American Walnut
The heartwood of walnut is light brown to dark chocolate brown, while the sapwood is creamy white. The wood develops a rich patina that grows more lustrous with age. Walnut is usually supplied steamed and/or with a slightly tinted finish, to darken the sapwood. The wood is generally straight-grained, with areas of wavy or curly grain that produces an attractive and decorative figure.

White Oak
Straight grained with a medium-coarse to coarse texture. Light heartwood with narrow, nearly white sapwood. It is a heavy, hard and strong wood, with outstanding durability and wear-resistance. It stains and finishes well with no need to fill pores for smoothness.

Red/Grey Oak
Straight grained with a coarse texture and prominent rays. Light reddish tan heartwood and narrow, almost white sapwood. Hard and strong with moderate stability in use and little natural decay resistance. It stains and finishes well, but relatively large pores may require a filler.

Thermo-Treated Oak
In thermo-treating, the boards are heated to a high temperature which causes the colour to darken. This method of darkening wood is environmentally friendly as there are no chemicals used during this process, simply heat and steam. The thermo-treatment process brings out and accentuates the best grain characteristics of the flooring, and unlike a stain which simply covers the top of the board, thermo-treatment changes the colour, creating a deep rich hue running through the entire core of the wood.

There are a number of advantages in thermo-treated boards:

• Water absorption in the board is reduced. The shrinkage and expansion of the wooden flooring decreases by 50% during treatment. It can therefore be used in bathrooms and with under floor heating.
• The wood becomes lighter in weight (not colour)
• The colour runs throughout the wood – rather than staining the top. The boards can be sanded or repaired and the colour, in most cases, will remain.
• The hardness of the wood is increased
• Eco-friendly manufacturing due to the process using only heat and no chemicals.
• Thermo-treated wood is a better sound isolator.

Larch
Typically straight grained, but sometimes spiral grained with a fine, uniform texture. Pale red to brick red heartwood and narrow, pale yellow sapwood. It is heavy and hard with moderate stiffness, bending strength, crushing strength, and decay resistance. Very stable in service.

Teak
Generally straight grained with a coarse, uneven texture, medium lustre and an oily feel. Yellow brown to dark golden brown heartwood and greyish or white sapwood. It is moderately hard and heavy, with low stiffness and shock resistance, excellent decay resistance and dimensional stability. Good acid resistance. It stains and finishes well although natural oils can cause adhesion difficulties.

Rhodesian Teak
Fine even texture, straight or slightly interlocked grain, red-brown heartwood, often with black flecks, and much paler sapwood. Very heavy and hard with a high resistance to abrasion and decay. Glues, stains, and finishes well.

Hickory
Tight, generally straight grain with a coarse texture. Pale to reddish brown heartwood and whitish sapwood. Very heavy, hard, strong, stiff and shock resistant. Good dimensional stability and low decay resistance. Glues, stains, and finishes well and polishes to a nice shiny finish.

Cherry
Dense and harder than mahogany, it can be found with a broad curl figure and curly cherry remains popular in fine woodworking. Its use is less common in luthiery, although its density makes it an acceptable body wood.

Jatoba
Jatoba is a dense, tough and strong light brown wood that can be easily found in wide, long, and thick boards. It is very hard and stable, and quarter sawn boards are readily available.

Maple
Texture is fine and even, giving this wood a smooth feel and excellent finishing properties. Acer saccharum, or sugar maple, is a Northeastern US/Canadian species from which most real maple syrup is derived. It is also among the hardest of the maples (also acer nigrum). Widely used for necks in stringed instruments, this wood is relatively stiff and stable, in good supply with a relatively reasonable price.

Tiger wood
Tiger wood is often used more or less interchangeably with goncalo alves. These woods are from the same genus but there does appear to be a discernible difference. Goncalo is generally more orange to peach coloured while tiger wood has a more tan-brown appearance. These woods exhibit the same dark, irregular streaks and on occasion three-dimensional flame, mottle, or curl figure.

Mango
When it reaches 20-30 years old, mango fruit yield and quality drops. As a result, mango wood is also harvested for its unique quality. Tree sections are left to dry for a period of time before being cut into manageable pieces. Its deep and generally rich colour lends itself naturally to a contemporary feel. Mango wood can be splash-proof to water when waxed, further enhances its usability and durability.

Raintree
Raintree is a very hard wood that comes in a delicately natural brown colour. it also has a straight grain and rather coarse texture which makes it easy to carve. It's huge trunks found in mature trees make it a likely candidate for creating large wood carvings. Because of its fast-growing traits and easily replaceable, rain tree wood is the favoured wood for importers outside of the tropics. Its criss crossed interlocking grain eliminates cracking due to dryer environments. In addition, rain tree can be finished to a fairly high gloss to further bring out its beautiful natural brown appearance.

Panga Panga
When freshly cut, the heartwood of panga panga is a yellow-brown colour, but then in a few months it darkens to a deep, uniform brown, almost black, with alternate layers of light and dark tissue, forming a decorative figure. So it is important to buy well-aged wood before laying the floor. Clearly demarcated from the heartwood is the yellowish-white sapwood. This coarse-textured wood has a straight grain. One of the best known of the exotic dark woods, panga panga is used primarily where a bold dark colour or contrasting light and dark accent strips are desired. A very hard, heavy and durable wood with excellent dimensional stability. Because of its great resistance to abrasion, it is very suitable for flooring that will receive high use and traffic. It is principally used for parquet and strip flooring, general construction, joinery, and for speciality items.

Morado
Morado is a South American wood with a striking dark violet-brown heartwood that is sometimes streaked. It has a medium to high lustre, and a texture that can range from coarse to fine. It's grain is interlocked and can be straight or irregular. Highly resistant to decay and fungi, Morado's hardness also contributes to its durability, the wood holding a Janka hardness rating of 1,780.

Jarrah
Deep red to red-brown with paler reddish brown sapwood. Usually straight grained, but can be interlocked or wavy. Occasionally has dry pockets of brown sap. Can have gum veins and boat flecks. Heavy, hard and strong. Highly decay resistant heartwood, termite and rot resistant. Glues and finishes well and can take a high polish.

Ipe
Ipe, also know as Brazilian Walnut, has a deep brown colour and is the most popular residential hardwood decking material because of its durability, hardens and extreme stability. Its heartwood contains shades of black and greenish-brown with some striping while the sapwood can be white or yellow toned.

Garapa
Garapa or Gapapeira is yet another heavy duty, industrial strength and naturally durable wood from South America. It is commonly used as decking, but can also be used in industrial applications. Light tan to soft yellow, Garapa is also stable and very strong.

Pitch Pine
Pitch pine is a very dense and resinous wood used up to the start of the 20th century when it was exhausted commercially. It is of the same family and shares an approximate appearance with pine though the grain is much closer, it is much more resinous and heavier, and it is a shade or two darker. Although botanically a softwood, it shares more of the properties of a hardwood. The durability of this timber against the elements is unsurpassed.