Common Timber Species
Please note: Any samples or images represent only an indication of average colour and general grain, pattern, texture and, as with any natural material, are subject to variation.
WHITEWOOD Picea Abies and Abies Alba
Sourced from Scandinavia and Russia and commonly known as White Deal, Common or Norway Spruce, its colour is white to pale yellowish-brown heartwood with a natural lustre.
Uses: Strings and treads on basic staircases.
REDWOOD Pinus Sylvestris
Sourced from Scandinavia and Russia, known as Pine and Scots Pine, its colour is white to pale yellowish-brown heartwood with lighter coloured sapwood.
Uses: Pine balustrading, stairs and general joinery.
SOUTHERN YELLOW PINE Pinus Palustris & Pinus Elliotti
The heartwood is yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, generally resinous, which distinguishes itself from the light coloured sapwood. Southern Yellow Pine is typically harder and heavier than their commercial species of pine and is almost identical in strength properties to Douglas Fir.
Uses: Mainly on strings and treads on general staircases.
HEMLOCK Tsuga Heterophylia
Pale in colour with long straight grain and no knots. Good for staining and painting for a high quality finish.
Uses: Mainly balustrading items on staircases.
SAPELE Entandrophragma Cylindricum
Dark reddish brown colour with interlocked or wavy medium to fine texture grain; it works fairly easily. Available in log form, which, when quarter sawn, produces the familial stripy figure.
Uses: Staircase, balustrading and all types of joinery.
IDIGBO Terminalia Ivorensis
Colour is Yellow to light brown. The grain is straight to slightly irregular with a medium to fairly coarse texture. The timber works well by both machine and hand tools and finishes cleanly. An excellent utility timber for many purposes due to its medium weight, ease of working, durability and outstanding stbility.
Uses: Exterior joinery (poor man’s oak).
NORTH AMERICAN WHITE ASH Fraxinus Americana
Northern Ash, also known as ‘Touch Ash’ is pale cream to greying brown in colour, generally straight grained, with a course but even texture. It is appropriate for applications where strength is a requirement.
Uses: Internal joinery, staircases and balustrading.
NORTH AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT Juglans Nigra
The colour varies from a light grey-brown to a chocolate brown to purplish brown, and finishes beautifully with an excellent decorative appearance due to its outstanding grain, colour and pattern. Grain patterns vary from very plain to highly figured.
Uses: Widely used for cabinet making, high quality joinery doors and shopfitting.
NORTH AMERICAN WHITE OAK Quercus Alba
Colour ranges from a light yellowish brown to pale biscuit, occasionally with a pinkish tinge depending on region and site conditions in Eastern USA. Straight grained with a medium to course texture, it machines fairly readily and stains and polishes to an excellent finish.
Uses: Very popular for all internal joinery, staircases and balustrading.
EUROPEAN OAK Quercus Robur/Quercus Petraea
Colour light tan to biscuit with silver grey figure on quarter sawn. Usually straight grained but varies with growing conditions. This is an increasingly popular timber with interior designers and shop fitters.
Uses: All types of interior and exterior joinery.
European Oak wood sample