favorite wood?

[julie Graf]

what's your favorite all-around wood to work with?

i've been working with ash for the past few weeks and i really like it. before that, it had been a lot of walnut, cherry and hard maple. i think my favorite wood to work with is still walnut, but the ash has impressed me.

[Doug Shepard]

what's your favorite all-around wood to work with?
...

Just on the basis of "to work with" I'd say mahogany. Easy to chisel, plane, etc. Not my favorite looking wood though.

[Billy Chambless]

That's like asking which child is my favorite!

[Craig D Peltier]

I like Beech for ease of finding nice boards and not much wild grain to contend with for tearout and cost.
I like Maple for the look of it.
For exotics I like Peruvian Walnut.

[Matt Campbell]

Put me down for Peruvian walnut.

[M. A. Espinoza]

What Doug said, mahogany. Its so easy! And it can be garish or subdued figure so it has some versatility.

But knowing it is endangered has it off my list of wood I will use. More and more I really am leaning towards only using certified wood and am thinking about only USA certified.

Some of those species out there are just stunning but I wonder where and how they are harvested. I guess if I want the flash of exotics I'll have to do my homework from now on.

On the other end...red oak. Its fugly and smells just as good as it looks.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

If other was not there, I would have Had a hard choice between Cherry and Walnut. They both have wonderful characteristics. But you added "OTHER", so I will choose Cocobolo (Could change as I get more into the Peru, S.A. woods) It's hard; has beautiful grain and turns and finishes well.

Bruce

[Larry Fox]

In terms of beauty, richness of figure, richness of color and all the other visual qualities that I look for in wood I would have to say that bubinga (especially figured) is my favorite.

I love cherry, walnut, and figured maple (especially tiger) also but I am a little burnt out on cherry after recently finishing a kitchen - but I will come back to it.

[Lance Norris]

If I have to pick one for the poll, it has to be good ol' American Walnut. Ive been working with it since High School, works easy and is beautiful. But, I also like Maple, there are so many varieties. I also like Red Elm because of the cost here in Ohio.

[Greg Cole]

Which ever one I have alot of or which ever is cheap n purdy?
I like curly maple a big bunch.... cherry too.... walnut.... can't say as I have a real favorite as with so many other things, there are alot of well it depends.
After getting a steal on some mahogany, I'm liking it alot too.
Geeze, this is harder than picking my favorite beer.... guess I'll just have to keep trying every one I can.:rolleyes: Wood species (and beer) that is...

Greg

[Jeff Bower]

I like oak because of its look, its availability, and I grew up with oak trees all around me.

[Jason Beam]

My favorite wood is whatever wood I got the best deal on.

A few years ago, i got over a ton (literally) of maple "rippings" - 12/4 rippings that all were 2" wide or more and 12 feet long. Literally about 300 sticks. I paid $100 for it. Piled about 40% onto my trailer and sold the remaining stack for $80. Later sold 20 sticks to a friend at a buck apiece. So i had about 100 sticks left over ... FREE. Maple was my favorite wood for a good while. Made my workbench out of it and turned a bunch tops to give to toys for tots.

I'm not sure what this year's wood will be, though. It may be cherry, i dunno, yet. Gotta see what the gods bestow upon me :)

[Mike Cutler]

From the list of domestics you have up there. I'd pick cherry. But, I don't work very much with domestics.

I'm of the "ends justifies the means" philosophy. It's the appearance at the end I'm looking for. Here are my favorites;

Jatoba.
Hard on machines, harder on handtools, and harder on your back when working with big long thick planks. But the finish..... Is it possible to not have Jatoba look fabulous with almost no effort?

Wenge.
Splinters in the hands, splinter dust in your face, splinters in your hair, splits along the edges when working. climb cutting with a router is a must. But the depth,and tone are, worth the hassle of working with this wood.

Cocobola.
I need a respirator to machine it, requires acetone or lacquer thinner to not turn sanding paper into burn test plates. No buying adhesives at Home Depot to glue it.
This is the wood that turned me back to the dark side of handtools. They are a must with cocobola to get the full effect.

Macassar Ebony.
Beautiful, gorgeous, machines like a dream, puts a lot of fine itchy dust in the air, and you just about have to take out a second mortgage to buy any. I'm building a bathroom sink stand,out of it this spring. I can't wait to start.

Yep, too many nice woods out there to pick just one.;)

[Bob Aquino]

Jatoba. Beautiful wood, not too expensive, can still get some real nice wide pieces.

[Wade Lippman]

There are so many nice woods! But domestic I think butternut is the prettiest (if also the weakest) and imported I suppose you can't go wrong with mahogany.

[Danny Thompson]

Padauk and Bubinga.

