Wood Species and Characteristics for Cabinetry

Our main wood supplier, Beavertooth Oak, gets their sheet goods from Timber Products. Timber Products grows trees on their own forest lands from the seedlings they plant. They have the help of the best experts from various fields, including wildlife biology and road management. They responsibly manage the timber, harvest it, and then bring it to their own mills. From there, they manufacture and deliver the high-quality wood products that we count on every day. To learn more about Timber Products, please visit their website at timberproducts.com

All products are carefully created with the environment in mind. They continually improve their processes to reduce waste and use no-added formaldehyde (NAF) based resins or ultra-low-emitting formaldehyde (ULEF) resins to reduce emission. Their prefinished panels emit zero formaldehyde because of the UV finishing technology timber products use. Timber Product’s commitment to healthy forests starts from the ground up. Every year, this company plants and manages 400,000 trees in addition to protecting wildfire and water quality.

Timber Products operates its business safely, using a renewable resource that must be managed cautiously while implementing year-round sustainability initiatives to ensure abundant and healthy forests to remain for future generations.

Learn about different species on this page, then check out the examples of our cabinet and furniture work with different species by wood type with this menu:

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North American Wood Species & Characteristics

Red Oak

Oak is one of the more durable wood species. The grain patterns are unique making it one of the easier woods to identify. Oak wood is generally straight-grained, has an uneven texture and will have a wider grain compared to quarter sawn oak.

Quater Sawn Red Oak

The difference between oak and quarter sawn oak is how the wood is cut. Quarter sawn oak provides a much straighter grain on the face of the wood, making it look remarkably busy compared to regular oak. Due to its orientation at cutting, quarter sawn oak boards often feature dramatic flecks and rays which give each piece a unique and striking look

Rift Red Oak

Rift red oak is similar to quarter sawn oak, but cut at a slight angle to the radius, which creates a tight, straight wood grain.

White Oak

White oak has light brown/gray heart wood and a straight grain with a coarse texture.

Quarter Sawn White Oak

Quarter sawn white oak is similar to white oak, but its grain has a flaking pattern that runs perpendicular to the grain.

Rift White Oak

Rift white oak is similar to quarter sawn white oak, but cut so that is has less of the flake effect.

Alder

Alder wood is a hardwood with a light brown color, a smooth texture, and a straight grain.

Rustic Alder

Rustic Alder shares similar attributes with Alder. The main difference is that it features more variances in coloring and has knots.

Hickory

Hickory is the hardest of the domestic woods (i.e. hickory bats, hammer handles, etc.). It is comprised of lights and darks with a distinct pattern. The light is the sapwood and the dark is the hardwood. It has minimal knots and mineral streaking.

Rustic Hickory

Rustic hickory has many of the same attributes as hickory, but with more intense color variations, color streaks, knots, and burls, as well as extreme grain patterns.

Hickory Heart

Hickory Heart lumber is sorted from Hickory, so all of the wood is the heart (middle of the tree). This gives it a consistent and clear color without losing the grain pattern. When Hickory Heart is stained, it gets a nice deep color.

Mahogany

This wood has a straight, fine, and even grain that shimmers. It is durable and the reddish-brown color darkens over time and displays a reddish sheen when polished.

Cherry

Cherry has a light, reddish-brown color. Its grain is unique in that its color gets richer with age (i.e. old world libraries).

Rustic Cherry

Rustic cherry is less refined than clear cherry, with more natural imperfections in the grain, such as knot, mineral streaks, sapwood, and grain variations.

Maple

Maple is a hard wood known for its smooth grain, which makes it ideal for painted cabinetry. Its color is a light, creamy blonde with straight, even grain. Because of the grain and the density of the wood, staining it is not recommended.

Walnut

Chocolate/coffee color, known as a heartwood. Walnut hues contain light browns, gray, purple, reddish tints. The sapwood of walnut carries typically a blonde pale color also ranges to a yellow gray. Walnut is a straight/tight grain although you will sometimes see waves or curls within the wood.

Rustic Walnut

Rustic walnut is less refined than clear walnut, with more natural imperfections in the grain, such as knot, mineral streaks, sapwood, and grain variations.

Melamine in White, Gray, Maple, and Almond

Melamine wood is a durable, affordable, and easy-to-clean material that’s often used as a decorative surface for particleboard or MDF panels. It’s resistant to stains, scratches, and chemicals, and can withstand high temperatures. It is available in a variety of colors.