SUGAR MAPLE:
Maple's scientific name is derived from the Latin word for hard. Sugar maple is also know as Rock Maple or Hard maple and is the standard wood for cutting boards because it imparts no taste to food and holds up well.

Latin Name: Acer aaccharum

Color: Cream to butterscotch, but any given piece of maple has a quite consistent color. Sugar maple is photosensitive, meaning it will darken with age. Freshly milled maple will be nearly white and gradually darken to a light butterscotch.

Grain Pattern: Usually straight-grained and sometimes found with highly figured bird's-eye or burl grain. Bird's-eye resembles small circular or elliptical figures. Clusters of round curls are known as burl.

Characteristics: Heavy, hard, strong, tough, stiff, close-grained, and possesses a uniform texture. Maple has excellent resistance to abrasion, indentation, and shock.

Uses: Furniture, cabinets, decorative woodwork, flooring, cutting surfaces, musical instruments, bowling pins, utensils, and bowls. Its characteristics make it ideal for ballroom and gymnasium floors, as well as cutting boards and countertops. Sugar maple is also used for the production of wooden baseball bats, though less often than ash or hickory.

AMERICAN WHITE BIRCH
American white birch is also known as Paper Birch or Canoe Birch. Birch trees grow abundantly in North America. Almost all members of this family have a smooth resinous white bark, that peels, rolls or curls in some fashion. The bark gets very thick and deeply ridged as the tree gets older. The bark of this tree has been used by Native Americans to make birch bark canoes.

Latin Name: Betula papyrifera

Color: Mostly white but as it nears the core will show brown flame patterns, with white sap edges; quite dramatic.

Grain Pattern: Birch has a fine and uniform texture, closed pored and no significant odor.

Characteristics: It has excellent workability and is quite fast growing and readily available. It is also quite “soft” for a hardwood.

Uses: Furniture, cooking spoons, broom handles, bowls, tongue depressors, toothpicks, toys, hardwood framing; there is little it has not been used for.

WHITE ASH
The wood is straight-grained, open pored, and hard, with no distinctive taste or odor. It is tough and yet elastic, with high shock resistance and excellent steam bending characteristics.

Latin Name: Fraxinus americana

Color: Light cream with a desitinctive grain. It is very colorfast.

Grain Pattern: The grain is pronounced and distinctive, similar to oak.

Characteristics: The wood is hard, tough and very strong but elastic. It is also used as material for the bodies of guitars, known for its bright, cutting tone and sustaining quality.

Uses: Furniture, guitars, baseball bats, tool handles, hockey sticks, also snow shoes, canoe frames and other applications utilizing its wonderful bending properties

BEECH
The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental tree is the European Beech and is widely cultivated in North America as well as in its native Europe. Beech is a medium dense wood. The tree has a smooth, thin, silver bark that is often scared by graffiti carving.

Latin Name: Fagus sylvatica

Color: cream to medium-brown. It often has streaks of different color.

Grain Pattern: The grain rays are more distinctive than the growth rings, which causes the wood to be flecked, rather than to have spectacular wood-grain patterns.

Characteristics: The wood is short-grained, yet dense and hard. The short grain makes it easy to work and excellent for use on a wood-turning lathe. However, it also makes the  wood brittle and lacking in toughness Apart from its easy workability, it is easily bent after treatment with steam, thus its traditional uses include bent-wood furniture (such as Windsor chairs).

Uses: Furniture, chopping blocks, mallet heads.

NORTHERN RED OAK:
The oaks (red and white) are the most abundant hardwood species found in the United States. The Latin name for oak, Queurcus, means a fine tree. It would be difficult to name a wood with a longer and more illustrious history in furnishings and interior design. Oak was a favorite of early English craftsmen and a prized material for American colonists. It's commonly associated with Mission, country, and contemporary styles.

Latin Name: Quercus rubra

Color: Dark beige to light red-brown. It is very color fast and consistent in color.

Grain Pattern: Plainsawn -- attractive figure of stripes and leafy grain. Also available:  Quartersawn -- striking flake pattern that reflects light, and  Riftsawn -- fine pinstripe pattern.

Characteristics: Heavy, very strong and hard, stiff, durable under exposure, great wear-resistance, and holds nails and screws well.

Uses: Flooring, furniture, cabinets, ships, pallets and decorative woodwork

BLACK CHERRY
Like all fruit trees, cherry belongs to the rose family and was used as early as 400 B.C. by the Greeks and Romans for furniture making. It is native to most of the US, east of the Mississippi River. The cherry tree provided American colonists with fruit, medicine, and wood for home furnishings. Cherry helped define American traditional design because colonial cabinetmakers recognized its superior woodworking qualities. Today, cherry helps express Shaker, Mission, and country styling.

Latin Name: Prunus serotina

Color: Light reddish-brown. Cherry is very sensitive to light. When freshly milled, cherry is a light pink, and as it absorbs light, changes to a deep auburn.

Grain Pattern: Straight-grained and satiny. Small gum pockets produce distinctive markings. Cherry grain is more subdued than some other hardwood species.

Characteristics: Light, strong, stiff, and rather hard.

Uses: Fine furniture, cabinetry, flooring, and decorative woodwork.

TEAK
Due to its resistance to rot, Teak has been extremely popular in ship building. Popular in the 1950s and 1960s in a style often known as Danish modern, teak furniture has had a second boom in popularity. Teak is one of the most sought-after types of vintage furniture.

Latin Name: Tectona grandis

Color: Light golden brown. Teak has a very uniform color, and over time, teak becomes more deeply golden brown.

Grain Pattern: Teak wood is generally straight grained, but occasionally wavy.

Characteristics: Teak is an extremely dense. Fresh sawn teak has a slightly 'oily' feel due to the high oil content. It is resistant to rot caused by fungal decay, and the high level of resinous oil present in the timber helps to act as a natural insect repellent giving the timber very high resistance to attack by termites and other wood boring insects.

Uses: Fine furniture, outdoor furniture, ship decking

MAHOGANY
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored wood, originally the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban Mahogany. It was later used also for the wood of Swietenia macrophylla, which is closely related, and known as Honduras Mahogany. Species of Swietenia cross readily when they grow in proximity, the hybrid between S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla is widely planted.

Latin Name: Swietenia Macrophylia or Swietenia Mahagoni

Color: reddish brown color which darkens slowly over time.

Grain Pattern: Mahogany has a generally straight grain and is usually free of voids and pockets

Characteristics: It has excellent workability, and is very durable and slow to rot. These properties make it a favorable wood for boat making

Uses: Furniture, boat building, musical instruments, and other durable objects.

AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT:
American black walnut, the aristocrat of cabinet woods, is one of the most respected North American fine hardwoods. Its reputation dates back to the 16th century. Walnut mixes well with other woods and natural materials to provide a friendly atmosphere in otherwise austere interiors. The wood develops a rich patina that grows more lustrous with age.

Latin Name: Juglans nigra

Color: Light “café au lait” to a dark chocolate brown. A single board can vary significantly in color, though walnut is also very colorfast.

Grain Pattern: Plain to highly figured. The grain is highly varied, though in such a dark wood, the grain is not nearly as pronounced as in oak.

Characteristics: Moderately heavy, very strong, and exceptionally stable.

Uses: Furniture, cabinets, doors, flooring, architectural woodwork, gunstocks, and novelties.