Wood species

•  Alder

Alder is a neutral, color consistent floor with a grain that is not pronounced , consistent in its light tan or honey color and has a fine grain texture. Like the Vertical grain fir, it is a soft floor that will distress quickly
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 590 This is one of the softest hardwood floors available.
Grades available: Select/Better and Rustic

•  Ash

Ash has the accentuated grain of oak with a lighter yellow natural color. In the rustic grades it has color variation from light cream to dark brown. Ash is just under White Oak on the hardness scale and is a natural choice for those who are looking for a light floor with a grain similar to Oak.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1320; 2% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Australian Cypress

This is a great floor if you're looking for a rustic, high character “pine look.” There can be striking contrasts between the light sapwood and the golden (with green undertones) heartwood. When you throw in the dark knots things can get quite busy.
Appearance
Color: Cream-colored sapwood; heartwood is honey-gold to brown with darker knots throughout.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1375; 6% harder than Northern red oak.

•  American Cherry

Cherry has a wonderful wavy grain . Newly sanded, the floor will be quite pale in color but as time goes on, it will turn a deep, rich reddish brown color.
Appearance
Color: Heartwood is light to dark reddish brown, lustrous; sapwood is light brown to pale with a light pinkish tone. Some flooring manufacturers steam lumber to bleed the darker heartwood color into the sapwood, resulting in a more uniform color.
Grain: Fine, frequently wavy, uniform texture. Distinctive flake pattern on true quartersawn surfaces. Texture is satiny, with some gum pockets.
Variations within species and grades: Significant color variation between boards.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 950; 26% softer than Northern red oak.

•  Bamboo

We are having so much success selling this floor! Customers really go for the horizontal grain that shows the “knuckles” in the bamboo and for those looking for a more uniform look, the vertical grain fits the bill.

Horizontal- strips of bamboo about 1” wide are glued together.
Bamboo “knuckles” are visible throughout the floor.
Vertical - thin edge grain strips are glued together creating a very linear looking floor.

•  Beech

Appearance
Color: Heartwood is mostly reddish brown; sapwood is generally pale white.
Grain: Mostly closed, straight grain; fine, uniform texture. Coarser than European beech.
Variations within species and grades: Only one species is native to the United States. Moderate to high color variation between boards.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1300; 1% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Birch

Birch is quite similar in appearance to maple's tight, hard, even grain. We sell a beautiful red birch that is a pale pink to red-brown in color that can have white sap included. We also sell a cream colored yellow birch. Customers like birch because it is livelier in appearance than maple but does not have the strong grain of the oaks.
Appearance
Color: In yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis), sapwood is creamy yellow or pale white; heartwood is light reddish brown tinged with red. In sweet birch (B. lenta), sapwood is light colored and heartwood is dark brown tinged with red.
Grain: Medium figuring, straight, closed grain, even texture. Occasional curly grain or wavy figure in some boards.
Variations within species and grades: Yellow birch, sweet birch, paper birch. Paper birch (B. papyrifera) is softer and lower in weight and strength than yellow or sweet birch. However, yellow birch is most commonly used for flooring. Boards can vary greatly in grain and color.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1260 (yellow); 2% softer than Northern red oak.

•  Brazilian Cherry

With Brazilian cherry it's hard to go wrong with this wood! It has a very deep, red-brown color with some black swirls. It is an extremely hard, dense wood so it holds up to high traffic well.
Appearance
Color: Sapwood is gray-white; heartwood is salmon red to orange-brown when fresh, and becomes russet or reddish rown when seasoned; often marked with dark streaks.
Grain: Mostly interlocked; texture is medium to rather coarse.
Variations within species and grades: Moderate to high color variation.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 2350; 82% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Brazilian Walnut

Appearance
Dense, course grain, color varies from dark brown to almost black.
Hardness/Janka : 2350 82% harder than red oak.
Grades available: Clear, Select/Better

•  Cumaru

Cumaru is a rich, elegant looking floor. It is unusual in that it doesn't have much red in the color. The overall color is brown .

Appearance
Dense, smooth grain. Color ranges from light caramel to dark chocolate in color.
Hardness/Janka : 3540
Grades available: Clear grade
Also available in quartersawn.

•  Fir

This is a classic floor often used in Victorian and craftsman style homes. The VG Fir is quite soft so it will distress quickly and is not readily available in wide planks.
Appearance
Color: Heartwood is yellowish tan to light brown. Sapwood is tan to white. Heartwood may be confused with that of Southern yellow pine. Radical color change upon exposure to sunlight.
Grain: Normally straight, with occasional wavy or spiral texture. Nearly all fir flooring is vertical-grain or riftsawn clear-grade material.
Variations withing species and grades: Wood varies greatly in weight and strength. Young trees of moderate to rapid growth have reddish heartwood and are called red fir. The narrow-ringed wood of old trees may be yellowish-brown and is known as yellow fir.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 660; 49% softer than Northern red oak.

•  Heart Pine

Appearance
Color: Heartwood is yellow after cutting and turns deep pinkish tan to warm reddish brown within weeks due to high resin content. Sapwood remains yellow, with occasional blue-black sap stain.
Grain: Dense, with high figuring. Plainsawn is swirled; rift- or quartersawn is primarily pinstriped. Curly or burl grain is rare.
Variations within species and grades: Moderate color variation.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1225; 5% softer than Northern red oak.

