Ash

Ash, also known as White Ash, grows in Europe and North America. It is cream-yellow in colour with subtle grain patterns which can have a ripple effect. Ash Burr is rare to be clean and often shows marks from ingrown bark and knots. Often as Olive trees mature they can develop a darker yellow-brown colour.

Birdseye Maple

This is not a distinct species of maple. It is a growth variant of hard maple wood. Found in Northeastern America. The name derives from the appearance of tiny knots in the grain which resemble small bird's eyes. This unique appearance is formed when the tree starts to grow new shoots in poor growing conditions and they are aborted leaving behind tiny knots.

Boxwood

Boxwood "Buxus sempervirens" can be found in Europe, Northwest Africa and Southwest Asia. It is a light cream that turns darker to brown when exposed to light. The trees are very small meaning it is suited to smaller projects like edging or inlay instead of veneers.

Burr Yew

English Yew Burr wood or Burl in the US is the rarest and most sought after. Yew, or Yewtree, originates from Asia, Europe and North Africa. It is yellow-brown to orange-brown and usually conforms to a fine uniform pattern. Yew wood usually has black pips scattered throughout so clean veneers fetch a high price and are reserved for finer items. This wood is ancient and takes hundreds of years to grow. It is extremely rare in larger sizes and is...

Cedar

Cedar wood has many variations. Cedar, also known as Lebanon Cedar, True Cedar can be found in Asia, Europe and North Africa. Cedar trees are long lived and often offer a poor quality, knotty wood. Logs used for veneer are carefully chosen to make sure they have a clean, straight grain. African Cedar, or Bosse, found in West Africa is a pink-brown colour when fresh, turning into a dark almost mahogany colour with age. Brazilian Cedar found in South America...

Coromandel

Coromandel or Calamander is a valuable wood found in India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. It has a contrasting hazel-brown colour with black grain. It is a dense, heavy wood that is so popular it has been logged to extinction over the last few hundred years. This makes Calamander pieces even more special.

Ebony

Ebony is often almost completely black with very little visible grain often with a subtle red/purple hue. This wood is very expensive due to the slow-growing trees which can often be gnarly affecting the yield of straight workable wood. Most ebonies are very dense making work with hand tools very difficult and can quickly clunt cutting tools. This density however offers an excellent finish on turned items.

Frame

Goncalo Alves

Harewood

Harewood is the name given to a type of sycamore maple which has been stained and treated to take the natural cream colour to a rich brown. It has a curled or “fiddleback” figure. Fiddleback is the name given to grain with tight curls, which derives from being popular to use on the back of stringed instruments.

Hungarian Ash

Laburnum

Laburnum, or Scotch Laburnum, is found in Central Europe. It is a hardwood which is moderately heavy with a coarse texture. Laburnum is a rich olive-green colour which will progressively darken with the age of the wood.

Lignum Vitae

Lignum Vitae, also known as Guayacan or Guaiacum, is found in the West Indies and Tropical America. “Lignum Vitae” is Latin for “tree of life” which gets its name for its many medicinal uses. It is a strong, dense and very durable wood that is a dark brown with almost black streaks.

Macassar Ebony

Macassar Ebony is found in Southeast Asia and has a dramatic striped appearance that is similar to Calamander with a relatively straight grain. It's a very dense wood that is hard to work. The trees are slow growing and only grow in particular habitats, making this a rare and therefore sought after wood. It gets its name from the Indonesian Port of Makassar, where it is exported.

Maple

Mulberry

Mulberry is a golden brown wood that darkens to a red/brown with age. It is easily worked and is odourless and none toxic. It is most commonly used in furniture and turned items. When it comes to antiques, "Mulberry wood" can be a contentious subject. Some items labelled as "Mulberry" can often be made from various other kinds of wood like Curly Maple, Sycamore or Chestnut. These would be stained and dyed to enhance the grain into the dramatic contrast...

Olivewood

Olivewood, also known as Real Olive or Mediterranean Olive. Olive trees are slow growing tree and are better known for the olives and oils which the produce. Olivewood is a yellow-cream colour with almost random dark brown veining.

Padouk

Palmwood

Pear

Pine

"Pine" can be quite a catch-all term for what is a very wide variety of woods from the Pinus Genus. They range from strong hardwoods to soft easily workable woods. Pine comes from conifer trees which are found in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a light creamy yellow colour with a brown colour heartwood and has a nice natural finish that doesn't take dye and stains so well.

Pollard Oak

Pollard Oak is wood from trees that have been "pollarded". This is the process pruning the top branches of a tree to promote denser regrowth of branches and foliage. This helps the tree live longer and prevent damage from the wind or excess weight at the top of the tree. The word "Pollard" comes from the word "Poll" which means the top of the head, and eventually "to poll" which means "to crop the hair". A "Pollard" meant something that...

Sandalwood

Sandalwood belongs to the genus Santalum group of trees. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained. Unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood is often cited as one of the most expensive woods in the world and is sought after for its easy ability to carving.

Silver

Thuya

Thuya grows in North West Africa. It is a soft wood which grows in a sporadic, twisted manner. The sought after part is the burr which grows underground as a root burr. It is red-brown in colour with a fine detailed grain and will take a high polish finish.

Tuilpwood

Tulipwood

Tulipwood is also known as Brazilian Tulipwood, Brazilian Pinkwood and Bahia Rosewood. It is found in South America, mainly Brazil. The colour is warm yellow with streaks or brown-red grain.

Yew

Yew, or Yewtree, originates from Asia, Europe and North Africa. It is yellow-brown to orange-brown and usually conforms to a fine uniform pattern. Yew wood usually has black pips scattered throughout so clean veneers fetch a high price and are reserved for finer items. A few trees will produce a burr which offers a distinct decorative finish.