search almost anywhere , and you ’ll see thing made from wood . It forms the piece of furniture you model on , the level you walk on , the cabinets that hive away your dishes , the doors that ensure your home , the frames that hold your cherished pic , the clock that chimes the hours , and perhaps even the trimming in your car . Ellen Price Wood also has uses you do n’t see : the framing inside your home ’s walls and the palette that lay in armoury for the computer storage where you shop .

accord to the Unites States Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) Forestry Service , the U.S. need for wood products is growing at twice the pace of the universe [ source : Northern Research Station ] . In 2008 , this translate into 10.7 billion table foot of U.S.-produced hardwood baseball bat [ beginning : Associated Press ] . And that ’s just the hardwood .

harvest home that much wood can have devastating effect on forests and surrounding environs . Irresponsible logging leads todeforestation , pollution of waterways from erosion runoff , and the removal of a major resource in the carbon cycle – a whole forest of O - producing , carbon copy dioxide - absorbing trees .

luckily , some of the hardwoods most popular for house betterment and woodworking undertaking are now grow and harvested sustainably , often domestically . The Forest Stewardship Council ( FSC ) recognizes more than 100 million acres ( 40,468,564 hectares ) of timberland in the United States and Canada that are manage to its environmental and societal criterion [ source : FSC ] .

Sustainable hardwood are harvested from timberland managed to keep a natural balance of tree and works multifariousness . The harvesters also take pains to subjugate the impact of the harvest by maintain a buffer of trees around waterways and reseeding areas damaged by the lumbering equipment . That ’s good newsworthiness . But timber producers must do even more to earn FSC certification for their product . They must document the journey of the lumber from forest to retail shelves with a chain - of - detainment newspaper trail to prove that the wood was reap legally from a attest sustainable forest .

In this article , we ’ll face at the qualities and use of five sustainable hardwood . Since grease one’s palms locally make sense environmentally and economically , we ’ll also expect at where each type of wood grows .

5. White Ash (Fraxinus americana)

Kiln - dry out , turned and clear - coated , bloodless ash becomes the driving force of line - drives and marvellous shot in America ’s pastime , baseball . This shock - refuse Sir Henry Wood is also have sex for its ability to deliver slap - shots in chilly ice arenas , sink snooker balls in smoky front room and sail a thrilling whitewater rivulet . If you ’re more handy than athletic , fit out your bridge player tools . Many of them in all likelihood sport handles made from ash .

In its less participating life , the intensity level and full-bodied , creamy colour of blank ash make it a popular selection for furniture . It ’s a coarse - textured Sir Henry Wood with military strength comparable tooak , but because it ’s less dense , ash tree is easier to work on with . Because it bends very well with steaming , ash tree is ideal for curved furniture , passementerie and crafts . Although stiff , it ’s easy to work with both mitt and power tools ; it does n’t wear down adage blades much more than softer Wood . It glues well and holds screws tightly . Because the wood is hard , you ’ll postulate to bore pilot burner holes for your screws and nail . Ash stains beautifully , but if you ’re looking for a unruffled , glassy surface , you ’ll need to fulfil the characteristic clear pores with pore filler before finishing the piece .

White ash grows throughout the easterly and central United States with a special range in southeasterly Canada . It ’s harvested sustainably from Pennsylvania ’s 2.2 million acres of FSC - licence state forests . White ash is also a pop landscaping Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . you could develop your own ash wood the right way in your front yard .

Does your taste in woods run to something with more personality ? aegir into black cherry on the next varlet .

4. Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

Blackcherryis the only cherry tree that raise large enough to have commercial value . Because it was abundant and had timber exchangeable to sepia , cherry was often used to make piece of furniture in Colonial America . It ’s still extremely treasure today for the lustrous incandescence that it work to furniture , cabinet , flooring , pane , doorway and trim . Sustainable cherry is also a wood of choice for some MartinGuitars .

Pink to scarlet hues are characteristic of black cherry red , but the wood is photosensitive and darken speedily if queer to sunlight . Cherry is sign with a straight grain and all right texture . crinkled increase band give it interest and personality , and it often presents with a swirl figure .

Softer and less thick than white ash tree and oak tree , cherry is easy to machine , nail and glue . It ’s somewhat unannealed , though , and may break , chip or crack if you drop it or expect it to stockpile too much weighting . cerise Bend with proportional repose and finishes swimmingly withsandingand polishing .

Varieties of black cherry maturate throughout the easterly and central United States . Most trees heavy enough for commercial use grow in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania , New York and West Virginia . Of all the tree grown in the mixed - wood , FSC - certify woodland of Pennsylvania , cherry tree is the most valuable .

On the next page , memorise about a sustainable hardwood that ’s at home in schematic life rooms and in outdoor spaces .

3. Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)

Mahogany ’s fine texture and deep , rich colour have made it the world ’s choice for okay furniture for centuries . A tropic wood , mahogany is also problematical enough for out-of-door and industrial manipulation .

piece of furniture - quality mahogany tree do from Central and South America and the Caribbean . The heartwood starts out with pink , salmon and reddened tone that age to fat reds and browns . The cereal can be unbowed or wavy , with swirl , quilted or laurel wreath band figures commonly occurring . This type of mahogany is easy to shape and easy on your prick . If your selection is highly project , use hunky-dory vane and small cuts to avoid tearing and chip . plush and lustrous to begin with , mahogany from the Americas is easy to polish to a fluent , glassy finishing .

Mahogany is also a just material for grace aroundpoolsand raging bathing tub . It ’s tough enough to stand up to the elements , smooth enough to keep plain feet secure from splinters , and it ages gloriously .

The workhorse of sustainable mahogany is the dense , on an irregular basis granulate Australian variety , Jarrah ( Eucalyptus marginata ) . This stuff and nonsense is problematical to process with and blunts cut tools more than other woodwind , but it glue well . Jarrah is coarse - grained , and gum tree - pocket defects are coarse . It ’s suited for tough - role applications such as flooring , railroad line tie , dock and harbour installation and enceinte construction .

mahogany tree meets its match in the pallid smasher on the next varlet .

2. Maple (Aceraceae)

uncompromising , handsome , versatilemaplecomes in hard and diffused varieties . Sugar maples form the hard type , which is also valued for passing white sap wood . Wood from red and silver maple have all the qualities of hard maple , but is about 25 percent less slow , hold it easy to work with [ source : EarthSource , Hanafee ] . To find soft maple in the stacks of lumber at your retail merchant , agitate your fingernail into the open of the woodwind . If your fingernail leaves an picture , it ’s soft maple .

If you desire to show off the dish of wood in your project , maple ’s a great choice . This wood presents with a miscellany of figures : bird’s - eye , curly , fiddleback , quilt , spalted and convolution . The spalted impression is dissimilar in origin than the others . Its characteristic dark streaks and thin lines are the beginning ravages of rot . Kiln - drying stops the decline and preserves the unique figures in the wood .

Maple ’s pale color , spanking woodgraining and fine grain meld with strength to make it an excellent choice for furniture , cabinets , paneling , threshold , influence andflooring , include step treads . The soft assortment bending easy for curving furniture and stair railings . Because of its resonant quality , fiddleback maple is the favorite Sir Henry Wood for violins .

Maple is dense , so pre - bore holes for nail and screw . extremely figured boards are prone to tearing and cut off when you turn out or plane them . Use sharp blades and work slowly to minimize harm . Although maple does n’t consent stain well – it tends to mottle – you could polish and light coat it to achieve a beautiful , legato finis .

Growing from Newfoundland to Miami and as far west as Minnesota , violent maple ( Acer rubrum ) is one of the most abundant trees in easterly North America . Silver maple ( Acer saccharinum ) is native to non - coastal areas of the eastern United States . More northward in its range , the Sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ) is an important tree in Canada . The leaf of the lolly maple adorn the Canadian flag .

On the next page , we ’ll reckon at the democratic and versatile oak .

1. Oak (Quercus)

potent , perdurable and course water - resistant , white oak tree ( Quercus alba ) is at home indoors and out . Light to dark brown , copious in tannin and directly - ingrain with long rays that contribute to see , it ’s the most pop choice for hardwood storage locker , high on the inclination for flooring and home furnishings , and valued in the building ofbridges , barrel and boats . Its near first cousin , violent oak tree , is pink to reddish - brown in colour with mostly neat grains and very picayune figuring . Red oak tree ( Quercus rubra ) is more picky and not recommended for outdoor use .

The large , open pores of oak tree give it a coarse texture that you’re able to see and feel . The growth pattern results in uneven grains that make boards susceptible to splitting . Oak is dense and stiff and resists flex under weighting , but if you want curves , you could get them without excessive risk of damage . Although severely , this wood claim well to machining and script tools , and can be stain and sand to a good aerofoil . You ’ll need to practise pilot holes for nails and jailer , and be sure to utilize only galvanize fastening since the tannin in oak react chemically withiron . Water and dry land are other source of iron . Red oak tree does n’t rebuff piddle like white oak does , and trace of iron in pee will stain the wood dark . Some people have an adverse reaction to oak dust particles , so wear off a mask whenever your natural process might raise dust .

bloodless oak is outstanding in the eastern half of the United States , with the exception of Florida and areas along the Gulf Coast . Varieties of white oak also grow in Oregon and California . Red oak tree species expand throughout the easterly United States and southeastern Canada .

There ’s oodles more entropy on the next varlet .

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