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Give your work a beautiful skin.

There’s something about the texture, warm hue and distinctive grain of heart pine that just makes you want to run your hand over the wood. Yes, it’s a yellow pine, but don’t confuse it with the yellow pine you’ll find at the lumberyard, often tinged pressure-treatment green. Heart pine is the heartwood of the longleaf pine tree (Pinus palustris), which is no longer harvested for commercial use and is now primarily available only as reclaimed lumber. The lumberyard stuff is slash pine (Pinus elliottii), loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) or less often, shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata).

This ornamental tree is a woodworker’s delight.

The sugar maple (Acer saccharum) entertains millions of “leaf peepers” every fall with its fiery foliage, and pancakes everywhere drip with syrup made from the tree’s sap.

Sometimes called “true” rosewood, Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is a beautiful hardwood. Its namesake is inspired by the sweet rose-like scent produced when cut.

Despite some challenges, sapele’s color and lively grain make this wood worth the effort it takes to tame. Read on to learn how to select the best boards and make the most of them.

Ask any East Coast woodworker about their experience with mesquite (Prosopis julifora), and it’s likely to involve a grill and a choice cut of meat. On the other hand, furnituremakers and turners throughout the Southwest know that within this small, twisted, thorny tree lies more than a potential pile of chips.