[Benjamin Dahl]

Maple and walnut are my favorite domestics. Wenge and bubinga for the exotics. I guess most burls too. So many great choices.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

It depends on the project. I prefer to use native species and take it from "tree to table" - or chest, or dresser, or whatever other piece, for the satisfaction of 'going all the way'. ;) If I were to get it from the lumber yard overall it'd probably be oak. I worked a lot in ash when I started but can do the same in oak and find it more forgiving than ash, especially in finsihing. I have zero experience in any of the exotic imports. Just please, please (after dozens of projects) don't ask me to make anything else in pine.

[Bill Wyko]

Kauri. 50,000 year old wood removed from a glaicer in New Zeland perfectly preserved.

[Brian Kent]

Rosewood, especially the Honduras Rosewood that my marimba bars are made out of.

[Sam Yerardi]

I haven't been fortunate to be able to use exotic hardwoods other than a small piece of padauk, satinwood, and purpleheart. So my comments will be limited to domestic (and just the ones I've used):

Aroma Sassafras, Red Cedar in that order
Color Walnut, satinwood, padauk
Grain Spalted tiger maple, sycamore, beech
Ease of working Walnut, cherry
All-around favorite Cherry
Least favorite Red Oak

[Raul Hernandez]

I can't really say that I have a "favorite"; it depends on what I'm using it for and what kind of look I want. :) Sorry, I know that's not really an answer to the question.

My wife, however, LOVES black walnut. Before I started planning out the bedroom set, I bought samples of several different species and finished them to let her decide which she liked.

That said, I just bought the biggest, most spectacular single piece of non-figured 8/4 walnut I've ever seen to cut veneer from.

[Chris Padilla]

FREE is my favorite kind! It is all secondary after that! ;)

[Andy Livingston]

I'm a simple guy. Hard maple, cherry and black walnut. Nice!

[Phil Mease]

Camphor - not as common as others and absolutely wild abundant blood celled-ness. Bar-none best figured exotic for me.

Latest camphor use:
http://www.prazision.com/images/guitar7/gallery/Fgr1.jpg
http://www.prazision.com/images/guitar7/gallery/Fpost4.jpg

I also love Sapele - (still lookin for some 16/4 ribbon btw if y'all know anyone)

Phil

[Steve Rowe]

Honduras mahogany.

[glenn bradley]

I could only vote once so I went with walnut because I love the way it machines and looks. I love ash for the price and you can color/finish it in many ways.

[Bill Huber]

I didn't see MDF or Plywood on the list.......:D:D

I have not worked with a lot of different woods as of yet but the ones I have I would say hard maple and walnut are my picks.

I really like the look of well finished maple but then who could not like a nice walnut chest or table.

[Simon Dupay]

my all around fav. is maple-clear, wide, warps very little.
cherry is nice too. good walnut is nice but hard to get (if its got no sap then it's knotty and if it's clear it's got lot's of sap)

my most fav. though are the rosewoods

[Lee Koepke]

Kauri. 50,000 year old wood removed from a glaicer in New Zeland perfectly preserved.
THAT i would like to see.

what did you make with it ???

[Bill Wyko]

THAT i would like to see.

what did you make with it ???
Here you go www.ancientwood.com (http://www.ancientwood.com) click on exceptional grain. I haven't ordered it yet but I've studied up on it and will probably get some in the next couple weeks. I plan on building my Humidor with it.

[Lee Koepke]

Here you go www.ancientwood.com (http://www.ancientwood.com) click on exceptional grain. I haven't ordered it yet but I've studied up on it and will probably get some in the next couple weeks. I plan on building my Humidor with it.
W
O
W

thats really nice looking wood. With my limited skills, it would be sinful at this time for me to get near that !!!

I now have a goal to achieve.

[Raul Hernandez]

good walnut is nice but hard to get (if its got no sap then it's knotty and if it's clear it's got lot's of sap)

You can get it, you've just gotta look for it. A couple weeks ago I bought a 12" x 72" single piece of unsteamed 8/4 stock that is 100% heartwood, and completely clear of knots or any other imperfections. I bought it from a small mill in Missouri. It ended up costing about $9-something a board foot including shipping, if I remember.

[douglas hyde]

my favorite wood is MESQUITE then CHERRY .

[Brian Brown]

The kind with grain! :D That leaves out the obvious MDF and particle board. Domestic, I love maple and walnut, can't afford cherry. Exotic I like Purple heart, Yellowheart, Bloodwood, Ebony and on and on and on.

[Matt Schell]

I love mahogany

[andy Needles]

They are tearing out lots of walnut around here to put in vineyards, and I get it milled- its fun to the the process from tree to wood. It is highly variable in grain, and it works well- it has my vote!

[Keith Starosta]

I love walnut. I love the color, the smell, the look of the finished product.

