Wood Samples
FLOORING SPECIES
Oak Flooring
, Cherry Flooring, Walnut Flooring, Maple Flooring, Hickory Flooring
| Oak |
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| Source: |
Eastern USA (especially Central States) and through Appalachian region. |
| Color: |
From light brown with a greyish tinge in the heartwood to shades of ochre in the sapwood. |
| Pattern: |
More pronounced with long rays. |
| Characteristics: |
Pores are angular and very numerous and filled with glistening substrate called tyloses, which makes this wood especially suitable for water-tight containers (barrel staves) and where water resistance is required. Tannic acid in the wood protects it from fungi and insects. |
| Uses: |
Nearly all common uses of hardwoods, and especially popular where strength and durability are required. Also for water-tight or water-resistant purposes. |
| Availability: |
Readily as veneer and lumber.
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| Cherry |
 |
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| Source: |
Maine to Dakotas and Appalachians, Pennsylvania to West Virginia |
| Color: |
Light reddish-brown. |
| Pattern: |
Straight-grained, satiny, some figured, small gum pockets are normal markings. |
| Characteristics: |
Light, strong, rather hard, fine-grained |
| Uses: |
Fine furniture, woodworker and engravers blocks |
| Availability: |
Readily as veneer and lumber.
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| Walnut |
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| Source: |
Walnut grows throughout the United States and southern Canada, however, its commercial range is confined largely to the Central States. |
| Color: |
Light grey-brown to dark purplish-brown. |
| Pattern: |
Plain to highly figured. This one species produces a greater variety of figure types than any other, approached only by mahogany. Longwood (plain and quarter sliced, half-round, both plain and figured, crotches, swirls, stump wood and occasional burls). |
| Characteristics: |
Moderately heavy, very strong for its weight, exceptionally stable. |
| Uses: |
Furniture, architecturally woodwork, gunstocks, novelties. |
| Availability: |
Readily as veneer and lumber.
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| Maple |
 |
|
| Source: |
USA (Lake States), Appalachians, Northwest USA, Canada. |
| Color: |
Cream to light reddish-brown heartwood, thin white sapwood tinged slightly with reddish-brown. |
| Pattern: |
Usually straight-grained, sometimes found highly figured with curly, fiddleback, blistered, quilted, Birds Eye or burl grain, scattered over entire tree or in irregular stripes and patches. |
| Characteristics: |
Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, tough, stiff, uniform texture. Excellent resistance to abrasion and indentation. |
| Uses: |
Furniture, interioirs, fixtures, flooring, woodenware, cutting surfaces, bakery paddles and other industrial uses, school furniture, decorative inlays and overlay. |
| Availability: |
Plain Maple - readily as veneer, Figured Maple limited as veneer. Readily as lumber.
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| Hickory |
 |
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| Source: |
Northeastern Canada and USA to Southwest into Mexico |
| Color: |
White to cream with inconspicuous fine brown lines and tan heartwood. |
| Pattern: |
Hickory is a ring porous woods, meaning that the pores of the spring wood form a well-defined ring. |
| Characteristics: |
Extremely tough and resilient, quite hard and only moderately heavy. |
| Uses: |
As veneers -furniture, skis and moulding and bent plywood requiring extreme strength. |
| Availability: |
Readily as veneer and lumber.
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