Which wood to choose for furniture?

 

When choosing wood for furniture, it is useful to know what its properties are. The huge number of wood species and their diversity sometimes makes it difficult to make a choice.
 
In our store we offer a range of wood species both commonly used in furniture making and unusual and often overlooked. Thus, by using natural finishes, we can simultaneously provide furniture of different colors.
 
Depending on your needs, you can choose furniture made of wood with better properties or color-matched to your home's decor. This guide will help you evaluate which type of wood is best for you.

Wood species

The same species of wood can have very different colors depending on the finish, origin or grain pattern. The photos show examples of the colors that wood of one species can have.

 

Oak

Oak wood is widely regarded as noble and luxurious compared to other species. Its ring-shaped structure and prominent core rays create a varied grain. Oak wood is one of the most durable and hard European species.

 

Ash

The structure of ash wood is similar to oak, as are its mechanical and physical properties. Core rays, however, are invisible to the naked eye. Ash wood is becoming increasingly rare due to widespread tree dieback.

 

Pine

A common wood species used in construction and well known to everyone with clearly visible annual rings. It is characterized by its durability and ease of processing. It has warm colors and an interesting grain.

Poplar

A light-colored wood with large annual grains. Lightweight and easy to work with. When finished with oil, the varied grain of the wood shows.

European walnut

A rare and noble wood with a small proportion of heartwood, large and distinct annual rings. It has very different and contrasting colors - light sapwood and brown heartwood. It has very good mechanical properties and is easy to work with. It occurs rarely and is most often used in decorative elements or as an accent.

 

Beech

A heartwood-free, pitted wood of varying colors. Hard and heavy, with better mechanical properties than oak. Commonly used in elements subjected to staining or painting.

 

 

Comparison table - approximate values of parameters for selected species

Despite the apparent variation in wood properties in the table, our furniture is designed to be always solid and durable. The parameter that may be most important to you is the hardness of the wood. It affects the ease of damage to the surface. If you want to minimize the risk of scratches and dents, choose hardwood.

 

Name	Density [kg/m3]	Compressive strenght [MPa]	Hardness [N]	Maximum volumetric shrinkage [%]
European oak Quercus robur	675	46	5000	13
Ash Fraxinus excelsior	680	51	6580	15
Pine Pinus sylvestris	550	41,5	2420	13,5
Poplar Populus tremula	450	35	1650	13
European walnut Juglans	640	50	5400	13
Beech Fagus	710	57	6460	18

 

Remember that wood is a natural material. The number of factors affecting the mechanical and physical properties of wood is huge. For example, they depend on the growing conditions of the trees: the amount of rainfall or the type of soil. Wood can also have different properties depending on its position in the trunk: wood closer to the core often has a higher density.

 

All factors combined make the variation in some parameters as high as several tens of percent. In our practice, we take this into account and design furniture in such a way that it always lasts. We use well-dried wood without anatomical defects, which gives us confidence in its quality.

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Nauka o drewnie – Franciszek Krzysik, 1975

Wood handbook – Forest products laboratory, 2010

wood-database.com - Eric Meier et al., 2024

encyklopedialesna.pl

Photos – Kowalski Woodshop