When selecting the best wood for furniture, various factors come into play, such as intended use, budget, and personal preference.
Two main categories of wood used for furniture are hardwoods and softwoods.
Hardwoods:
Hardwoods are the more durable and denser option for furniture, making them ideal for high-end furniture that will last for generations.
Best hardwoods for furniture
- Mahogany, for instance, is lightweight and has a rich reddish-brown hue, making it an ideal choice for decorative furniture.
- Cherry wood has a tight, straight grain that makes it easy to maneuver and machine, and it ages beautifully with time.
- Maple is one of the hardest and least expensive hardwoods, making it a popular option for furniture that sees a lot of wear over time, such as dining room sets and dressers.
Softwoods:
- Softwoods, on the other hand, are less dense and less expensive, making them a popular choice for budget-friendly furniture. Best softwoods for furniture
Best softwood furniture
- Pine is a lightweight and affordable option that is suitable for kid’s rooms and other areas where durability is not a top priority. Cedar, highly resistant to moisture and insect infestation, is an excellent choice for outdoor furniture.
- Fir, a softwood that is tougher than other hardwoods, is a popular option for various furniture types, including cabinetry, armoires, dining room tables, nightstands, dressers, paneling, flooring, cutting boards, and decorative wooden products.
Important: There are also engineered woods, such as plywoods, MDFs. I’v only listed the best natural woods so don’t get confused between Engineered wood vs natural wood.
Best wood for furniture
Acacia
Acacia wood is a dense and heavy hardwood that is highly valued in furniture making due to its durability, water resistance, and effortlessly stunning appearance. It is used to make a variety of furniture pieces, including tables, chairs, cabinets, and more.
Acacia wood is naturally smooth and has a beautiful grain pattern, making it an excellent choice for building finished pieces of furniture or cabinetry.
Additionally, acacia wood is scratch-resistant and can be used in high-traffic areas and places constantly in contact with water.
Acacia wood is naturally pest-resistant due to the density of the wood and the deposits of waste substances within the heartwood. Acacia wood furniture is weather-resistant and water-resistant, making it a popular choice for outdoor furniture
Pros
- Known for its durability and strength
- Beautiful irregular and frequently wavy grain patterns
- Resistant to rot and pests, making it a good choice for outdoor furniture
- Do not absorb moisture, it won’t be susceptible to mold or bacterial growth
Cons
- Can crack or swell when subjected to wide temperature fluctuations
- Can be expensive, but it will last for many years if properly cared for
Best for: tables or benches, patio sets, kitchen tabletops, bookcases, perfect choice for flooring. Great for a single decorative piece of wood.
Ash
Ash wood is a strong and durable hardwood that is commonly used for fine furniture and building construction. It has a high compressive and bending strength, making it one of the strongest types of wood in the world.
However, ash wood is not naturally rot-resistant and is rated poorly for rot and insect resistance, making it less than ideal for outdoor woodworking projects.
Additionally, many ash boards will have a mix of heartwood and sapwood, making color matching more difficult. Finally, wood furniture made from ash or any other type of wood is vulnerable to water and UV light damage
Pros
- It is a durable wood, but also lightweight
- Less expensive than the rest of the solid woods
- Aesthetically pleasing and absorbs wood stains well
- Shock-resistant wood with excellent bending abilities
Cons
- Poorly rated for rot and insect resistance
- Low water resistance, cannot be used in the outdoor areas
Best for: tables, chairs, dressers, cabinets, shelving units, and anything that requires hard surfaces and durability. Favorite sports equipment (baseball bats), tools, and restaurant furniture.
Beech
Beech wood is a popular choice for furniture due to its many advantages. It is a very hard and tough wood that can withstand heavy loads, making it an excellent choice for furniture and flooring. Beech wood is also very hard and durable, with a high level of stiffness, making it suitable for many different applications, including screws and handles.
Beech wood is user-friendly and easy to glue, paint, and seal, making it a great choice for furniture maker. However, it is also expensive, which can be a disadvantage for some.
