Hold the Music

Wenge	Often found in necks of high end guitars, this wood is renowned for its vibration absorbing properties and its hardness, it is a very oily wood, it's very difficult to work and is resistant to water based glues. The grain is striking to say the least. Due to the high cost and limited availability of this wood we only use it for isolation shelves and as an alternative to American Black Walnut for contrast effects.
American Black Walnut	This is one of the cabinet maker's choice woods, durable with interesting grain and excellent finishing qualities. As the tree is small, knots are unavoidable and should be taken as part of the character of the wood. The heart wood can be almost black while the sap wood is a contrasting pale yellow. When building cabinets purely from this wood we try to use select heartwood only. Particularly suited to cabinetry.
Teak	A very hard wood with natural oils that make it naturally resistant to harsh weather, it is ideal for exterior construction and boat building. This wood is difficult to glue, and has a rapid blunting effect on tools. In short: very difficult to work. If you are considering this wood it should be as a feature within a cabinet rather than the main construction material for the cabinet itself. Of course the price usually prohibits this anyway!
Brazillian Mahogony	A very hard wood which has very good finishing properties and is a pleasure to work with. It has always been popular in Britain. Unfortunately it is only available in very short supply and at very high cost.
Sapele	This is an unusual red wood which is moderately hard. It finishes well and tends to darken over time. This wood can look rather plain in large quantities so we would suggest using it with a contrasting wood to add interest to the finished piece. Care should be taken when working with this wood as tearout on cross grain can be a problem.
Beech	Beech has excellent flex characteristics and is another natural vibration absorber. We use it mainly for cross bracing our reference hi-fi rack and for shelf supports. It finishes very well, the grain is varied and the light slightly pinky colour makes it a pleasant feature in a room.
American White Oak	A very popular hardwood, very hardwearing with an interesting grain pattern, this wood tends to be stable and resistant to splitting. A more expensive option than Ash, It does finish very well and has a solid 'Oak' feel about it. Well suited to cabinetry.
Ash	Ash is one of our most popular woods, being fairly quick growing and tall means it is a relatively cheap hardwood. It is durable and finishes well, it does tend to be quite knotty but we can build 'knot free'. It is one of the lighter woods and can be used with darker woods to create a striking contrast. It is very versatile and can be used for most of our units.
Maple	A very hard wood which is suited to turning. The wood finishes very well and is very durable. It is susceptible to movement (twist and warp) and shouldn’t be used where great temperature variations are present. We wouldn’t recommend making a Hi Fi shelf to hold a valve amp out of it!
American Cherry	American Cherry is another unusual wood, the grain often containing thin black lines and darker swirl patterns around knots. The sap wood tends to be softer and yellow in colour, one issue with the wood is the amount of wastage, often knots have splits which make it very difficult to use in long lengths. The wood is moderately hard and is well suited to cabinetry.