*Acacia (Caribbean Koa, Hawaiian Koa)
The depth, color range and grain of Acacia flooring, makes it one of the most beautiful flooring materials on the market.

A very hard wood, Acacia resists warping and cupping better than almost all other finished woods.

Earth friendly, Antique Wood flooring, can be logs reclaimed from rivers, where they have been submerged for decades, or wood salvaged from warehouses, barns and other structures. This product offers the patina of age in old growth timber that was extinct in this country over 100 years ago.   

These woods are available in a variety of species, finished or unfinished and solid or engineered.

A true pine native to Australia, this species is normally used where a knotty pine look is desired but the application requires a harder wood.

There is a high degree of color variability in Australian Cypress, as the sapwood can be cream or straw-colored, while the heartwood ranges from honey-gold to brown, with darker knots throughout to add character. Over time there may be some slight ambering or muting of color tones.

Bamboo flooring is an excellent alternative to tree wood because Bamboo, actually a grass, grows at a spectacular rate.  It varies in hardness depending on the type of product that is made from the raw material.
Available in several colors and styles, Bamboo flooring compliments any interior design, from ultra-contemporary to the more traditional.

*Bamboo, Strand Woven
A newer variety of Bamboo that is much harder and dent resistant than normal Bamboo, it is produced by pulling apart the Bamboo wood fibers and mixing them with an extremely strong resin.   Strand Bamboo shows these Bamboo strands weaving through the wood plank.   It comes in the same natural and carbonized colors, but these are darker than with standard Bamboo.   It is also sold with light and dark strands mixed for a very striking floor.   This is often referred to as Zebra or Tiger Bamboo.  

The sapwood of this beautiful wood is creamy yellow or white in Yellow Birch and the heartwood is light reddish brown tinged with red. Sweet Birch has light colored sapwood and the heartwood is dark brown tinged with red.

The heartwood of this species varies from a grayish red to a deep, rich crimson, with a fine and smooth texture, and a straight grain. This wood is quite lustrous and may have variegated red and yellow stripes, which if left untreated, ages to a deep brown color.

A very hard wood flooring species, Bloodwood is one hundred and twenty-four percent harder than red oak.

*Bocote
A particularly fine, beautiful wood, ranging in color in the heartwood from light to golden brown, with irregular blackish streaks, while the sapwood can be grayish or yellowish. Its grain is usually straight or shallowly interlocked.  

Bocote is sixty-one percent harder than white oak.

Brazilian Cherry (Jatoba)

This South American hardwood is brownish-red color, deepening over time.  Its remarkable hardness makes it an extremely popular and appealing wood.

*Brazilian Walnut (Ipe)

Brazilian Walnut is one of the most durable woods in the world.  A beautiful chocolate to dark brown colored wood with exceptionally fine graining, it is extremely hard, making it ideal for both residential and commercial applications.   This wood has quite a bit of color variation and is recommended for jobs where this variation is desired.

*Bubinga (African Rosewood in Rosewood Section below)

Cherry (Black Cherry)

Heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown and the sapwood is lighter, with a pinkish tone. There is significant color variation between boards. The color darkens with age.

A soft wood, Cherry’s grain is wavy and uniform in texture.

*Chichipati (Southern Chestnut)

Harder than Red Oak, Southern Chestnut is relatively uniform in color, which ranges from a tannish brown with golden highlights to a medium tan/chestnut brown.
Currently, it is available only in engineered flooring.

Coconut (Palmwood)

Coconut wood flooring comes from plantation grown Coconut Palms, which grow in abundance throughout much of the world. Palms produce nuts for up to 80 years, and then non-production palms are removed and replaced.

Coconut Palm lumber can vary greatly in color and density.

*Cork

The product commonly referred to as Cork is actually the bark of the Cork Oak tree. Once removed, the tree regrows the bark with no lasting damage to the plant. About every 8 to 10 years the bark can be harvested again, making this product a renewable resource.

Cork is available in many pre-stained stock colors and at a small cost, one factory offers custom colors.  The product has strong elastic properties making it a lower-impact flooring option. Cork is light in weight and is also a good heat insulator.

*Cumaru (Southern Chestnut, also, Brazilian Teak)

Due to the extensive range of colors in this species, it is usually sold as two different color sorts.   The lighter Cumaru ranges from champagne to medium brown and the darker Cumaru is usually a brown to reddish brown color.

