This is our most common question when dealing with Amish Made Furniture. It's confusing to most people. The easiest way to understand it is we use different woods to achieve certain looks. The wood choice is often determined by the style and color of the item you are looking for.
Brown Maple has become increasingly popular for hardwood furniture. It comes from the exact same trees as Maple, but it isn’t selected for pure white color. For that reason the majority color will be white, but it will have portions that vary from a dark brown to a greenish grey.
Best For
Red Oak is one of the most popular hardwoods for timber production in North America. Red Oak color will vary from pale reddish brown to an almost wheat color. Red Oak is known for its open grain with great strength and durability.
Best For
Cherry is a smooth, even-grained hardwood known for its warm, rich, reddish-brown color. Cherry may have some mineral streaks, pitch pockets or sapwood. Cherry mellows or darkens with age from exposure to sunlight, and can also become a deep reddish-brown with a golden luster.
Best For
Not Good For
Depending on the way the logs are sawn into timber (rift-cut, flat sliced, flat sawn, rotary cut quartered) White Oak can have varying looks. Many distinctive patterns emerge: figure flakes, fine lines, pin stripes, leafy grains and watery figures. Color is light to darker gray brown. White Oak that is quartersawn will produce dramatic rays and flecks or flakes that are popular in Mission style furniture or antiques.
Rustic Cherry is the same wood as Cherry, but without knots, streaks, and sap wood removed. These beautiful wood characteristics will stand out with a light stain, and are mostly hidden with a dark one. Please keep this in mind when ordering Rustic Cherry with lighter finishes.
Maple is the light colored wood selected from the same trees as the more varied Brown Maple. The grain pattern in Maple wood is known for its curves and often shows nice curls throughout. Our Maple is harvested mainly in the Northeastern United States.
Walnut is a distinctive wood usually shown in natural to highlight the beauty of the grain
Walnut is a distinctive wood usually shown in natural to highlight the beauty of the grain