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The oak table I hope to replace
Oak is the most durable choice, and undoubtedly what you should choose if you like the way it looks. Oak is also cheaper than many of the other choices. I saw a nice solid oak table that you could get with 10 chairs for $2000 at IM home. This weekend I visited my parents and admired their 25 year old oak table. They’ve refinished it a few times and now it looks almost as good as new. That table lasted through their children’s growing up years and now looks to be headed far beyond. It is proof that a good table could be a lifetime investment.
Maple is also very hard and is a great choice if you are going to have the furniture painted. It is not known for its beautiful grain and doesn’t take stain very well though. If you are looking for something to stain dark, you need to keep looking.
Alder is known for its beautiful grain. Unfortunately, Alder is the softest of the hardwoods and will mar comparatively easily. If you like the distressed look that is popular now, Alder works well for that. Alder also stains very nicely.
Cherry is my favorite. Cherry is softer than oak and maple but considerably harder than Alder. All woods darken with age–have you ever seen a light colored antique? But cherry is particularly known for this. It can darken dramatically with age, so beware if you are trying to match other pieces of furniture! A dark stain slows the color change, but UV rays will still penetrate. If you like dark wood, cherry takes a dark stain beautifully. To me, cherry says elegance.
There are other beautiful hard woods–walnut and mahogany for example–but I haven’t found a good place yet to buy a solid wood table made out of these.
One of the most important things I discovered is that it is possible to get a nice-looking solid wood dining table without veneers. However, as Robin said in response to my earlier post about dining room tables, they can do things with veneers that they can’t (or usually don’t) do with solid wood, so the veneered tables usually look fancier/more elegant/prettier.
What is your personal experience with these woods? Would you choose the wood your furniture is made out of again? Why or why not?
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2 Responses to “Furniture Wood: What I’ve learned”
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Stay away from cherry unless you play on buying one of those hard covers and putting it on top of the table when you eat on it. All the cherry tables I have seen as scratched or dented or have one of those toppers on them. Good luck with your search. I’m guessing you already returned the new table with the heavy chairs.
wow, great info. I love solid wood and I love old furniture. I found your blog through your facebook page. I will be visiting your world now. Oh, my blog is private, so please send me your email address if you want in invite. Thank you.