| Trade Names: Cherry, American Cherry, Black Cherry |
Similiar woods: European Cherry, French Cherry |
Origin: North America |
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| ■ Range: Northeastern halves of Canada and USA as well as south to Florida and Texas. Cultivated to some extent in Europe. However, only the trees from the growing areas in Northeastern USA and possibly Canada are significant for veneer production. Northern Pennsylvania is best known growing region. |
| ■ Uses: Very good sliced veneer for faces. As lumber it is preferred for architectural panels and furniture. Good qualities are always in demand. However, due to this heavy demand it is becoming more and more difficult to find American Black Cherry in good qualities. It is also very much sought after as lumber. |
| ■ roperties: The color of the heartwood is orange-reddish to reddish-brown with a satiny finish. Unlike the European Cherry the wood darkens considerably. This is why the European Cherry is considerably more select and purer in color than the American Black Cherry. Numbering amongst the natural features of Cherry are gum pockets, black gummy deposits in the annual rings (a frequently occurring feature) as well as pin knots (tight-grown, small knots). |
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| Trade Names: Walnut, Black Walnut, American Walnut |
Similiar woods: French Walnut, Laurel |
Origin: North America between latitude 32° and 42° north. |
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| ■ Range: Best known felling areas for high quality veneer wood are the Eastern States in the USA with Delaware in the east, New York in the north, Iowa in the west and Kentucky in the south with the main centre in Ohio and Indiana. As a general rule American Walnut grows in mixed forests. |
| ■ Uses: Sliced veneer and lumber for architectural woodwork and high class furniture making. Due to its high strength and elasticity suitable also for production of chairs and seats. Used especially for gunstocks and aircraft propellers. Traditional wood for upright and grand piano making. |
| ■ Properties: Dark brown, frequently with figuring. American Walnut is unique for ”bird pecks”, fingernail size knots, which occur in the veneer as stain streaks with a small hole in the middle, which degrade the wood. |
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| Trade Names: Red Oak |
Similiar woods: Scarlet Oak, Southern Red Oak, Pin-Oak, Cherrybark Oak |
Origin: North America |
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| ■ Range: Eastern and northern areas of the USA, Southern Canada and native in Central and Southern Europe for more than 200 years. Most frequent species of Oak in North America. |
| ■ Uses: Veneer. Only very good logs are used for slicing, others are peeled. Red Oak is also used for facing in the furniture and door industries and as construction wood. Unlike in White Oak, Red Oak wood is not suitable for staves due to its open pores. |
| ■ Properties: The color is light reddish to dark red. Compared with White Oak it is considerably larger in diameter and cleaner. Knife stain can very easily occur when slicing since the wood contains more tannic acid than found in White Oak and the water flow is facilitated by the open pores. |
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| Trade Names: White Oak, American White OaK |
Similiar woods: Chestnut, European White Oak |
Origin: North America |
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| ■ Range: Throughout North America but mainly in the Eastern and Mid-West states. Known especially as suppliers of high quality veneer are the states of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. Since there are over 80 different species of Oak in the USA there are many mixed genera and varieties. The diameters are smaller than those of European Oak. |
| ■ Uses: The White Oak can be used universally in all branches of the woodworking industry because it is most resistant to external influences. This is why it is held in high esteem in the veneer and lumber trades due to its expressive texture. It has great significance in the USA as stave wood (for whiskey). Used as veneer and lumber in all branches of the furniture, door and panel industries as well as for making parquet floors and stairs. |
| ■ Properties: Due to the strong interbreeding of the different species the color spectrum is broad and extends from light yellow to dark brown. Deviations into pink are possible, too. Frequent occurrence of so-called mineral deposits, dark streaks which appear on the surface as clearly defined patches. Blue stain can occur through contact with metal in wet wood. |
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| Trade Names: Hard Maple, Sugar Maple |
Similiar woods: Sycamore (European), Maple (European), Swiss Pear, Alder, sliced Birch |
Origin: North America |
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| ■ Range: Eastern area of North America, from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico. Exploited commercially mainly in the north of the USA. Apart from its use as wood also significant as the source of maple syrup. Special forms of Hard Maple are the Curly Maple, Quilted Maple, Fiddleback Maple and the Birds Eye Maple. |
| ■ Uses: Hard Maple is one of the most used furniture woods in the USA. Over the last two years Hard Maple has established itself in Europe as a furniture wood, above all as a substitute for Pear, Alder or European Sycamore in unsteamed white or steamed pink color shades. Due to its resistance to friction it is also suitable as hardwearing parquet in gymnasiums, etc..Turned into bobbins, loom shuttles and billiard cues. |
| ■ Properties: So-called sugar occurs in Hard Maple veneer small, brown stains spread over the surface. These can be diminished by steaming or staining. |
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| Trade Names: Zebrawood, Zebrano, Zingana |
Similiar woods: |
Origin: West Africa |
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| ■ Range: Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, lower tropical rain forests. |
| ■ Uses: Primarily sliced veneer, occasionally rotary cut for face veneer, used for furniture, luxury architectural woodwork, today used especially for dashboard paneling in the automobile industry. It is almost always quarter sliced. |
| ■ Properties: The heartwood is light grey to yellow with distinct dark brown stripes. Greatly resistant to funghi, insect infestation(particularly termites) and the weather. Zebrawood is extremely dependent on fashion trends although it is a very decorative wood. Degrading are the so-called barbed wire lines which interrupt the black stripes. These effect the uniform appearance of the veneer. |
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| Trade Names: Ash Curl, Ash Crotch, European Ash |
Similiar woods: |
Origin: Europe |
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| ■ Range: Crotches from Ash trunks are very rare. |
| ■ Uses: Architectural woodwork and single projects. |
| ■ Properties: The frequently occurring brown heartwood in Ash is generally found in the crotch, too. It is more or less distinctly developed and often leads to very expressive patterns and textures in the veneer. |
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| Trade Names: Walnut Burl, Californian Walnut Burl |
Similiar woods: |
Origin: West coast of the USA from Southern California to Oregon. |
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| ■ Range: The burl is only a by product, the actual purpose of the tree is to grow nuts. To this end gigantic walnut plantations have been set up where the American Walnut (juglans regia) is being grafted to the European Walnut (juglans nigra). As a result root burl growth develops below the grafting point. After the productive capacity of the trees for nuts has been exhausted these burls are dug up as a second product and sold. |
| ■ Uses: Highest quality interior work and furniture production. Used in larger quantities for dashboards by the automobile industry. Also used for high quality instruments in the production of upright and grand pianos. Most desirable as solid wood for gearshift knobs. |
| ■ Properties: Walnut burl occurs in many different forms. From head veneer and cluster to solid burl which now as before numbers amongst the most expensive and most sought after veneers. Splitting often occurs within the trunk. |
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| Trade Names: Damo, Tamo Yachidamo (all Japanese names), Tamo, Japanese Ash |
Similiar woods: Curly Maple |
Origin: East Asia |
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| ■ Range: Southeast Asia, especially in Japan, Korea, Manchuria and Sachalin. However, the occurrences of this wood being of importance for the Europan market are those of Japan, especially on Honshu and Hokkaido. |
| ■ Uses: High quality interior construction lumber, highly decorative with burls or fiddleback mottle; construction lumber (only in Japan). |
| ■ Properties: The color is slightly darker than that of the European Ash but when machined Japanese Ash is more comparable with European Oak. Colorful Tamo and Tamo Burls are excellently suited for the production of very decorative veneers. |
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