Wood can be plain or quarter-sawn. Plain sawn wood is what you typically see. It is the most economical way to saw trees. Most furniture is made of plain sawn woods. Certain species of woods such as oak, sycamore and mahogany can be quarter sawn to reveal figuring such as ray flecks, ribbons, stripes, and other unique features of the wood's grain. Similar to quarter sawn is rift sawn wood. Like quarter sawn wood, rift sawing produces almost straight grain but almost no ''figuring'' to the wood. Both rift and quarter sawn woods often cost more than their plain sawn counterparts because there is additional handling and more waste with these forms of sawing.

Each piece of wood used in a project may vary in color depending on where the wood comes from and what part of the tree it comes from. Some woods such as cherry and purpleheart will change color with exposure to sunlight and age. Every tree consists of two types of wood - the pulp which is the outer part of the tree, and the heart which is the inner part. The color of these may also vary. Hickory is an excellent example of where the pulp is considerably lighter, almost white or cream, and the heart is a dark brown. These color differences can be taken advantage of to add interest and uniqueness to your furniture.

The first interpretation relates to style. Each furniture style or period had its own desirable woods. If these woods were not available then a secondary choice was used. For example Chippendale furniture is usually made of mahogany and sometimes walnut, maple or cherry. If these woods were not available then pine, ash, cedar, beech, or tulip was used. Typically Mission style furniture is made of oak as its primary wood. Within this style, Greene and Greene would use other woods such as mahogany. The Shaker style also uses oak as a primary along with maple and hickory. The Shaker choice for secondary woods was pine, ash, and fruit woods.

The second interpretation relates to technology. Today wood byproducts such as sawdust, scrapes, chips, etc. are used to create man-made products such as particle board, MDF, and engineered woods. The Mountain Woodworker does not use particle board or engineered woods in any of its clients' projects. MDF however is used but only in certain built-in furniture projects such as counter tops and to some extent cabinet doors. The use of MDF for built-in furniture is guided in part by local and state building codes, and by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The third interpretation directly relates to furniture made by The Mountain Woodworker. Almost all furniture contains secondary woods. These are the woods that you usually don't see and are used for structural integrity or support. For example corner braces, drawer guides and rails, dust panels, and the backs of bureaus. We use only two types of secondary woods - hardwood and plywood.

For most secondary wood applications we use select or best grade hardwoods. These hardwoods can be wood left over from your project or from other client projects. While we strive to use the same secondary wood as your primary woods, we cannot guarantee it. However you can contract with The Mountain Woodworker to use the same wood; we don't recommend it as additional costs would be incurred.

For certain applications only we will use cabinet or furniture grade plywood. This standard of plywood has considerably higher quality than you find in most home/lumber centers. It is often used to provide certain stability to a project. The Mountain Woodworker will use plywood instead of the more common fiberboard for the following applications:

• backs of cabinets, bureaus and similar items
• dust panels between drawers
• drawer bottoms
• drawer sides and back (often made of Baltic birch or maple, a special type of plywood designed specifically for this application)
• as a substrata support for veneer