Furniture Manufacturing – Best Woods to Choose

When manufacturing furniture parts, there are many factors to consider. An important part of your project is choosing the type of wood you will use for your furniture parts. We’ve put together some helpful information on different woods that you can use, and some of their features and benefits.

 

A hugely popular choice for flooring and furniture, hard maple is just that: hard! Coming in at 5 on a scale of 1-5, hard maple offers incredible strength and durability. Fine, straight-grained and warmly toned, maple is a beautiful choice for adding beautiful honey tones to your flooring or furniture. It is more difficult to work with in woodworking because of its super hard density.

 

Bringing much the same features as hard maple, soft maple’s main difference is that it is far less dense; making it softer and easier to shape. Better suited to intricate woodworking or furniture parts than hard maple, soft maple is a beautiful choice for tables and chairs.

 

Another beautiful hardwood is walnut. Walnut is often used in combination with softer woods to make veneers. It has a deep, rich, brown color that can quickly add warmth and depth to your decor. Furniture manufacturers like walnut because walnut wood tends to have a very straight grain, which makes it easy to work with.

Carving and polishing works especially well with walnut, and once the piece is finished, its lustrous shine remains with little maintenance. A great choice for dining room sets or heirloom pieces.

Cherry is also a very popular wood because of its exceptional beauty. With the core wood being deeper reddish browns, and the sapwood a lighter color (almost white), cherry offers a striking beauty that other woods do not. Popular for furniture parts and specialty pieces, cherry is easy to work with and stains and finishes exceptionally well. It is softer than oak or ash, and can be a little more expensive and trickier to find. Another great benefit of cherry is that it is often sourced from sustainable practices.

 

Oak comes in two basic types: red oak and white oak. Red colors range from pale blondes to reddish brown, and the whites from blonde to light browns and grays. Oak has long been a favorite of woodworkers and furniture manufacturers because of its strength, beauty, and durability. If you need furniture parts that will be durable and withstand wear and tear, oak is a great choice. Oak also features a beautiful grain, which can be accentuated with different stains and varnishes.

 

Ash is less common than many other hardwoods, and can be harder to find. It has a straight grain, varies from white to light brown in color, and is a good substitute for white oak. It also stains nicely and coming in at 4 on a scale of 1-5 in hardness, it is a tough and durable choice for furniture parts.