The species has an irregular, slightly interlocked grain that is coarse and wavy in texture.

Cypress (American Bald Cypress)

Cypress is a soft wood, with a closed grain. Its sapwood is a darker cream color while the heartwood is honey-gold to reds with darker knots throughout. 

Ebony

When freshly cut, the sapwood of African Ebony is pink-colored, but darkens to a pale red brown; whereas the heartwood shows a uniform jet-black or black-brown color, sometimes with streaks. Fine textured, Ebony’s grain ranges from straight to slightly interlocked, or even moderately curly. The luster of this wood may have an almost metallic appearance.
 
An attractive and popular wood with many decorative uses, Ebony is extremely hard, heavy, and strong, and also very resistant to termite attack.    Due to its extremely high price, Ebony is seldom used for wood flooring except in inlay work.

Eucalyptus (Jarrah, Lyptus, Spotted Gum, Sydney Blue Gum)

A broad category of wood species, Eucalyptus varies widely in color, graining and hardness.

Jarrah’s heartwood is pinkish to a rich, dark red mahogany, and turns to a deep brownish red with age. There can be a great deal of color variation from board to board. The sapwood tends to be pale. The grain is wavy.

A very hard wood, Spotted Gum features heartwood of light to dark brown, and its sapwood is pale. Gum veins are common.

Widely ranging from pinks to burgundy reds, Sydney Blue Gum’s colors
mute over time and darken to a medium brown-red. This wood originates from Australia, and is medium in hardness.

Lyptus is a new, environmentally friendly and extremly fast growing Eucalyptus hybrid. Very dense and stable, Lyptus ranges in color from golden pinkish red to deep red.

*Heart Pine
Heart Pine is the actual heartwood, or inner part of the tree. When Pine was logged over a century ago, the Pine trees were hundreds of years old and had decades to grow huge and to develop a large amount of heartwood. Now Pine is harvested when the trees are smaller and have less heartwood.

*Hickory

Hickory heartwood is tan or reddish; sapwood is white to cream, with fine brown lines. There are often pronounced differentiations in color between spring wood and summer wood.

Its grain is closed, with moderate definition and it is a very hard wood.

Pecan and Hickory are traditionally mixed by flooring mills in solid wood flooring.

Koa (See Acaia)

Lacewood  

*Leopardwood
The sapwood of Leopardwood is brownish-red while the heartwood is more chocolate-brown in color. It has a tight grain.
Leopardwood is similar in appearance to Lacewood but has a darker, redder color.

*Lyptus (See Eucalyptus)

Mahogany (Honduran Mahogany, True Mahogany)

The heartwood is an attractive, dark reddish brown color while the sapwood is a sharply contrasted white.

Mahogany is softer than Oak, but is very suitable for wide plank floors due to its extreme stability.  

*Maple

The sapwood of Maple is a lovely creamy white, while the heartwood ranges from creamy white to light reddish brown.

There are several species of Maple, and they vary in hardness.

*Merbau

When freshly cut, the heartwood of Merbau is a yellowish to orange-brown color, and darkens after time to brown or red brown. The surface of the boards may have yellow "flecking" in the pores; and when finished, the wood may appear almost flecked with gold.

Merbau is one of the most hard and durable wood floor options, and is very stable.

Mesquite

Considered a pest by ranchers in the Western United States where it grows wild, Mesquite is high in character, with ingrown bark and mineral streaks.  This specie’s color is light to dark reddish brown with a pronounced grain.

It is a very strong and dense wood.

*Padauk
Although the sapwood of Padauk tends to be a very uniform cream or pale beige color, the heartwood is prized for its rich reddish orange tone which over time seasons nicely to a dark reddish- or purple-brown color, or even black. Padauk has a moderately coarse texture, with large pores and a grain that can be straight or interlocked.

Hard and stable it is heavy and strong and has an average to high durability with high resistance to decay.

*Pecan

Pecan heartwood is reddish brown with dark brown stripes and the sapwood is white or creamy white with pinkish tones. Its grain is open, occasionally wavy or irregular. There are often pronounced differences in color between spring wood and summer wood.

Pecan is one of the hardest woods available for wood flooring.
Pecan and Hickory are traditionally mixed by flooring mills.

