Wood in the home - The ten most important species

Wood in the home

Wood in the home - The ten most important species

Alder
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Soft, fine-textured, with straight-grained structure. Easily polished, stained and carved. Colour varies from reddish yellow to reddish brown.	Trend wood for living room, bedroom and kitchen furniture, as well as for imitating other types of wood. Used for rails, handles, toys, garden implements and crates.	30 species in Europe, particularly Scandinavia. Common alder found in Northern Asia and North America.

Ash
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Light, large-grained with striking texture, firm and elastic. The surface can be treated with transparent colouring or lime-washed to fill the pores.	For furniture, panelling, parquetry, stairs. The brown-cored olive ash is used particularly for kitchen furniture, while the white ash is used above all for bedroom furniture. Also used for handles of every type and for sports equipment.	Predominantly found in the northern hemisphere, Europe and Middle East as far as the Kashmir region. White ash found in North America.

Beech
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Firm, strong, without distinctive patterning. Can be bent in steam (Thonet process) and also stained and dyed.	As solid wood for strutted furniture and robust tables, chairs and frames. For stairs, parquetry, toys and turned articles.	Found throughout northern Europe between 40 and 60 degrees latitude and in adjacent regions to the southeast.

Birch
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Colour ranges from yellowish or reddish white to pale brown, smooth, often with a silky sheen. Very good for staining and polishing. Young image.	New trend wood for furniture. Flamy or patterned veneer of the Finish birch is particularly popular, e.g. for bedroom furniture. Also used for parquetry, wall and ceiling panels, toys, sports articles and kitchen accessories.	Around 60 species in the northern regions of Asia, Europe and America.

Cherry tree
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Reddish brown, matte, glossy, fine-textured, with delicate, sometimes flamy patterning. Easily stained and polished.	Used for high-quality furniture, including period furniture, for representative panelling and as a decorative element in combination with other types of wood, as well as for intarsia.	In temperate regions throughout the world, as cultivars and as wild cherry. Black cherry from the USA is also popular.

European Walnut
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Light to dark brown, irregularly veined, with attractive speckled or striped patterning. Easily profiled, turned, stained and polished.	Like cherrytree wood, one of the most popular types of wood for high-class bedroom, living room and dining room furniture. Used as a decorative veneer with different surface finishes, such as striped or flamy, and as solid wood. Also used for parquetry, panelling, doors and musical instruments, as well as for turned or carved articles.	Found in Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Northern India and China, as well as in North and South America.

Maple
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Light-coloured, fine-textured and uniform wood of medium hardness. Eminently suitable for producing smooth surfaces. Also with special growth features, such as bird's-eye grain.	Trend wood for furniture, also in combination with dark wood. Also used for parquetry, turned articles and kitchen fronts.	Three species in Western, Central and Southeast Europe, Asia Minor and North America.

Oak
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Hard, tough, elastic, can be machined easily and neatly. Colour varies from light to pinkish brown.	For bedroom and living room furniture, as well as for kitchen furniture, usually rustic style; for wall and ceiling panels, parquetry, stairs, doors and windows.	Grows throughout Europe, North America, Japan and Iran.

Scots pine
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Pale yellow to light reddish, strikingly speckled, i.e. with conical grain pattern, resinous. Darkens when exposed to light.	One of the most widely used softwoods. Used for furniture, wall panelling, floors, stairs, windows and facade elements. Also used for posts, plywood and chipboard.	With roughly 94 species, one of the most commonly found types of softwood. Found predominantly from Northern Europe to Northwest Siberia.

Spruce
	Properties	Use	Distribution
	Yellowish white, soft with distinctive texturing. Surface can be dyed using all common techniques.	The most widely used native softwood and the most important building wood. Used for furniture, walls, ceilings, floors, stairs, windows, masts, ladders and slabs.	Roughly 45 species. Found in temperate to cool climates in the northern hemisphere, Europe, North America, Siberia, China and Japan.