Category Archives: Wood of the Month

Wood of the Month: Alder

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Alder is classified as a domestic hardwood; on the Janka hardness scale, it beats poplar and pine. Its appearance is light brown mixed with varied red tones and a straight grain pattern.

This straight pattern provides a clean finished look for many projects. As Alder ages, it darkens and reddens unlike other woods that tend to fade. Alder is typically used for furniture, cabinetry, picture frames, and many other indoor projects because of its malleability.

Alder grows in abundance throughout the western United States. This domestic wood is easy to work with and mimics the look of other hardwoods. Prized for its color, grain and workability, Alder is a highly sought after wood for flooring as well.

At AdvantageLumber.com we have one of the widest selections of domestic woods available. We can mill Alder to any profile your project requires, including molding, trim pieces, and flooring.

Visit our website at AdvantageLumber.com or call us at 1-877-232-3915 to get a quote!

Wood of the Month: Curly Soft Maple

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Our February wood of the month is curly soft maple. A highly acclaimed wood, curly soft maple delivers stunning looks for furniture and musical instruments. Curly soft maple isn’t a separate species of maple; it’s actually just regular soft maple with a unique, curly grain pattern. This pattern is also known as tiger, rippled, and fiddleback.

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Wood of the Month: Un-steamed Walnut

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We’ve featured American walnut before as our Wood of the Month, but this time we’d like to talk about un-steamed walnut. Un-steamed is a word that’s not often used for describing wood, and it surprises many to learn that walnut is often steamed to create a more uniform, but dull color throughout the lumber piece.

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Wood of The Month: Hickory

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Simply mentioning the word “Hickory” can make mouths water, thanks to its association with a BBQ, but there’s more to Hickory than a delicious flavor. It’s a prominent tree in the Southeast, and grows very large, reaching heights of 160 feet and expanding to 7 feet in diameter. It’s also a wood that’s readily available right in our North Carolina facility.

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Wood of The Month: Persimmon

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Persimmon is a native tree species to North America and is most commonly known for its fruit rather than its wood. Persimmon is actually part of the Ebony family and is commonly referred as White Ebony, because the tree is comprised of a lot of white sap wood with a small core of darker heartwood.
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Wood of The Month: Cocobolo

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Cocobolo is a stunning and unique hardwood that has become a prized material among woodworkers. Chances are you’ve seen this wood in many artisan products such as jewelry, executive pens, bowls, furniture and instruments! Cocobolo is a dense oily wood which polishes to a high gloss without any finish, a feature not many woods have. These oils present a challenge if you’re looking to glue Cocobolo, but using acetone to wipe down the joints will draw out the oils allowing you to use a two part epoxy to adhere pieces together. Cocobolo isn’t used in wind and string instruments solely because of its beauty. The wood itself has wonderful tonal qualities that help create a crisp sound.
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Wood of the Month: Ambrosia Maple (Wormy Maple)

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Covered with unique patterns, Ambrosia Maple is the perfect wood for anyone who seeks one of a kind wood.

Covered with unique patterns, Ambrosia Maple is the perfect wood for anyone who seeks a one of a kind wood.

Ambrosia Maple is a highly coveted wood for many projects because of its very unique and colored patterns. A lot of people often wonder if Ambrosia Maple is a specific species of wood, or if some sort of chemicals were added to give it the interesting patterns. The truth is that Ambrosia maple isn’t a different species, its regular soft maple that has had small beetles called ambrosia beetles nesting in it which carry a certain type of fungus for food.
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