Additionally, beech wood can absorb water, which can cause it to crack and warp easily. It is also very heavy, which can make it difficult to work with.
Pros
- Hard and tough wood material
- Uniform texture, its color consistency is a plus
- Polishes well and withstands shocks and wear
- Can be easily banded into many shapes
Cons
- More expensive than other woods
- Cause problems when exposed to moisture
- Needs regular maintenance and care
Best for: kitchen tops, chairs, desks, benches, bookcases, cabinets, joineries, toys, musical instruments, and floors.
Birch
Birch wood is a popular choice for furniture and flooring due to its durability, strength, and shock resistance. It is also easy to work with, making it a preferred choice for carpenters.
Birch wood has a smooth and flat surface, and its paint and adhesive properties are strong.
Birch furniture has the advantage of lubrication, wear resistance, and clear stripes due to its good mechanical strength, elasticity, and obvious growth rings.
Birch wood is also lightweight, has high dimensional stability, and is durable.
However, birch wood furniture is highly hygroscopic, which means it is susceptible to cracking and warping when it is dry. It is also perishable and susceptible to insect attacks, which makes it less durable.
Pros
- Hard and strong, considered one of the strongest wood types
- Take up the stain and polish easily
- Natural scratch and dent protection
- Moderately expensive wood type
Cons
- When it dries, the wood starts cracking and wrapping
- Not as good load capacity
- Susceptible to infestation with bugs
Best for: chairs, tables, cabinets, doors, boxes, barrels, floors, and panels.
Cedar
Cedar wood is a strong softwood that is less likely to crack and warp, making it a good choice for furniture, flooring, and construction applications. It is highly durable and has good dimensional stability.
Cedar wood is also aromatic and a natural insect-repelling wood, making it a good choice for outdoor furniture. However, it is considered a soft wood and less durable than other woods like teak.
Cedar wood is porous and less dense than teak, which means it can take in moisture if not cured and treated adequately. Therefore, cedar wood is a better choice for making indoor furniture, while teak is a better choice for outdoor furniture that needs to withstand extreme weather conditions.
Pros
- Naturally endure to rot, decay, insect attacks
- Resist to swell, warp, cup, and twist
- Lightweight, withstand many environmental elements
- Price ranges depending on the availability in the market
Cons
- Color changes over time as a result of chemical interactions
- Highly flammable unless it is specially treated
- Genuine cedar is difficult to recognize
Best for: wardrobes, trunks, dressers or chests, tables, chairs, beds, desks, cupboards, sofas, and musical instruments.
Expert Opinion
“… you should limit (cedar) indoor furniture to pieces that will see the least amount of traffic. A chest, a spare bedroom dresser or even end tables. On the flip side, using cedar wood for items such as coffee tables, entryway tables/runners and dining room tables would not be the best idea.” – Brian Luoma, co-founder Gizmoplans, DIY projects for homes
Cherry
Cherry wood is a popular choice for furniture and cabinetry due to its unique characteristics. It has a reddish-brown color with a golden hue and a fine, uniform, straight-grain texture.
It is strong and has medium strength and durability. It is less hard than other hardwoods like hickory and oak, but harder than coniferous wood.
This wood is easy to cut and work with both hand and power tools. It has a moderate natural luster and polishes well.
One of the advantages of cherry wood is that it resists warping and shrinking, and requires less maintenance and care than other hardwoods.
This wood is also flexible and easy to be curved, cut, and mold. It is used for veneer, furniture, cabinetry, turned objects, musical instruments, and carvings.
However, there are also some disadvantages to cherry wood. It is expensive, costing 25% more than oak or maple wood.
Cherry wood is not resistant to water and moisture damage, and direct sunlight can harm it and change its color in an unforeseeable way.
