Favorite wood

[John Kain]

Just a bit of a opinionated post for everyone.

Let's talk about your favorite wood: both in terms of how it works and how it looks.

To this point in my limited WW experience, I like to work Maple. My favorite look is Cherry with BLO.

I don't have any experience with woods like Bubinga etc..........so I'm limited.

Just wondering what you all like to work with, and what you think looks the best when finished adequately.

[John Shuk]

Black walnut especially after it has mellowed with age is about my favorite.
I like working with maple or walnut best I think.

[Doug Shepard]

Here's my favorite wood:D
52033

[John Fry]

Curly Koa, and then accent it with Peruvian walnut. Ahhh, there is nothing like it.


http://www.chiselandbit.com/cgi-script/CSUpload//upload/Joan_Table%252edb/Top1a.jpg

[lou sansone]

beautiful piece john..... I am a domesticated type of guy and go for the american black walnut as my favorite wood

lou

[Earl Reid]

Cherry is my choice for most everything. I like the way it ages. Also I can get it at very good prices.

Earl

[Jim Becker]

Black Cherry and air dried Black Walnut are my favorites. But I enjoy working with poplar a lot in my shop. Ash gets action for things like spindles. All of these woods work well for the Shaker-ish-style that I much prefer.

[Mike Cutler]

Favorite wood? Hmm.... That would have to be Mopane. What a beautiful wood. Unfortunately it's so expensive that I have only used it as accent pieces.

Brazilian Cherry is a difficult wood to work with, but I've yet to make anything with it that didn't look nice when finished.

[Eric Sabo]

I'm also quite limited, but I have most enjoyed American Black Walnut, both for looks and for working it. Although, maple is quite a close second when it comes to working it. I just need to get some more time in with it.

[Al Willits]

Well being so new I haven't even begun to be limited yet, what little I've done was with Brazian cherry and I liked that wood, also I'm almost ashamed to say I like white oak also....:o

But I see a dinning room table in Bubinga or Paduak in my future....if I don't croak before I learn enough to use it.

Al

[Nancy Laird]

It depends on what we're using it for.

For our furniture and cabinets in our home, red oak is the wood of choice. We've done some things from cherry that we loved working with.

For our plaques and other wood products, maple and birch are very laserable and turn out well.

We've had good luck laser-cutting pretty things from 1/4" alder.

For turning pens, well, how many can I name? Bloodwood, purpleheart, wenge, bocote, cocobolo, bubinga, rosewood, teak, tulipwood.

I just bought some stopper blanks and they are the next project...blackwood, East Indian rosewood, bocote, and cocobolo.

I have a black walnut piece that I'm dithering over what to do with it. It's actually a crotch, and I'm torn. I'm not good enough to turn it into a vase or something pretty. It may just sit for a while. It's from a tree from my dad's yard; I'm thinking of taking a small piece for a pen for him.

Nancy

[Sparky Paessler]

It would have to be curly Koa! I have only made pens out of it but it is my favorite. For bigger things I love air dried walnut.

[Mike Null]

Cherry, mahogany, walnut, maple for working. cherry and a number of exotics for looks and accents. One that doesn't get much mention is lacewood.

[Rob Millard]

I’m torn between mahogany and curly maple.

Mahogany has such depth, and a great variety of figure types; it’s also easy to work. The drawback to mahogany is that it requires a great many steps to achieve a truly professional finish.

Curly maple, well everyone knows about how it looks. Despite what I heard about it before working with it, it is quite easy to work. It is also very easy to finish.

Walnut is also right up there at the top of my list. It smells great, is easy to work and fairly easy to finish.
Rob Millard

[Joash Boyton]

Mine, mmmmm.....I guess I'll go with Lace Sheoak. Best stuff around. AND it only grows here in WA in the whole world. Beautiful finish and grain. And you can get a mirror finish straight off the chisel(I'm talking turning here)

According to this (http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/scans/sheoak_lace.jpg) website

"Sheoak grows primarily in a small area on the south coast of Southwest Western Australia. Trees with a "lace" appearance are very rare- about 1 in 100 trees. Bird's eye lace is extremely rare- less than 25 small pieces came to the US in the last three years."

This (http://joashwoodturning.bravehost.com/myPictures/PA260007%20(Small).JPG) bowl in my collection is 100% Lace sheoak, and around 70% is Birdseye Lace Sheoak. Pretty rare and expensive timber(and bowl):D

Joash

[Gary Keedwell]

I am not ashamed to say that quarter-sawn white oak is my favorite wood. ( don't raise your nose..to me!!!) LOL

Gary K.

[Dan Drager]

Nothing works or smells better than Black Walnut IMHO. Though I love how both Mahogany and cherry finish.

Doug, you should pick a wood that floats.:D

[Paul Canaris]

Walnut for looks. Mahogany for ease of working. Although if I could only choose one for the furniture I would live with, it would be Walnut.

[Dan Gill]

Favorite wood? Hmm.... That would have to be Mopane. What a beautiful wood. Unfortunately it's so expensive that I have only used it as accent pieces.


You just live in the wrong place, Mike. Mopane is used for firewood in parts of Africa.

[Dan Gill]

I love cutting mahogany the most because of the smell. White oak runs a close second there. Quarter-sawn white oak is my favorite to work with.

For sheer looks, that curly koa is hard to beat.

[Bill VanderLaan]

I love White Oak - does not even have to be quartersawn. I am also starting to appreciate Poplar.

No interest in many of the exotics. They sure are pretty, but they are a bit too gaudy for the shaker style furniture that I prefer.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nothing quite like good black walnut and or curly maple. For both flat work or turning.

[Rick de Roque]

Doug, you should pick a wood that floats.:D

Dan,
Best line of the day.;)

Rick

[Mark Singer]

This is a good question??? not the one I am working with now!

[Calvin Hobbs]

It's got to be mahogany, followed by walnut, with the Chippendale and Queen Anne furniture that I enjoy so much.

Cherry is nice too, and I have never worked with tiger maple but I intend to.

CH

[Larry D. Wagner]

I like all of the popular NA hardwoods, red oak, white oak, cherry, walnut, maple and poplar. I am especially fond of poplar as it can be made to look like many other woods with the right finishing techniques. In the exotic stuff, purple heart, bloodwood, padauk and bubinga all are to my liking.

Larry:) :) :)

[Gary Breckenridge]

:) Walnut with maple accents or dowels is my favorite. Walnut is the only wood that has inspired me to play lumberjack.:)

[Montgomery Scott]

African Blackwood, turns wonderfully and has such depth, color and chatoyancy.

Desert Ironwood burl is another exceptional wood for the same reasons.

Amboyna burl also gets a thumbs up.

[Tony Ward]

Without a doubt my favourite timber is Australian Red Cedar [Toona australis]. A hardwood grown in the costal rainforests of eastern Australia. the heartwood is pale to dark red, depending on the maturity of the wood. Sapwood is very pale pink or yellow and distinctive from the heartwood.

Great for making my bandsawn boxes, once plentiful it is now a scarce resource!

[Dan McGuire]

My favorite wood is the same as my favorite beer: FREE:)
however if I have to buy, then I like maple, cherry and oak.

[Robert Mickley]

Walnut, cherry, maple, oak in that order.

[Gerry Musson]

Walnut and butternut for working, curly maple for looks

[Jerry Olexa]

Cherry, walnut, maple in that order....

[scott kinninger]

I think birdseye maple is one of my real favorites for accents or other "small" things.

For woods to use as a primary wood in a project: cherry, black walnut, and bubinga (in my limited experience).