Types of Wood for Woodworking

By Joshua Farnsworth

Understanding different types of wood is really important for woodworker and furniture makers. It is unreasonable for woodworkers to learn every type of wood as there are hundreds of wood species, so below I have listed some of the most common types of wood lumber species that woodworkers use for making furniture and woodworking hand tools. Keep in mind that there are quite a few variations of different types of wood (e.g. hard maple vs. soft maple or Black Walnut vs. English Walnut) so I’m just listing the basic names:

Common Types of Wood: Hardwoods

• Alder
• Ash
• Beech
• Birch
• Butternut
• Cherry
• Chestnut
• Cypress
• Hickory
• Holly
• Mahogany
• Maple
• Red Oak
• White Oak
• Poplar
• Purpleheart
• Sapele
• Teak
• Walnut

Common Types of Wood: Softwoods

• Cedar
• Eastern White Pine
• Fir
• Redwood
• Spruce
• Southern Yellow Pine

What is the Best Wood for Woodworking?

As a furniture maker, some of my most favorite types of wood to work with (especially when woodworking hand tools) are black walnut, quartersawn white oak, cherry, beech, poplar, eastern white pine, and southern yellow pine. I use a lot of Southern Yellow pine because you can get it at most hardware stores as construction lumber, and if the boards are 10-12 inches wide, you can cut out the center and use the quartersawn pieces on the edges (see my other page for more details). Different types of wood are good for different purposes when building furniture, so it’s important to research what is the best wood for furniture projects that you’re building. For example, when building a chest of drawers, a primary (expensive) hardwood like cherry or white oak would be great for the exterior and visible parts and pine or poplar would work well for interior parts that most people won’t see often.

Free Resources to help you understand lumber for woodworking:

You can read my popular article: “Learn How to Choose Stable, Strong & Beautiful Wood”

Here is an excellent resource, with photos, of different types of wood: The Wood Database.

Janka Wood Hardness Test Chart

Below you will see a list of most of the different types of wood on a Janka hardness test chart. The Janka hardness test measures the force (pounds-force is abbreviated “lbf) required to push a small steel ball halfway into a piece of wood. Most of the types of wood below lead to a Wikipedia article that will teach you more about each type of type of wood:

Force	Species
5,060 lbf	Australian Buloke
4,800 lbf	Schinopsis brasiliensis, Quebracho, Barauna, Chamacoco
4,570 lbf	Schinopsis balansae, Quebracho Colorado, Red Quebracho
4,500 lbf	Lignum vitae, Guayacan, Pockenholz
3,840 lbf	Piptadenia Macrocarpa, Curupay, Angico Preto, Brazilian Tiger Mahogany
3,800 lbf	Snakewood, Letterhout, Piratinera Guinensis
3,700 lbf	Brazilian Olivewood
3,692 lbf	Brazilian Ebony
3,684 lbf	Ipê, Brazilian Walnut, Lapacho
3,680 lbf	African Pearwood, Moabi
3,664 lbf	Grey Ironbark
3,650 lbf	Bolivian Cherry
3,640 lbf	Lapacho
3,540 lbf	Cumaru, Brazilian Teak
3,417 lbf	Sucupira, Brazilian Chestnut, Tiete Chestnut
3,260 lbf	Ironwood
3,220 lbf	Ebony
3,190 lbf	Massaranduba, Brazilian Redwood, Paraju
3,040 lbf	Yvyraro
3,000 lbf	Strand Woven Bamboo
2,960 lbf	Cocobolo
2,900 lbf	Bloodwood
2,697 lbf	Red Mahogany, Turpentine
2,680 lbf	Live Oak
2,670 lbf	Southern Chestnut
2,473 lbf	Spotted Gum
2,350 lbf	Brazilian Cherry, Jatoba
2,345 lbf	Mesquite
2,330 lbf	Golden Teak
2,240 lbf	Guatambú, Kyrandy, Balfourodendron riedelianum
2,200 lbf	Santos Mahogany, Bocote, Cabreuva, Honduran Rosewood
2,170 lbf	Pradoo
2,160 lbf	Brazilian Koa
2,135 lbf	Brushbox
2,040 lbf	Osage Orange
2,030 lbf	Karri
2,023 lbf	Sydney Blue Gum
1,980 lbf	Bubinga
1,940 lbf	Cameron
1,933 lbf	Tallowwood
1,925 lbf	Merbau
1,912 lbf	Amendoim
1,910 lbf	Jarrah
1,860 lbf	Purpleheart
1,850 lbf	Goncalo Alves, Tigerwood
1,820 lbf	Hickory, Pecan, Satinwood
1,810 lbf	Afzelia, Doussie, Australian Wormy Chestnut
1,798 lbf	Bangkirai
1,780 lbf	Rosewood
1,725 lbf	African Padauk
1,720 lbf	Blackwood
1,712 lbf	Merbau
1,710 lbf	Kempas
1,700 lbf	Black Locust
1,686 lbf	Highland Beech
1,680 lbf	Red Mulberry
1,630 lbf	Wenge, Red Pine, Hornbeam
1,624 lbf	Tualang
1,575 lbf	Zebrawood
1,570 lbf	True Pine, Timborana
1,557 lbf	Peroba
1,510 lbf	Sapele, Sapelli, Kupa’y
1,490 lbf	Curupixa
1,470 lbf	Sweet Birch
1,450 lbf	Hard maple, Sugar Maple
1,390 lbf	Caribbean Walnut
1,390 lbf	Kentucky coffeetree
1,380 lbf	Natural Bamboo (represents one species)
1,375 lbf	Australian Cypress
1,360 lbf	White Oak
1,350 lbf	Tasmanian oak
1,349 lbf	Ribbon Gum
1,320 lbf	Ash (White)
1,300 lbf	American Beech
1,290 lbf	Red Oak (Northern)
1,280 lbf	Caribbean Heart Pine
1,260 lbf	Yellow Birch, Iroko
1,230 lbf	Movingui
1,225 lbf	Heart pine
1,220 lbf	Carapa guianensis, Brazilian Mesquite
1,200 lbf	Larch
1,180 lbf	Carbonized Bamboo (represents one species)
1,155 lbf	Teak
1,125 lbf	Brazilian Eucalyptus, Rose Gum
1,120 lbf	English Oak
1,100 lbf	Makore
1,100 lbf	Siberian Larch
1,080 lbf	Peruvian Walnut
1,023 lbf	Boreal
1,010 lbf	Black Walnut, North American Walnut
995 lbf	Cherry
950 lbf	Black Cherry, Imbuia
950 lbf	Red Maple
940 lbf	Boire
910 lbf	Paper Birch
900 lbf	Eastern Red Cedar
870 lbf	Southern Yellow Pine (Longleaf)
840 lbf	Lacewood, Leopardwood
830 lbf	African Mahogany
800 lbf	Mahogany, Honduran Mahogany
780 lbf	Parana
770 lbf	Sycamore
720 lbf	Box Elder
710 lbf	Shedua
710 lbf	Radiata Pine
700 lbf	Silver Maple
690 lbf	Southern Yellow Pine (Loblolly and Shortleaf)
660 lbf	Douglas Fir
626 lbf	Western Juniper
590 lbf	Alder (Red)
590 lbf	Larch
540 lbf	Chestnut
500 lbf	Hemlock
420 lbf	Western White Pine
410 lbf	Basswood
380 lbf	Eastern White Pine
75 lbf	Cuipo
70 lbf	Balsa