Wood Durability | Choosing the Right Species
Understanding ingredients in your custom furniture is key to unlocking its value
Scratches in a table from overzealous homework
Here’s a picture of a dining table after the kids finished their homework. Wait a minute, you say. I thought walnut was a hardwood. How is it that it now has dents from the rug rats?
The answer, my friend, isn’t blowing in the wind, but in the details. Because details matter.
Two things can lead to smiley face impressions in your table - the timber itself and the finish.
Here, we’ll discuss the nature of the wood itself. I’m often asked how durable a particular wood species might be. The assumption is that since we’re usually talking about hardwood then they’re all pretty much the same. But, you know what happens if you assume.
Hardwood vs. Softwood Explained
Hardwood and softwood are actually botanical terms, not physical characteristics. Hardwood refers to trees that have leaves that fall each year. Think walnut, oak, cherry, maple and so forth. Softwoods are trees that have needles - evergreens. Think pine, cedar, redwood.
In general, hardwoods are denser and heavier than softwoods. They grow more slowly and are thus more expensive. Furniture timber is typically hardwood.
Construction lumber is usually softwood, as it’s lighter, cheaper and can be re-harvested more quickly. Your house (in the US, at least) is typically made from some variety of pine, spruce or fir.
But what about physical hardness - protection from assault by the unsuspecting family members?
For Wood Nerds only
Nerd out with your furniture maker
If you’d like to nerd out, here’s a chart of the Janka hardness of various species. Named after its inventor, Gabriel Janka, the scale measures how much force is required to push a steel ball into a piece of wood. The higher the number, the more force required, and thus the “harder” the wood.
It turns out that some softwoods, like Yew, are quite hard (on the Janka scale). And some hardwoods, like Basswood are quite soft. It has half the Janka rating as Southern Yellow Pine!
Custom Hardwood Dining Tables | Handmade in the Colorado Front Range
So the best way to think about what species is ideal for your custom furniture is to break the word into two pieces. For that desktop or dining table you want to make sure you have a hard wood. And not all hardwoods (one word) are the same.
A good way to assess your furniture maker is to refer to the Janka hardness chart and see what they do. If they look at you with crossed eyes, perhaps you should ask if their knowledge base fits with your plans.
Custom furniture is about aesthetics, function and feeling. All three need to show up at the proverbial table. Is your shop asking the right questions and providing you with knowledgable answers?