It’s not flashy. It’s not famous. But ask anyone who’s built a kayak or wrestled with marine plywood, and they’ll probably tell you Okoume is something special. The first time I came across Okoume, I was standing in a lumber…
Red oak is a strong, budget-friendly North American hardwood with a Janka hardness of 1,290 lbf. It has an open grain, warm reddish-brown color, and excellent workability. It’s one of the most widely available and affordable hardwoods you’ll find —…
Centrolobium spp. — what it is, how it works, and why it deserves more attention than it gets Open a freshly planed board of canarywood and you’ll understand immediately why people stop and stare. The colour isn’t one thing —…
There’s a certain kind of wood that doesn’t try to impress you at first glance. It sits there, a little rough around the edges, maybe a bit resinous, and you think — alright, nothing special here. Then you work with…
Key Takeaways: Macassar ebony is a rare, extremely hard tropical hardwood from Indonesia with dramatic black and brown stripes that make it one of the most visually striking materials in woodworking — used in luxury instruments, furniture, and fine crafts,…
Key Takeaways: Briar wood is a dense, heat-resistant hardwood that comes from the underground root burl of Erica arborea, a shrub native to the Mediterranean region. The burl takes 30 to 80 years to mature and is harvested, boiled, and…
Native to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia) is a hardwood. Which is fairly common in the Willamette Valley, can frequently be found in wetlands, floodplains and edges of slow-moving streams. Despite being neither as large or well-known as…
Walk into almost any furniture store today and you’ll probably see parawood — even if the label doesn’t say so. It might be called “rubberwood.” Sometimes it’s marketed as “Malaysian oak.” Occasionally it’s just labeled “solid hardwood.” Behind those names…
A pignut hickory is something you walk by and never notice. Unlike Shagbark Hickory, it does not have rough, peeling bark. It does not appear very spectacular or anything. It just sits there silently, year after year, growing. Yet, this modest-looking tree one of…
Myrtlewood Wood Properties (Quick Overview) Property Details Common Name Myrtlewood / Oregon Myrtle Scientific Name Umbellularia californica Wood Type Hardwood Natural Range Southern Oregon coast, California coast Average Weight ~40 lbs per cubic foot Janka Hardness 1,270 lbf Grain Pattern…