*Pine  

Pine describes a whole variety of wood species on many continents. In the species is traditionally broken down into three main subgroups, White Pine, Yellow Pine, and Red Pine.

The sapwood of Pine is usually light yellowish-white to yellowish-tan, while the heartwood is light orange-yellow to red or yellowish-brown in color. It has a closed, straight grain, varying in figuring amongst the species.

Pine woods vary widely in hardness from species to species.

*Purpleheart
The off-white or lighter cream color of the sapwood of Purpleheart wood flooring contrasts sharply with the heartwood, which is brown when freshly cut, changing to a deep, vibrant purple or purplish brown over time.

Purpleheart is a very hard, dense, strong wood, with a varying grain.

Red Oak

Red Oak is the most common flooring option in the U.S. It is light beige to wheat colored, with a slight red overtone. Oak has a coarse grain.

Red Oak is a stiff and dense wood that resists wear.

*River Recovered Wood

More than a century ago, some of the densest, heaviest logs felled by hand rolled off the rafts during the float trip to the mills.  Now, divers go deep to recover them, and this beautiful old growth wood is milled into beautiful new flooring material.

Rosewood

Rosewood is a broad grouping of wood species (Latin name Dalbergia).  Many woods that are sold for wood flooring by the name of Rosewood are not Dalbergia, but are given the name Rosewood as a marketing device because it is a familiar word and easy to say.  Dalbergia is seldom used in wood flooring due to its high cost.  

*African Rosewood (Bubinga)

African Rosewood is a beautiful dense hardwood with a rose-colored background and darker purple striping.  Very uniform in color and graining, African Rosewood undergoes a medium degree of color change, from a pinkish rose color when freshly milled to a burgundy red color when fully aged.

*Asian Rosewood (Padauk)
The sapwood of Asian Rosewood of tends to be a very uniform cream or pale beige color, while the heartwood is prized for its rich reddish orange tone which over time, seasons to a dark red or purple-brown, or even black.

A hard and stable wood, Asian Rosewood has a moderately coarse texture, with large pores and a grain that can be straight or interlocked.

*Santos Mahogany

Santos Mahogany is a dark, reddish brown wood, with moderate color variation, and a beautiful fine grain pattern. Similar in color to Brazilian Cherry, many prefer the refined look of this wood.

A very hard wood, it is also quite stable.

*Satinwood (Yellow Heart)

Both the sapwood and heartwood of Satinwood (Yellow Heart) are golden tan to orange in color.

Although it is a harder species of wood, Satinwood's durability with regard to wear is somewhat lower than other woods.

*Spotted Gum (See Eucalyptus)

*Teak

The sapwood of Teak is white to pale yellow, while the heartwood is dark golden-brown or dark golden-yellow, to rich brown, with darker brown streaks.

Teak is a hard and durable wood with a high resistance to decay and termite attack.

Teak is available in plantation grown wood and therefore is ecologically sound.   Teak has been planted in areas previously clear cut.   An extremely fast growing tree, it is often cut after only 15-25 years.   Old growth teak is available but rare and very expensive.

*Tigerwood

The sapwood of Tigerwood is brownish-white to gray, while the heartwood is reddish-brown to light golden-brown in color with pronounced black streaks running in irregular patterns through the boards. Tigerwood is known best for its exotic graining and is 30% harder than oak.

*Walnut

The nearly white sapwood of walnut contrasts strongly to the heartwood, which ranges in color from a deep, rich dark, almost chocolate brown to a purplish black. There is a wide variation of color, figure, and grade within the species.

Although Walnut is somewhat soft, the wood is heavy, hard, and stiff and has excellent stability.

*Wenge  

When freshly cut, the heartwood of Wenge is a yellow-brown color, but 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. In contrast, the sapwood is yellowish-white.

Wenge is very hard, heavy, and durable, with an excellent stability.

White Oak

The heartwood of White Oak is wheat to light brown in color.
Both its hardness and stability are average.

*Yellow Heart (See Satinwood)

Zebrawood

Indicative of its name, this unique African wood has a sapwood that is whitish, and a heartwood of pale yellow brown with narrow dark brown streaks. The color does change over time with the lighter color darkening to an amber, and the brown streaks turning almost black. The grain is usually wavy or interlocked with medium to coarse texture and a beautiful luster. It is a hard, durable wood, resistant to decay and insects.