Very popular wood over the last decade and used extensively in furniture making due to its’ rich dark brown to purplish-black heartwood. Walnut is worked well with hand or machine tools. It also contrasts well with all the other woods we supply. This is a tough, hard timber of medium density. Walnut has also good steam bending properties. Walnut has very good finishing properties an polishes up to a very high standard. This timber is sourced mainly in the eastern USA and Canada.
King of woods when it comes to cabinetmaking, while other woods may come and go in popularity, White Oak remains consistently in demand. Varies in colour from pale yellow-brown to biscuit. Traditionally used for interior applications but with the demand for non tropical hardwoods for exterior use, American White Oak is becoming increasingly popular for shop fronts, window frames and other exterior applications. It is not the most ideal timber for this application and should be prepared and treated with care. It is a very dense and hard wood so all tools will have to be sharp to get the most out of White Oak.
Ash is most commonly used in this country for making hurleys but is a beautiful wood in its own right. It is very reasonably priced and can be machined easily. The Colour is Creamy white to light brown heartwood with wide white sapwood. Generally straight grained with a pronounced grain this adds to the character of the wood. Stains and finishes well.
Maple is a very dense material but with good sharp tools finishes beautifully. It is the palest of the woods we supply and the grain is not as pronounced as Ash. Used mainly in flooring throughout the country and was very popular in kitchens in the late 90’s. Speaking from experience, it is a really nice timber to work with and excellent to turn on a lathe.
Yes we do. We can source Cherry, Elm, Beech, Spalted Beech, Iroko, Red Oak and many more and machine them to your needs. We are trying at woodprojectsireland.com to give good value to you. This means we have to source the 4 timbers in bulk and have them in stock. We feel the choice given to you is a good one and should cover most projects that are being made. We can still quote for any other timber if you so desire.
We at woodprojectsireland.com are providing a service to you to help you complete your project. We will machine any order no matter how small (just be aware that you will have to pay the postage on that component). One piece of advice I can give is that if you feel there is a piece of your project that is very complicated, practice it first on a cheaper material until you master it and then proceed to the final component.
The stock timbers we chose were all picked as they worked well with hand tools. Personally I like to go with Walnut on the drawer sides and maple on the drawers fronts, firstly because they both machine well and secondly the contrast between the 2 woods highlights your joint making skills.
As all the timber that is sent out from woodprojectsireland.com is of guaranteed quality and exacting standards you would only need to allow example 20mm on the length of your support rail (remembering to include your tenon!) We deal with all the waste at source and deliver only the prime cuts to you.
