24 / 106
24
Furniture Essentials
Types of Wood
Hickory:
is a deciduous tree with pinnately compound leaves and large
nuts. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India, as
many as 12 are native to the United States, four are found in Mexico, and
two to four are from Canada.
Mahogany:
Mahogany grows naturally in Southern Mexico southward to
Columbia, Venezuela, and parts of the upper Amazon and its
tributaries. Mahogany heartwood is popular for furniture, cabinets and
decorative veneers.
Walnut:
Walnut grows naturally over a large geographical area,
extending from Vermont westward to Nebraska and southward to
southern Georgia and southern Texas. In addition to finishing beautifully
with rich grain pattern, Walnut wood is hard, strong, stiff and has good
shock resistance.
Yellow Poplar:
is a utility wood in nearly every sense. It’s used for pal-
lets, crates, upholstered furniture frames, paper and plywood. Though
the wood is commonly referred to simply as “Poplar”, it is technically
not in the Populus genus itself, but is indeed in the Liriodendron genus,
which is Latin for “lily tree”. The flowers of this tree look similar to tulips,
hence the common alternate name: Tulip Poplar. Very easy to work in
almost all regards, one of Poplar’s only downsides is its softness.