Favourite Wood

[Peter Tremblay]

Black Walnut

I love the color and the ease of working it, especially with hand tools.

Cherry is a close second for the same reasons.

Then soft maple and poplar

[Bill Holt]

Mesquite for the challenge, stability, and fragrance of the saw dust.

Mahogany for the beauty (highly allergic to the dust)

Walnut for beauty and workability

[SteveS]

African blackwood burl and desert ironwood burl. They turn wonderfully and the chatoyance is marvelous.

I have about 60 other species of wood in my shop, but those are probably my favorites.

[Foggy]

Free. Sometimes there is some decent wood in shipping crates. I will be getting some apple for the lathe when I harvest the neighbor's dead fruit tree.

[RedBob]

I've worked with walnut, cherry, curly maple, QS sycamore, poplar, Ipe, Meranti, pine, red oak. If I had to pick a favorite out of those, it would be cherry for looks and workability.
I've got a small stash of genuine mahogany that's waiting for the right project and it is supposed to be very workable, so looking forward to that. Just bought a hunk of Wenge for accent wood. Heavy and dense and looking forward to getting acquainted.

Bob

[JR1]

Douglass fir for strength and workability and Ipê for strength and durability. Can't afford either so use whatever is on sale and looks good.

[Bibliophile 13]

My favorite wood is usually whatever hardwood I've just finished using, when I'm looking at a smooth, freshly-finished surface and I've forgotten every little frustration I had with it along the way.

Seriously, I love just about any clear, straight-grained hardwood. (Even clear, straight pine is a joy to work--when I can get it.) But as the guys above have said, walnut and cherry are exceptionally nice to work. There's a reason you see a lot of fine, American furniture made out of walnut and cherry. It's not just that they're pretty (they are!), but they're also pretty easy to work with. They're relatively stable, and they plane down easily. I highly recommend them both.

[Steve N]

Heck even the woods I said I hated at the time are pretty cool to play with. I like em all, depends what the purpose is, and what LOML tells me it will be made of

[wood2woodknot]

Walnut - I love the look and feel. My very first carving years ago was a solid walnut pinewood derby car. I have an almost unlimited supply of 2x2x13 billets that have been aging for nearly 80 years. Work like cutting through butter.

Poplar - so easy to work with, and the more color in it the better - pink, and green, and purple streaks through the creamy base color. Finishes well. Also stains well. I just did a dozen pieces that came out a beautiful chestnut brown with great grain structure.

Padauk - gorgeous pieces that go from red to orange to near bright yellow to black - beautiful chatoyance as you tilt it to the light. Was great for a special fretwork piece, and a future jewelry box or two. May mellow out to chocolatey browns if attacked by sun and UVs so I hear - haven't seen it yet.

Mahogany - on my list for some jewelry boxes, trays, etc. Nice deep colors with good grain pattern.

[RLMillard]

SpongeBob,

Mahogany because it is the species used for the vast majority of pieces from the period I like (Federal)

Having said that I have been the most impressed with the pieces I've built in curly maple. It has such a striking brilliance when properly finished.

Rob Millard
www.americanfederalperiod.com