Most woodworkers choose species the way people choose paint colors—by looking at a chart. They pick walnut because it's dark and handsome, maple because it's bright and clean. Then they discover that beautiful board fights them at every stage of the build.

The craft demands a different approach. Species selection isn't about finding the prettiest face; it's about matching material properties to project requirements. A stunning piece of figured maple might be entirely wrong for a dining table that needs to survive decades of seasonal movement. That gorgeous teak might be perfect for outdoor furniture but will destroy your tools and patience on interior joinery.

Understanding working properties transforms species selection from aesthetic guesswork into informed engineering. When you know how wood actually behaves—how it cuts, moves, and ages—you can choose materials that work with your skills and tools rather than against them. The result is better craftsmanship with less frustration.

Density tells you how much resistance you'll encounter, but it's only the beginning of the workability story. A dense wood like hard maple machines beautifully with sharp tools and proper technique. An equally dense tropical hardwood loaded with silica will dull your blades in minutes and leave torn grain despite your best efforts.

Grain structure determines whether a wood will cooperate or rebel. Straight-grained species like cherry and walnut cut cleanly in almost any direction. Interlocked grain—common in many tropical species and some domestic woods like sycamore—reverses direction between growth layers, guaranteeing tearout unless you approach it strategically with card scrapers or very high cutting angles.

Silica content is the hidden destroyer of edges. Woods like teak, iroko, and even domestic black locust contain microscite silica crystals that act like sandpaper on your carefully honed edges. Plan for carbide tooling or accept frequent sharpening sessions. Neither option is wrong, but going in blind leads to frustration and poor results.

The interaction between these factors matters more than any single property. Soft woods with wild grain can be harder to work than dense woods with straight grain. Butternut—technically soft—can be more frustrating than hard maple if you don't understand its tendency to fuzzy tearout. Know your material before you commit to the cut.

Takeaway

Workability isn't about hardness alone—it's the combination of density, grain structure, and mineral content that determines whether a species will cooperate with your tools and techniques.

Wood moves. Every species, every board, every season. The question isn't whether your project will experience dimensional change—it's how much and in what directions. Understanding these movement characteristics before you design prevents joints from failing and panels from self-destructing.

Tangential-to-radial movement ratio explains why boards cup and why quartersawn stock is prized for stable panels. Most species move roughly twice as much tangentially (parallel to growth rings) as radially. Species with extreme ratios—like beech at nearly 2:1—require more careful grain orientation in panel glue-ups. Species with balanced ratios—like teak at closer to 1.5:1—are more forgiving of mixed grain orientations.

Published stability coefficients help you compare species objectively. White oak moves about 4.4% tangentially from green to oven-dry; teak moves only 4.0%. That 10% difference compounds across wide panels and through seasonal cycles. For a 24-inch tabletop in a climate with significant humidity swings, that difference could mean an extra quarter-inch of seasonal movement to accommodate.

Design and joinery selection must respond to these realities. Floating panels, breadboard ends with slotted screw holes, and careful grain orientation aren't optional for unstable species—they're structural necessities. The most elegant joint in the world will fail if it doesn't allow for inevitable movement. Quartersawing reduces movement but increases waste and cost; sometimes accepting higher movement and designing around it makes more sense.

Takeaway

Design for movement you can predict rather than hoping for stability you can't guarantee—species selection and grain orientation are engineering decisions, not afterthoughts.

A cutting board and a jewelry box face entirely different threats. Matching durability characteristics to actual service conditions prevents both over-engineering and premature failure. The goal isn't maximum hardness or decay resistance—it's appropriate performance for the piece's intended life.

Decay resistance matters primarily for exterior applications or pieces in contact with moisture. The heartwood of white oak, black locust, and cedar naturally resists rot; the sapwood of these same species does not. For interior furniture in climate-controlled spaces, decay resistance is largely irrelevant—making expensive naturally-durable species an unnecessary cost.

Hardness—measured by Janka ratings—indicates resistance to dents and wear. A soft pine floor will show every dropped pot and dragged chair. A rock-hard hickory floor will outlast generations but will be brutal to install and impossible to hand-plane if adjustment is needed. For tabletops, consider not just hardness but how the wood responds to impact: some species dent cleanly while others splinter or compress unevenly.

Wear characteristics combine hardness with grain structure in ways that simple ratings miss. Ring-porous woods like oak develop textured wear patterns as soft earlywood erodes faster than dense latewood—desirable in rustic pieces, problematic in formal furniture. Diffuse-porous woods like maple wear more evenly. Neither is superior; each suits different applications and aesthetic intentions.

Takeaway

Durability requirements flow from how a piece will actually be used—match species properties to real service conditions rather than defaulting to the hardest or most decay-resistant option available.

Species selection becomes dramatically simpler when you stop asking "what looks good?" and start asking "what works here?" Workability determines your process. Stability shapes your design. Durability ensures your piece survives its intended life.

This doesn't mean appearance stops mattering—it means appearance becomes one factor among several rather than the only consideration. Often the species that works best also looks appropriate for the application. The rugged grain of white oak suits pieces that need decay resistance; the refined figure of cherry suits interior furniture where stability matters more.

Build your selection framework around project requirements first. Then find the species that satisfies those requirements while also pleasing your eye. That's the difference between a piece that fights you at every stage and one that comes together with the satisfying inevitability of good design.