I have been a carpenter for most of my adult life. There are many types of wood to use in your home. To select the kind of wood you would like to use in your home, you first need to know about the many different kinds of wood.
You can identify wood by its characteristics. The characteristics include color, grain, hardness, and strength.
Color is the shade of the "raw" wood before it has had a finishing agent applied to it, such as stain or polyurethane. Grain is the design in the wood made by the layers of fibers and the size and arrangement of the pores. The pores are the openings through which fluids are absorbed or discharged. The pores may be small and compactly distributed, producing close-grain wood, or they may be large and widely-dispersed for open-grained wood. Hardness is the capacity of the wood to withstand abuse. Strength is the ability to resist force and stress.
Wood can be made into thousands of useful items. The wood used determines the color, grain, durability, and cost of each item. For the purpose of this writing, I will categorize the varieties of wood into hardwood and softwood, respectively.
Hardwood.
Ash is a light-colored, tough wood. It is highly elastic which makes it good for furniture or paneling. Although black locust isn't used in the home, it is used outside the home. The most unique feature of this wood is its resistance to decay. The wood is hard, does not split easily, and holds nails well. It excellent to use for fence posts.
Butternut is a wood of luxury. When sanded, it becomes velvety smooth, making it the wood of choice for toilet seats. Cherry is a closed grain wood that resists warping, which makes it perfect for quality furniture, including tables, chairs, and cabinets. You know this wood is nicely aged when it reaches that dark red that everyone hopes for.
Hickory is a very strong wood, but is susceptible to decay and insects. It is sometimes used for trim projects.