•  Hickory/Pecan

It is available in wide plank and long lengths and is very hard and stable. We're having good experiences staining this wood. It accepts a stain very uniformly and looks great in any brown to walnut tone. Hickory/pecan is a versatile wood that can be made to suit almost any décor.
Appearance
Color: Pecan heartwood is reddish brown with dark brown stripes; sapwood is white or creamy white with pinkish tones. Hickory heartwood is tan or reddish; sapwood is white to cream, with fine brown lines.
Grain: Pecan is open, occasionally wavy or irregular.
Hickory is closed, with moderate definition; somewhat rough-textured.
Variations within species and grades: In both hickory and pecan, there are often pronounced differentiations in color between spring wood and summer wood. In pecan, sapwood is usually graded higher than darker heartwood. Pecan and hickory are traditionally mixed by flooring mills.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1820; 41% harder than Northern red oak. Pecan is slightly softer than true hickories.

•  Maple

Unlike many of the other hardwoods, maple is graded by color. The 1st grade of maple should be the creamy white sapwood. Lower grades will include dark heartwood, mineral streaks and knots for a more rustic look. It is a hard and dense wood .
Appearance
Color: Heartwood is creamy white to light reddish brown; sapwood is pale to creamy white.
Grain: Closed, subdued grain, with medium figuring and uniform texture. Occasionally shows quilted, fiddleback, curly or bird's-eye figuring. Figured boards often culled during grading and sold at a premium.
Variations withing species and grades: Black maple (B. nigrum) is also hard; other species are classified as soft.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1450; 12% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Merbau

Merbau is a rich, dark red-brown floor that can have colors ranging from pale yellow to deep purple-brown boards. Some customers enjoy this color variation but if you prefer a more color consistent floor a clear grade Brazilian cherry would be a better choice.
Appearance
Color: Heartwood is yellowish to orange-brown when freshly cut, turning brown or dark red-brown upon exposure.
Grain: Straight to interlocked or wavy; coarse texture.
Variations withing species and grades: Moderate to high variation in color.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1925; 49% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Oak, Red

Red oak is probably the most commonly used floor in America. This is not to say that it is not beautiful, hard and trustworthy. If you like the grain of oak you really can't go wrong!
Appearance
Color: Heartwood and sapwood are similar, with sapwood lighter in color; most pieces have a reddish tone. Slightly redder than white oak.
Grain: Open, slightly coarser (more porous) than white oak. Plainsawn boards have a plumed or flared grain appearance; riftsawn has a tighter grain pattern, low figuring; quartersawn has a flake pattern, sometimes called tiger rays or butterflies.
Variations within species and grades: More than 200 subspecies in North America; great variation in color and grain, depending on the origin of the wood and corresponding differences in growing seasons. Northern, Southern and Appalachian red oak can all be divided into upland and lowland species. Because they grow more slowly, upland species generally have a more uniform grain pattern than lowland species, with more growth rings per inch.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : Northern 1290 (benchmark).

•  Oak, White

This is Red Oak's second cousin only a bit harder. We have flooring displays in our showroom with red and white oak side by side. In this setting it is apparent that white oak has a green undertone and red oak has a rosy undertone. We usually price them the same so the choice is generally a subjective one depending on what you are trying to match with your floor.
Appearance
Color: Heartwood is light brown; some boards may have a pinkish tint or a slight grayish cast. Sapwood is white to cream.
Grain: Open, with longer rays than red oak. Occasional crotches, swirls and burls. Plainsawn boards have a plumed or flared grain appearance; riftsawn has a tighter grain pattern, low figuring; quartersawn has a flake pattern, sometimes called tiger rays or butterflies.
Variations within species and grades: Considerable variation among boards in color and grain texture, but variations not as pronounced as in red oak.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1360; 5% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Santos Mahogany

This floor is often described as "stunning" and "elegant." Santos is a beautiful, rich red colored floor with all kinds of swirls and grain patterns with golden high lights.
Appearance
Color: Dark reddish brown.
Grain: Striped figuring in quartersawn selections; texture is even and very fine.
Variations within species and grades: Moderate color variation.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 2200; 71% harder than Northern red oak.

•  Teak

It is a beautiful, formal looking wood but is not very hard. It would look best in a formal setting.
Appearance
Color: Heartwood varies from yellow-brown to dark golden brown; turns rich brown under exposure to sunlight. Sapwood is a lighter cream color.
Grain: Straight; coarse, uneven texture.
Variations within species and grades: Moderate to high color variation.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1000; 22% softer than Northern red oak.

•  Tasmanian Oak

Victorian Ash is one of the main species that comprise Tasmanian Oak. It is a neutral tan color with long, vertical pockets of dark pitch running through the grain lengthwise. Usually customers do not like this pitch pocket but we have heard that it stains evenly and the pitch pockets can be covered up.

•  Walnut

Walnut is such a beautiful wood it practically jumps out and captures the customer! The color is so distinctive and the grain is full of figure.
Appearance
Color: Heartwood ranges from a deep, rich dark brown to a purplish black. Sapwood is nearly white to tan. Difference between heartwood and sapwood color is great; some flooring manufacturers steam lumber to bleed the darker heartwood color into the sapwood, resulting in a more uniform color.
Grain: Mostly straight and open, but some boards have burled or curly grain. Arrangement of pores is similar to hickories and persimmon, but pores are smaller in size.
Variations within species and grades: Great variety of color and figure within species, as well as variation in color among boards, especially in lower grades and from material that isn't steamed prior to kiln-drying.
Properties
Hardness/Janka : 1010; 22% softer than Northern red oak.