Custom Furniture wood species
If you are going to go With Custom Built Furniture, make sure you understand your options - materials matter
One of the joys of custom furniture is that you can be different from everyone else and get something really cool and special. That shows off your unique lifestyle.
Choice of wood species is a wonderful way to explore that originality. Now that spring is in bloom let’s take a look at a wood that’s not used that often but can be a great choice for custom furniture.
Sapele (usually pronounced sah-PELL-ey, sah-PEEL-ey or sah-PEEL-EE) is an African hardwood tree related to the mahogany family. It has a rich brown/orange color and beautiful grain patterns. With the proper attention to details only achieved with hand crafting it has a wonderful look and feel.
Quartersawn sapele with shimmering grain
When quartersawn, Sapele shows a tight grain pattern that is almost subtly striped. That interlocking grain pattern gives it a shimmer when viewed at certain angles and lighting. It makes the piece come alive, communicating all its character.
With its strength, Sapele is a great way to add character to smaller pieces like benches or whiskey cabinets as shown below.
With larger projects like dining tables it can really stand out and become the center of attention.
Using Sapele as an accent, or secondary wood, gives the piece a sophisticated air about it.
Sapele is a hard wood, harder than maple or oak. For you wood nerds out there, it has a Janka hardness of 1500. That’s harder than hard Maple (1450), or white oak (1335). For you non-wood nerds, the Janka hardness scale represents the force required to embed a 0.444” steel ball into the wood to a depth of half the diameter of the ball. The larger the number, the harder the wood. See this page from The Wood Database for more info.
Sapele is a hard wood with shimmering grain
We think it is hard to choose with all the options available, that is why it is critical that your first choice should be the right shop. This means that you will have a materials expert willing to discuss and explore options that align with your ideas and tastes.
Listening skills are highly relevant at this point. The builder is an important component on the journey to bringing custom furniture into your home that is going to compliment the area and bring a quiet confidence to all that enjoy your personal environment.