Pros
- Widely available, durability is good
- Excellent color, fine, and smooth texture
- Easy to be curved, cut, and mold
- Resist to shock loads
Cons
- Do not resist water and moisture damage
- Very sensible to sunlight and heat
- Used for indoor products only
Best for: cabinetry, armoires, dining room tables, nightstands, dressers, paneling, flooring, cutting boards, decorative wooden products, best for high-end furniture.
Fir
Fir wood is a popular choice for furniture because it is relatively inexpensive and accessible. It is a strong wood that holds well with adhesives, making it a good option for furniture that requires a lot of joints.
However, fir is a relatively coarse wood, which makes it difficult to get a clean edge when building.
Additionally, due to the growth rings’ patterns, staining your finished piece of furniture can be challenging.
While fir wood is strong, it is not as durable as other hardwoods like teak or mahogany.
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option for indoor furniture, fir wood is a good choice. However, it is not suitable for outdoor furniture due to its lack of durability.
Pros
- Hard and durable softwood
- Straight and grain pattern
- Rot and insect-resistant, but not quite as cedar
- Relatively inexpensive
Cons
- Usually reserved for construction projects
- Not so good at accepting stains evenly
- Not simple and easy to finish
Best for: cabinets, checkerboards, toolboxes, walls, ceilings, floors, picture frames, toys, and mirror frames.
Hickory
Hickory wood is a popular choice for furniture due to its strength and durability. It is one of the strongest and densest hardwoods native to North America, making it a great option for those who are concerned about durability.
Hickory has a Janka hardness range of 1,550 to 2,140 lbf, which is significantly higher than most woods. It is stiffer, harder, denser, and shock-resistant, making it a good choice for flooring and furniture.
Hickory is also water-resistant, making it a great option for outdoor furniture. However, it is quite heavy, which can make it difficult to move around.
Hickory wood is also harder to work with and cut, which means you need strong tools or machinery when working with it. Additionally, hickory wood is vulnerable to water, and moisture can damage wood finishes and soak into the wood underneath, causing it to split and swell. Ultraviolet light can also change wood’s color and damage its surface.
Pros
- Great strength, hardness, and toughness
- Endure a great deal of wear and tear
- It can be difficult to work with
- Price is moderate
Cons
- Splits and chips easily
- Difficult to finish
- Harder to find hickory than other types of wood
Best for: chairs, tables, beds, rockers, lawn furniture, tool handles, and some veneers.
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Mahogany
Mahogany wood is a popular choice for furniture due to its durability, attractive wood grain, and water-resistant properties.
It has a dark reddish-brown color and an oily finish that makes it perfect for high-end furniture, doors, windows, kitchen cabinets, office furniture, paneling, and other decorative accents.
One of the advantages of mahogany wood is that it is durable and long-lasting. It is also easy to work with and holds paint and polishes well.
Additionally, it is resistant to rot and has a uniform color.
Mahogany wood is also readily available and can be nailed or screwed.However, there are some disadvantages to using mahogany wood.
One of the main disadvantages is that it has limited production, which can make it more expensive than other types of wood. Additionally, there can be a large color difference between different pieces of mahogany wood.
Pros
- Hardwood for luxurious finishes and projects
- Distinguish reddish-brown color
- Rot- and insect-resistant
- With careful maintenance, furniture may last for decades
Cons
- Expensive compared to other types of furniture woods
- Mahogany furniture can be difficult to find since it is not as widely available
Best for: custom cabinetry and built-ins, tables, chairs, beds, wood veneers, musical instruments, ornate furniture, focal-point or fine furniture, high-end flooring, and windows.
Expert Opinion
“Because the environmental cost of using mahogany is high, purchasing alternatives is best. Cherry and walnut wood are similar in appearance and grain, but grow domestically and carry a significantly lower ecological footprint” – Vermont Woods Studios
Maple
Maple wood is a popular choice for furniture due to its durability and attractive appearance.
It has a fine, uniform texture with generally straight grain, but variations such as birdseye, tiger, flame, curly, wavy, rippled or fiddleback grain occur and are often selected for specialty custom artisan furniture.
