Pressure?
You don’t know what pressure is until you play for five bucks with only two bucks in your pocket
– LEE TREVINO –
Canadian maple
Hardwood from Canada, Northeastern USA
Unlike most other hardwoods, the sapwood of Hard Maple lumber is most commonly used rather than its heartwood.The color of the maple wood is yellowish to off-white, with a reddish tint, sometimes a dark brown core. Its texture is uniformly fine and shiny. It’s hard, dense and firm and often referred to as “American hard maple” in North America. Grain is generally straight, but may be wavy. Has a fine, even texture.
American Walnut
Hardwood from southern Canada, USA (Florida, Texas, Kansas and Nebraska)
American Black Walnut is a medium to large hardwood, native to the eastern regions of North America. The heartwood matures to a rich dark brown or purple colouring, often lightly striped and darkening. The texture is quite rough but uniform; the pores are larger than those of the European walnut. American Black Walnut has a beautiful, fine and generally straight-grained timber, although sometimes it has an attractive wavy or curly grain, giving it a highly decorative figure.
Pear
Hardwood from Central and Southern Europe (Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria), Western Asia to Siberia
Pear is a much demanded wood in furniture manufacture due to its colour and density. It is hard and heavy, has a fine texture and hardly visible growth rings and pores. Its colour varies from a very light silver-grey to light yellow, eventually turning into a nice reddish brown, amber-like colouring with age. Grain is usually straight, with a very fine uniform texture.
Zebrawood
Hardwood from West Africa (tropical rainforests – Cameroon, Gabon, Congo)
The heartwood is greyish brown with dark or olive brown streaks vaguely resembling a zebra’s stripes and giving the wood extremely decorative appearance. Zebrawood is strong, with a fairly high density and popular as veneers for furniture and interiors. Has a fairly coarse texture and open pores. Grain is usually wavy or interlocked.
Wenge
Hardwood from West Africa (from Cameroon to the Congo)
Wenge is a special wood. Some might even say it is rich in mystic powers. For hundreds of years it has been used in its native Africa to make ceremonial masks and statues paying homage to gods. Wenge wood is hard, heavy and dark with very striking two-coloured appearance. It has clear pores and a dull gloss and is considered to be particularly decorative both in- and outdoors.
Makassar ebony
Hardwood from Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam), Africa (Cameroon, Madagascar)
Heartwood has dramatic striped appearance, somewhat similar to Zebrawood. The decorative dark brown to black heartwood can be marbled and is conspicuously striped with clear differences between the various species (about 120 species are known). It is very hard and heavy, and is one of the most valuable wood species worldwide. The much lighter sapwood surrounding the heartwood can make up to 70 percent of the trunk and is considered worthless and not usable.