- Keith

[Jack Briggs]

Black Limba. Carves and sands like a dream. Also as exotic a look as you'll find - very attractive.

http://www.briggsguitars.com/www/images/Briggs%20A%20%2012.JPG

[scott spencer]

My favorite is usually the one I"m working with. Paduak is high on my list of "pizazz" woods, but I sure wouldn't want to see an entire large piece made from it. I sure like the grain of red elm, but it's kind of a pain to work with. I love QSWO and curly maple, though CM is pretty hard stuff. Some ash is gorgeous and works very nicely. Mahogany is great to work with too, and I love the chatoyance. I like walnut up close and personal, but from a distance it just looks dark to me. Cherry is ok but it doesn't "move" me much. Red oak is WAY too common IMO, but I enjoyed using it...

I've never used cocobolo, bubinga, mesquite, or zebrawood, but would love to try it someday...Variety is indeed the spice of wwing life! :D

[Aaron Dunham]

Has to be mesquite.

[Roger Bull]

My favorite exotic has to be bubinga. I love the range of variety from very straight grain to incredibly figured.

-Roger

[JayStPeter]

Cherry, Maple, and Walnut are the mainstays. I just used Sapele and really like the results and the way it works/machines, but not so fond of the splinters. I'll use it again though. Ash is OK, but very difficult when the grain changes direction. Can't stand Red Oak ... Chris, I've actually rejected free Red Oak :cool:. I'll have to try White Oak, I've rejected it also but may need to reconsider based on what I've read lately.

[Martin Lutz]

I will join the crew for Mesquite, a true southern pecan, then cherry, walnut.

[John Keeton]

Walnut is my all time favorite, but I am apparently one of those that is affected adversly from the dust. It gives me flu like symptoms which have lessened over the years. Oak is a close second, then Maple.

[Peter Quinn]

Favorite all around wood? Doug Fir. Strong, simple, plentiful, nice red color, ages well. Can take a lickin...Oh, hardwood? Butternut, no walnut, no make that maple, birdseye, or maybe cherry? No no, quartered white oak from Virginia, no make that Sycamore, quartered, pretty but unstable, or Mahogony, pattern grade or figured, or maybe Sapele plumb puddin, no change that to bee's wings Bubinga, man thats pretty, or maybe Wenge? Dark, mysterious, ouch...splinters...Change my order to black walnut, chrotch grain, swirling, or Lacewood? Who doesn't like lacewood? No no, its got to be big leaf maple, that's it, or cedar? Wouldn't side my house in big leaf maple...make mine rosewood, What do you mean its gone? Ok, morado then, no hurts my back and my tools. Jatoba? Nah, I can only take so much jatoba...really anything will do except red oak...I have no use for that.

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

Walnut all the way!!!! Machines beautifully and I love how it takes finish..absolutely awesome IMHO!!

[Mark Singer]

I have many, white oak, paduck, wenge, shedua, walnut, zebra, claro walnut, mahogany, it depends on what I am making, Currently its a sofa in Paduck a wonderful wood.

[Phil Watson]

My favorites are oak & cherry. I have a woodlot and cut my trees then have them milled, very inexpensive way for me to aquire quality lumber, altho time intensive.

[Bob Slater]

Interesting thread, anyone know of a site with some photos of all these woods I have never seen? Looking for something interesting to frame a window in my shop.

[nick kaplan]

Excluding all exotic woods I'd say my favorite is Locust. I think this poll would be better if limited to domestic wood. the exotics should have their own poll.

[John Fry]

1st Curly koa
2nd Peruvian walnut


And when you put them together.........that's my real favorite combo;


http://www.chiselandbit.com/joan/Joan2.jpg

[Anthony Anderson]

Cherry and Maple. Beautiful and nice to work with. I love the grain patterns.

[Alexander Valle]

West Indian Satinwood

[Jamie Schmitz]

Interesting thread, anyone know of a site with some photos of all these woods I have never seen? Looking for something interesting to frame a window in my shop.

http://www.globalwoodsource.com/lumber

[johnny means]

I find cedar absolutely intoxicating. In fact, I found myself sniffing a bag of cedar chips on the drive home tonight.:eek:

[Chip Lindley]

OAK! Red for all around woodwork. White for it's ray-fleck when quartersawn. The All-American hardwoods. Cherry and Walnut are fine woods too, but not as abundant as the old standby--Oak.

[Adam Cormier]

My favorite is definitely hard maple. I also really like Jatoba but wish it was a little less challenging to work with but nothing good comes easy.

[Van Huskey]

A blast from the past! Neat old poll.

I voted maple, I was torn between it and walnut but I like all the cool figure available in the maple family. With walnut I excluded the burls and other anomalies since I think of them almost like different species as I didn't consider Ambrosia when voting maple.

