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Dark Ash - Ash heartwood is light tan to dark brown,
sapwood is creamy white. Ash is similar to White Oak, but more
yellow.
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Light Ash - Several shades lighter than dark
ash.
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American Cherry - has cream coloured sapwood which
contrasts sharply with the reddish heartwood. In the heartwood the
colour can range from a pinkish red to darker red. American Cherry
also has a small dark brown gum veins.
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Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba) - A beautiful wood, Jatoba
(Brazilian Cherry) is salmon red to orange brown, russet to reddish
brown. Jatoba is a very hard wood.
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Maple - Common names are black maple, black sugar maple,
and sugar maple. The wood is very fine and evenly textured. It
is valued for its strength, wear resistance and beauty. The grain is
usually straight, but occasionally currly or wavy.
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Purple Heart - A rich purple wood from South America,
ideal for borders, inserts and contrasts.
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Ipe - Ipe grows to a height of 120 feet or more in the
natural rainforests of Central and South America. It is now being
grown by tree farmers in naturally sustainable forests in Costa Rica and
Brazil. Ipe heartwood is light dark olive brown, often with lighter
or darker striping which contrasts with the lighter color sapwood.
It is harder than oak. |
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White Oak - Older homes in Canada may have Quebec or
Ontario oak from old growth forests, however, there are very few old
growth forests left in North America. Most of the oak milled today
in Quebec and Ontario is shipped from New England.
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Red Oak - The red oak is the most attractive of oaks for
a natural (unstained) floor. It also stains well in numerous
shades.
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Walnut - The sapwood of walnut is creamy white, while the heartwood is
light brown to dark chocolate brown, occasionally with a purplish cast and
darker streaks. The wood develops a rich patina that grows more
lustrous with age. Walnut is usually supplied steamed to darken
sapwood. The wood is generally straight-grained, but sometimes
with wavy or curly grain that produces an attractive and decorative floor.
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Wenge - From central Africa, this is a uniform, dark
chocolate brown colour that is used primarily for contrasting accents
strips or in those areas desiring such a bold dark
look.
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Cumuru - The cumuru tree is widely distributed in the
Neotropics, extending from the humid forests of Honduras through Central
America. It is found in all of the Amazonian countries and along the
Caribbean and Atlantic coasts of the Guianas.
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Birch - This is a strong hardwood. Colour characteristics
include a medium brown heartwood with a light cream sapwood. Texture
is fine and even, grain is typically straight. Birch is best when
left natural with a clear polyurethane finish; however, because of it's
tight grain it does not stain well, tending to be blotchy, unless properly
prepared.
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Beech - Many older homes have beech floors. It is a light coloured
wood similar to maple or birch, and when refinished it has an orange hue.
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Santos Mahogany - Santos Mahogany is grown in Paraguay, Bolivia,
Brazil, Peru, Panama, Guatemala, and Mexico. It is a rich dark
mahogany coloured wood, which is a superior choice to genuine mahogany,
(which it resembles in colour), given Santos Mahogany's hardness and
colour fastness. Most of the wood is found in the medium to dark
orange-brown mahogany tone.
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Kempas - From Malaysia and Indonesia, kempas is a
coarse-grained, very hard, pink to reddish colour wood with medium
graining, that is widely used for flooring in the Far East.
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