Wood Selector
Below are a collection of photographs of common woods and veneers. This is a flavour of the wood choice that is readily available and is not exclusive. If you don't see what you want please check out the suppliers on my Links page where you can see a wider choice. Please feel free to contact me.
A note about the pictures
All the pictures on this page are at the same scale to enable comparisons to be made of texture. Different computer screens display colours in different ways so the colour you see may not be truly representative of the colour of a particular wood (which themselves can vary greatly in colour) - the pictures are only meant to be informative. The wood samples were sealed with a coat of blonde shellac which will darken the wood from the natural state but is more indicative of the 'finished' article.
Native British Timbers
There are over 70 native and introduced trees in the British Isles, many of which yield wood in sufficient quantities for commercial use.
In general, trees which grow in temperate climates, where they have a regular growing/dormancy season, can produce wood that is either ring-porous or diffuse-porous . Put simply, it means the wood has a (typically) coarse or (typically) smooth texture.Ring-porous woods (oak, ash, elm, sweet chestnut) are so-called because the growth ring shows two distinct forms of growth within a single season (year) so the wood comprises alternate layers of wood of differing textures. Wood that is diffuse-porous (beech, sycamore, cherry etc) have a more uniform pattern of growth throughout their growing season so the wood texture is more uniform and generally less coarse.
Native British woods shown here
Non-native and exotic woods
Many of the trees native to Britain are found elsewhere (albeit different species) and their timber can be broadly very similar in colour, figure and texture. Sometimes they offer (subtle) differences in appearance that make them more aesthtically appealing; American Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is much darker and sometimes more figured than English Walnut (Juglans regia). Conversely, English Oak (Quercus robur) tends to be more figured than American Oak (Quercus alba).
- Afrormosia
- American Black Walnut
- American Chestnut
- American Red Oak
- American White Oak
- Hard Maple
- Hornbeam
- Horse Chestnut
- Iroko
- Jarah
- Jelutong
- Mahogany
- Padauk
- Plane
- Purpleheart
- Rosewood
- Sapele
- Silky Oak
- Sweet Chestnut
- Sycamore
- Teak
- Utile
- Walnut
- Zebrano
American Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) Back to list
American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) Back to list
American Red Oak (Quercus rubra) Back to list
American White Oak (Quercus alba) Back to list
Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) Back to list
Beech (Fagus sylvatica) Back to list
Birch (Betula pendula) Back to list
Cherry (Prunus avium) Back to list
Elm (Ulmus procera) Back to list
English Oak (Quercus robur) Back to list
Hard Maple (Acer spp) Back to list
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) Back to list
Horse Chestnut (Aescalus hippocastanum) Back to list
Iroko (Chlorophora excelsor) Back to list
Jarah (Eucalyptus spp) Back to list
Jelutong (Dyera costulata) Back to list
Lime (Tilia spp) Back to list
Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) Back to list
Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) Back to list
Plane (Platanus x hybrida) Back to list
Purpleheart (Peltogyne paniculata) Back to list
Rosewood (Dalbergia spp) Back to list
Sapele (Entandophragma sapele) Back to list
Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta) Back to list
Sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) Back to list
Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) Back to list
Teak (Tectona grandis) Back to list
Utile (Entandophragma utile) Back to list
Walnut (Juglans regia) Back to list
Yew (Taxus baccata) Back to list
Zebrano (Brachystegia spp) Back to list
Tiger Chestnut (Castanea sativa) Back to list