I am one that does not like oak, I will go out of my way to not use it. The only time I will use it is if I am doing something period that "requires" it. My aesthetic doesn't take me there often.

Although, I use a lot of different wood I could probably build the rest of my life with maple and walnut and actually be happy.

[Steve Griffin]

Top Favorite: Top secret--it's unusual and wonderful I don't want to draw attention to it.

Runners up: -Poplar. Got to love a stable, cheap, wonderful to work with wood.
-Quarter Sawn White oak
-Cherry.
-Yellow cedar

Least Favorite
-Pine
-Alder
-Black Walnut. Like Alder, it ages poorly and fades out to a mushy grey. It's also expensive. Can't stand the stuff.

-Steve

[Ron Bontz]

Natural / clear finish cherry and walnut have an ageless beauty about them.

[David Prince]

OSB? It is pretty versitile.

LOL

Actually Red Oak for me. I know it is common and that can be a good thing, but to me it has more to do with how it is designed and finished.

You can take the greatest looking wood in the world and have a poor design or poor finish on it and it will look like junk.

If you take oak and give it a good design and finish it well and lay out the grain for assembly, you will end up with something sharp.

I kinda stay away from Walnut and Maple because no matter how you finish it, it always kinda looks the same. Oak has a lot of character to it.

It is also a lot easier to keep a good supply on hand rather than so many different species taking up space.

I think it also pays to spend a lot of time with a particular wood so you "get to know it" and feel it work and finish.

[David Helm]

Western Big Leaf Maple with lots of figure and live edges; Old Growth CVG Douglas Fir; Alaskan Yellow Cedar; Western Red Cedar. I primarily work with local native woods, and these four are my favorites.

[Montgomery Scott]

African blackwood. I currently have around 60 species of wood in my shop, so it's hard to make a choice, but ABW has such great qualities.

[phil harold]

FREE wood is my favourite!

but most woods are nice,
they all have their purpose

[Cody Colston]

I have many favorite woods, most of them native to my area...Eastern Red Cedar, Ash, Red Oak, White Oak, Mesquite, Bois d' Arc, Red Elm...

Right now my favorite is Black Walnut because a friend gave me some logs that I had milled into 4/4 lumber. I have amost 700 bf of Walnut air drying at the present. It cost me $215 in sawyer fees and probably another $50 in gasoline plus my own labor. That works out to about 0.38 cents per bf. It was a good enough deal that I decided to build a solar kiln to speed the drying. :D

[Paul McGaha]

Oak for me. Love the look and the color of it. Also appreciate that it's markedly less expensive than most hardwoods.

Maple after that. Then Cherry.

PHM

[Jonathan Spool]

Favorite furniture wood is Quartersawn White Oak.
Favorite wood to work Black walnut
Favorite turning wood Quilted, Tiger, Birdseye, Maple.
Favorite exotic wood African Blackwood

[Mark Blatter]

I have not used any of the exotics, unless African Mahogany is considered an 'exotic'. My favorite for grain is red gum or sometimes called sweetgum. Once finished it looks incredible. It can be a pain to work though. It can be a bit unstable so can warp just from a dirty look or a single four letter word. Here is a picture of it.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/gum/gum,%20red%20figured%201b%20closeup%20s25%20q60%20 plh.jpg (http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/gum/gum,%20red%20figured%201b%20closeup%20s50%20q60%20 plh.htm)


I also like the standards, cherry, walnut, alder (bit soft though), maple (for the right project), but cannot stand red oak. At my cabinet shop I would do everything I could to dissuade customers from using red oak. I have on my list to make some things out of white oak then fume them with ammonia.

[Keith Christopher]

I love working with Mahogany. It is so nice to work with, few surprises and just machines/cuts like a dream.

[Alan Wright]

Favorite to work with is peruvian walnut. Light, extremely consitent grain pattern, easy on the back, easy on the tools, and readily available.

However, I think QSWO with just the right amount of ray flake and matched correctly on a project is hard to beat.

[Douglas Clark]

I voted maple, before it really clicked that you said "all around". I guess I had figured electric guitar tops on the brain when I read that. But really... do we have to have favorites? I feel about different varieties of wood kinda the same way I do about my kids. They are all beautiful and unique strengths and weaknesses and different ones shine for different reasons. I know, I know, that's overly sentimental and sappy (pun intended)! But it's true. :rolleyes:

[Matthew Hills]

I haven't seen peruvian walnut in person. What is the difference between that and what you can get among domestic walnut sources?

Have to admit some fondness for purple heart -- it is an obnoxious wood to work, but it was the first exotic wood I ever got and once I realized that my wife didn't want anything made in purple, has since ended up trimming out a lot of my shop furniture.

Matt