The 6 most common types of wood for custom furniture and how to choose the best one for you!
While lots of people carefully consider the design of their new furnishing, often times the wood species is not high on the list. There is nothing wrong with putting design first, but you should also consider the importance of the strength, durability, and overall look of the wood type you choose when deciding what wood type is best for your custom piece of furniture.
Many factors can influence the type of wood that you choose. For most people the price difference is what has the biggest impact. However, just because you are searching for an economical hard wood type, doesn’t mean that you are going to sacrifice durability and beauty. There are thousands of wood types from all over the world, but the main ones that we love and have found the most success with is:
Pine
Alder
Red oak
Maple
White oak
Walnut
Now, each of these varies in color, grain type, hardness, and price so here is a short/fast breakdown of these different types so you can choose the perfect wood type for your custom furniture.
Pine
If balling on a budget was describing wood it would be pine. This species is a great beginner wood type because of how cost friendly it is. While it isn’t the most dent and scratch resistant as other types of wood, it is a great entry option for people looking to invest in solid wood pieces.
However, the absolute biggest mistake to make when using pine is trying to make something like a dining room table by using pine from a construction source like Lowes or Home Depot. Most of the time their wood is not dried to the moisture level that is needed for furniture pieces, it is meant for rough construction. This can mean that if you make your furniture piece using construction grade wood that isn’t at the right moisture level, over time you are significantly increasing the risk of cracking or warping. When using pine, it is important to find a lumber supplier that dries their wood to somewhere around 8% moisture content.
Color
Pine naturally has a yellow undertone which makes it much better suited for medium to dark shades of stain. Now that isn’t to say that you can’t use a white wash or another light stain to brighten it up, but you still will encounter those prominent yellow undertones in the wood. I’m sure that we have all seen the “how to make pine look like white oak” videos, but in our experience it doesn’t ever turn out exactly how the video portrays.
Grain type
Pine has a visible grain that runs throughout the length of the wood. Additionally, it is a wood type that does have a noticeable amount of knots and “imperfections” or as we like to say, character. The grain of the wood takes on a slightly darker version of whatever you stain it so it does stand out but in the best ways possible!
Pine Overall
Pro:
Very cost friendly
Readily available
Con:
Yellow undertone
Softer compared to other woods
Alder
Alder is an amazing choice if you are looking for a cozy rustic wood to build your cabinets, table, side tables, etc. Just like pine, Alder is a very budget friendly hardwood that is a great choice if you are wanting to invest in quality furniture but don’t want to spend thousands like for white oak or walnut.
Color
Alder has a tan undertone to it that brings a wonderful rustic feel to the piece it was used to build. The softness of the wood does a good job of evenly soaking up color and looks great whether it is stained a light color or a dark color.
Grain
Alder’s grain is very similar to maple in that it isn’t super visible or tangible but it is still present in some pieces. The smooth finish of the wood is great if you are wanting to create a seamless table top that is entirely flat to avoid any food crumbs getting stuck in cracks. Additionally, depending on the style you could easily use alder for either rustic style furniture or a more modern piece. It is important to note that you can get two different cuts of alder; Knotty alder (or also called premium frame alder) and Superior alder. As the name implies, knotty alder has knots and can really enhance the rustic feel of the piece it is used to build. Premium frame alder is a great way to achieve a more sleek finish with the beautiful subtle wood grain and light brown color.
Alder Overall
Pro:
Great for budget
Can have knots or no knots
Con:
Much softer than other wood options and dents/scratches easily
Red Oak
The best way to describe red oak is an underdog. For the average hardworking American, red oak is the most efficient way to get a very durable hardwood at a price that is extremely competitive with the name brand companies.
Color
While the name does imply the undertone of the wood, we would describe the undertone of red oak wood to be a very muted red/pink. Don’t let this frighten you! Red oak can still be the perfect wood type for you if you take in some considerations. Due to the undertone, when attempting to achieve a light stain color, red oak can be tricky to get to cooperate. This doesn’t mean it is impossible, you just need to keep in mind that the undertone can shift the stain color a bit. The best scenario for using red oak is when you are wanting to achieve a medium brown->extremely dark color. Just take a look at this 72” Red oak stained black that we created, it is as gorgeous as ever!
