FACTS ABOUT HARDWOODS

Ash
Color: White to light brown
Native To: Sixteen species of ash are grown in the eastern United States.
Properties of the Wood: Ash is heavy and has a prominent grain that resembles oak.
History: Today Ash is widely used for frames. It was used in Queen Anne and Federal period furniture.

Birch
Color: Light brown to reddish brown to cream
Native To: There are many species of birch, yellow birch is the most important. European birch is fine-grained, rare and is very expensive.
Properties of the Wood: Birch is heavy and close-grained.
History: Found in Hepplewhite and Adirondack furniture. It can be stained to resemble mahogany or walnut.

Cherry
Color: Light to dark reddish brown in color
Native To: Cherry is grown in the eastern half of the United States.
Properties of the Wood: Strong, closed grain and it resists warping and is easy to polish.
History: Cherry was often used in original American colonial furniture.Cherry has been called New England Mahogany and it is often used to make 18th Century, Colonial and French Provincial furniture.

Hickory
Color: White to reddish brown
Native To: There are fifteen species of hickory in the eastern US.
Properties of the Wood: One of the heaviest & hardest woods available today. Pecan is a type of hickory & has a very close grain without much figure.
History: Was used in a few Federal period furniture pieces. Hickory is often used for structural parts, especially where strength is required and it was also used as decorative veneers. It is also used in rustic furniture.

Mahogany
Color: Reddish brown to dark reddish brown
Native To: Mahogany is a tropical hardwood indigenous to South America, Central America and Africa. There are many different grades and species. They vary widely in quality and price. Mahogany which comes from the Caribbean is generally thought of as the hardest and best quality.
Properties of the Wood: Strong and has a uniform pore structure. It may display stripe and fiddle back figures.
History: Mahogany was not widely used for furniture before the18th Century, when it largely replaced walnut as the predominant cabinet making wood. Chippendale, Sheraton and other furniture makers like Goddard and Townsend used hickory extensively.