larger scrap parts can be consumed almost completely if the demand is there.

I do have access to other wood, just email me if you have something special in mind.

Bocote

A Mexican wood with contrasting grains and a fair amount of swirling and characteristic ‘eyes’. This darkens really nicely over time.

Spalted Maple

This is maple that has reached a certain point of decay. It sounds undesirable but the wood speaks for itself. Beautiful black lines emerge from the grain making for very unique pieces.

Snakewood

Expensive and best suited to smaller pieces and accents because of it’s average size and cost. Very striking colour and grain.

Birdseye Maple

A variation in maple trees that feature small swirls in the grain that look like birds eye’s. This is not a type of burl, but is reminiscent of one.

Cocobolo

One of my favourite woods that I try to make minimal use of. The wood is listed as endangered so I do what I can to respect that. I consider wood like Bocote and Kingwood a viable alternative and often point customers towards these woods especially because of the price difference.

Cherry

A staple of woodworking. This domestic wood is known for it’s pink colour which ages very well.

Katalox

Beautiful and strong wood from Central America. The grain is very tight and colour ranges between dark purple and brown. Sometimes the colour can be very subtle and is hard to distinguish from a dark wood like walnut, but the grain is always distinct and gorgeous.

Ebony

A classic, but rare. I typically don’t work with this except as an accent to a lighter wood.

Burls

Tight, swirling grain taken from deformed tree growths. These look incredible in a natural finish but are often great candidates for stabilized and colourized woods.

Stabilized / Colourized Wood

This is a treatment that impregnates wood with an epoxy resin, making the wood ‘stable’ much more like a plastic than a living and moving thing. It can be done to any wood but it really does a lot to enhance burls and some otherwise unusable pieces. I recommend looking up ‘Stabilized Wood’ to see the variations on Google.

Ziricote

Dark Mexican/South American exotic wood

Walnut

A classic domestic wood. Beautiful with or without colour accents after finishing. Even more beautiful as it ages.

Olivewood

European wood with a wild grain pattern. Every piece is very unique and often includes live edge features.

Curly Maple

This is a domestic hardwood commonly seen in musical instruments such as violins and electric guitars.

Kingwood

Very dense and attractive piece. Similar colour to Katalox, but with broader grains. I am a fan of the pieces that include the sapwood, and live edge wood of course.

Zebrawood

From Central America, this wood features highly contrasting grains and is one of the best selling woods on this site.

Maple

The familiar, trustworthy domestic hardwood. Makes for elegant and sturdy products on its own, or creates the perfect background to highlight colourful and otherwise expensive accent woods.

Purple Heart

This tree is found in South and Central America with a naturally vibrant purple heartwood. The colour after really starts to show as it ages, and ultimately darkens to a dark brown. Dyes can help with preserving the colour, or leave it natural and refresh the surface with some light sanding every decade or so.

Wenge

Interesting wood with broad grains. This is considered at-risk, so strategic use of veneers or accents only would be best.

Aromatic Cedar

Attractive domestic wood with a distinct smell. I tend to leave one surface unfinished and available for light sanding to bring back the aroma.