Hardwoods
Ash:
Ash is a very hard and durable wood. It is used primarily in the production of baseball bats and tool handles.
Aspen:
The wood is white, soft, but fairly strong, and with very low flammability. It has a number of uses, notably for making matches, where its low flammability makes it safer to use (easy to blow out) than most other woods. Shredded aspen wood is also a popular animal bedding, as it lacks the phenols associated with pine and juniper, which are thought to cause respiratory ailments in some animals. Heat treated aspen is a popular material for the interiors of a sauna.
Balsa:
The timber is very soft and light with a coarse open grain. This makes it a very popular material for model building and buoyancy materials (lifebelts, etc.). It is also a very popular material to use when making wooden crank baits for fishing, for it’s low density but, high in strength. Balsa wood is also used to make very light, stiff structures in model bridge tests and for the construction of light wooden airplanes.
Cherry:
The cherry tree is used for many things. The fruit may be eaten and is a key ingredient in many drinks. The wood is dark red in color, strong and very durable. It is used to make furniture and other fine woodwork, due to it’s aesthetic appeal.
Birch:
Birch wood is fine-grained and pale in color, often with an attractive satin-like sheen. Ripple figuring may occur, increasing the value of the timber for veneer and furniture-making. Birch ply is among the strongest and most dimensionally-stable plywoods, although it is unsuitable for exterior use. Birch wood is also used to make speaker cabinets, amplifiers, and drums, due to it’s stability and tone.
Elm:
Elm wood was valued for its interlocking grain, and consequent resistance to splitting, with significant uses in wheels, chair seats and coffins. The wood is also resistant to decay when permanently wet.
Oak:
Oak wood is one of the most used hardwoods. It is valued for it strength, resistance to insects, and decorative grain pattern. Oak is used to make barrels, corks, furniture, smoke houses, and musical instruments just to name a few.
Hickory:
Hickory wood is extremely tough, yet flexible, and is valued for tool handles, bows, wheel spokes, carts, drumsticks, golf club shafts, walking canes, and baseball bats. Hickory is also highly prized for wood-burning stoves, because of its high caloric content. In the Southern US, hickory is popular for cooking barbecue, as hickory grows abundantly in the region, and adds flavor to the meat. Hickory is sometimes used for hardwood flooring due to its durability and character.
Walnut:
Walnut trees are valued for their attractive timber, which is hard, dense, tight-grained and polishes to a very smooth finish. The color ranges from creamy white in the sapwood to a dark chocolate color in the heartwood. When kiln-dried, walnut wood tends toward a dull brown color, but when air-dried can become a rich purplish-brown. Because of its color, hardness and grain it is a prized furniture and carving wood. Walnut burls are commonly used to create bowls and other turned pieces. Veneer sliced from walnut burl is one of the most valuable and highly prized by cabinet makers and prestige car manufacturers. Walnut wood has been the timber of choice for gun makers and other craftsmen for centuries.
Maple:
Some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain, known as flame maple and quilt maple. Maple is considered a tone wood, or a wood that carries sound waves well, and is used in numerous instruments such as guitars and drums. Sugar Maple wood, often known as "hard maple", is the wood of choice for bowling pins, bowling alley lanes, drums and butcher's blocks. Maple wood is also used for the production of wooden baseball bats, and maple syrup.