72” round Shelby with a black dye finish
Grain type
Red oak, like most types of oak, has a very distinct type of wood grain. The tangible grooves make this a knockout for anyone looking for a true wood feel for their dining table, hutch, entry table, etc. Also, if you have young kids who believe that every piece of furniture is bomb proof, the wood grain helps hide small scratches and dents! When stained with a medium color, the wood grain is very visible and fills a shade darker than the surrounding wood, giving you this beautiful swirl of natural beauty!
However, the downside to having such a prominent wood grain is all in the finish details. If you choose to keep the wood grain feel and not use a poly coating on top to ‘fill it in’ then you run the risk of having small food particles getting lodged in the grain if you are getting a dining table made.
Red Oak Overall
Pro:
Very durable
Budget friendly hardwood
Visible/tangible grain that can help hide small scratches and dents that will occur over time
Con:
Doesn’t do great with light stains
Maple
A go to for light, airy, and modern furniture! Maple is a great wood to go with if you are scared from the dramatic oak wood grain cabinets of the 2000’s. However, don’t think about the super orange toned maple cabinets either! As long as your builder, aka us, knows what they are talking about, and we do, you can easily avoid falling back into old trends that still give you the shivers today.
Color
This wood has a beautiful light tan undertone that when paired with a well chosen stain, can truly lighten a room! What to watch out for with woods like maple or even pine, is that because of their light undertones, the choice of stain that you use is a very important one. Oil based stain will amber (yellow) things over time so if you are trying to avoid having an overly yellow hue to your custom piece a water based stain is definitely the way to go on maple!
In our experience maple is a little picky on the color of stain that gets used on it. When going with a darker stain, maple tends to soak up the color unevenly, leaving some areas darker than others. If you are going for a rustic look this is not a bad thing at all, but if you want a more consistent color then we recommend using a light-medium stain color on maple!
Grain type
Maple can best be described by the word “subtle”. The grain is not all up in your face in this wood type. While there are the occasional runs of grain and small character spots, maple is fairly even toned for the most part.
Maple Overall
Pro:
Works great with light stains
Doesn’t have a prominent wood grain
Very durable
Con:
Darker stain colors tend to show up patchy or uneven due to how the wood soaks up the color.
White Oak
White oak is the boujee wood species. If your Pinterest board is filled with sleek and high end furnishings then white oak is the wood type for you!
Color
White oak has a light/tan undertone that can be finished in any stain color available and still look like it is straight out of a magazine. While we will say that typically because white oaks natural color is so gorgeous, most people stick with a light color stain, you are more than welcome to make a statement and choose a medium to dark color.
Grain type
Most oak species have a very prominent wood grain and white oak is no different. It has a visible/tangible wood grain that looks very similar to red oak but has slight differences. Because of the beautiful grain and the versatile white oak is a hot commodity when it comes to modern styled custom cabinets, tables, credenzas, bedside tables, etc.
White Oak overall
Pro:
Very versitile color
Stunning grain
Great for a more modern look
Con:
One of the most expensive wood types
Walnut
Walnut is a very well known wood type and is arguably one of the prettiest that is readily available in the U.S. The rich chocolate color is such a show stopper and is so pleasing to look at! While it is so pretty you do have to spend a pretty penny to get this wood type. Walnut is on average 2-4x more expensive than the other wood types listed above, which can make your project piece much more pricey than if you went with other wood types.
Color
Walnut has a naturally rich chocolate brown color that makes any piece made out of it stand out drastically. Due to the beautiful natural color, it is very rare for people to use any color stain on it. Most commonly, a clear finish like a polyurethane, wax, or oil is applied to simply enhance the color that is already held within the piece.
Grain
Depending on the piece, walnut has a medium to drastic grain that isn’t tangible. The different medium to dark shades of brown flow throughout the piece adding sometimes unbelievable patterns to the face of the wood. In our opinion, there isn’t many “domestic” wood types that can beat the beauty of walnuts color and grain combination!
Walnut overall
Pro:
Natural chocolate brown color
Stunning grain
Very durable
Cons:
The most expensive out of the woods discussed here
Not many color options because of the naturally dark color
