Question about wood species

[Pamela Panik]

I am a laser person and have been practicing on just balsam. I am getting some blanks made up from Maple to photos on. However, I noticed that a lot of people are using Red Alder.
I figure you guys who work with wood all the time would be able to tell me why. Is it price, less grain, or something all together different that I am missing?

Thanks,

Pamela

[Tom Sontag]

Maybe post this in the Laser forum?

[Jim Becker]

While I also agree that the Laser Forum holds a greater degree of weight, red alder is an attractively priced, fine grained species that is also a "good chameleon". It's extensively used in furniture as it can look like a number of species, including cherry, when finished appropriately. For your purposes, the fine grain and even color is what makes it attractive...laser details display well.