When the grain has added character like this, it’s referred to as “figured.”One of the cons of maple wood for furniture is that it can be prone to spills and scratches.
Scratches and stains can be readily noticeable on the smooth surface of maple wood furniture due to its inherently light tone and fewer grains.
If you own pets, you must be cautious about this since their claws might produce visible scratches after some time.
Maple wood is not rot-resistant and non-durable. It is also difficult to stain and the wood color fades over time.
However, it is generally easy to work with both hand and power tools. Maple is very hard and strong, therefore wood has a tendency to burn when machined with a cutter.
When it comes to cost, hard maple is slightly more expensive than soft maple. Expect to pay anywhere from $8 to $12 per board foot, depending on the board width and grade. For highly figured variations like bird’s eye maple or quilted maple, prices go up to $20 to $30 per board foot.
Pros
- Strong and durable
- Variety of colors and grain patterns
- Lightweight, takes staining exceptionally well
- Handle changes in temperature and humidity
Cons
- Can be difficult to work with
- It can be pricey
Best for: kitchen-cutting boards, butcher blocks, kitchen cabinets, dining tables, desks, flooring, veneers, musical instruments, and workbenches.
Oak
Oak wood is a popular choice for furniture due to its strength, durability, and natural beauty. It is a strong, hard, heavy, and dense-grained wood that is often cut in a way that makes it resistant to warping.
Oak wood is also very durable and can last for centuries, making it a great investment for your home.
One of the advantages of oak wood is its natural properties that make it the best choice for making furniture, cabinetry, and flooring. It is easy to manipulate, good on screws, and can be used to make any furniture beautiful.
Oak wood is also resistant to moisture and decay, making it ideal for outdoor furniture.
However, there are also some disadvantages to oak wood. It can be expensive compared to other types of wood, and it can be heavy and difficult to work with. Oak wood also has visible wavy grain, which may not be to everyone’s taste.
Pros
- Excellent material for furniture
- It’s very durable, and it tends to bend well
- Takes stains very well
- Is rot- and bug-resistant
Cons
- Can be expensive to buy
- Needs to be polished regularly to maintain its beauty
Best for: kitchen furniture, shelving, garden benches, lounge chairs, beds, wardrobes, cabinetry, veneer, interior trim, and fireplace.
Pine
Pine wood is a popular choice for furniture due to its affordability and versatility. It is a softwood that comes from evergreen trees such as pine, spruce, fir, cedar, juniper, redwood, and yew.
Pine wood is lightweight and easy to work with, making it a great option for DIY projects.
However, it is not as strong as hardwoods like oak or maple, so it may not be the best choice for furniture that will be subjected to heavy use.
Pine wood is also prone to dents and scratches, so it may not be the best choice for high-traffic areas.
On the plus side, pine wood takes paint and stain well, so it can be customized to fit any decor style. Overall, pine wood is a good choice for those on a budget or for those who want a rustic or casual look.
Pros
- Lighter than most other woods
- Takes stain and paint easily
- Resists shrinking and swelling
- Inexpensive furniture
Cons
- It’s prone to scratches and dents
- Not as versatile as other wood types
- Requires more maintenance
Best for: rustic and farmhouse-style furniture, woodworking, wall paneling, decking, shelving, and other projects.
Poplar
Poplar wood is a great choice for furniture due to its versatility and affordability. It is a hardwood that is easy to work with, like a softwood, making it a popular choice for woodworking projects.
Poplar boards are typically white or creamy yellow in color, but can also have green or brown streaks running through the heartwood of the board. These mineral streaks can add character and uniqueness to the wood.
While poplar is often overshadowed by more famous woods like pine and oak, it is a high-quality wood that can be used for a variety of furniture pieces.
Its straight grain and fine texture make it a great option for painted furniture, as it takes paint well and provides a smooth finish. Additionally, poplar wood is a sustainable choice, as it is fast-growing and readily available.
Overall, poplar wood is a great option for those looking for an affordable and versatile wood for their furniture projects.
