What are the Different Types of Woods Which Are Ideal For a Desk?

by craftyclub

Each and every piece of furniture in a house play an important role is it for decor or for utility on a day to day basis. More particularly, the wooden furniture has a lot of things behind them other than décor or utility. 

People who write a lot, artists, and even IT professionals would use desks for work-related and various other purposes. But wooden desks are indeed costlier given the amount of work, the finish, the quality of the wood, and many other factors that have gone into its making. However, you can always make your own depending upon the usage, the size, the wood, storage, and various other factors. 

If you are thinking of investing in a wooden desk for yourself or for the house, here is a list of the best wood to build a desk.

Different types of woods as per the usage

Hardwood is usually the most recommended to make durable furniture. This is because of the quality of the wood and the grains in them that make it significant. They are often priced based on hardness, grains, sturdiness, and rarity. Some of the best wood for a desk are: 

Oakwood

Oakwood is a type of wood that is traditionally used in furniture making. It is known for its open grains and sturdiness that gives it durability and long-lasting life. It is said to be the craftsman’s favorite piece of wood to work with.  The color of the wood may be that of ash or reddish-brown as there are two types of oaks- red and white oak. 

Oakwood

They are also bleached, sometimes depending upon the color need of the customer. It gives a very rich and appealing look in both stained and natural colors. It is believed that oak has been used for furniture since the pre-colonial era and the very rare and distinct type of grains in them make them very popular and easy for identification. 

It is also very versatile as it adds a lot of life into both a traditional and modern piece of furniture. Though oak is highly-priced for all the above qualities in it, it is the best wood for desktop and has remained as one of the most preferred wood to make a desk for those who want a long-lasting one considering the amount of usage of the desk. 

Read also:  30 Cheap & Easy DIY Plant Stands To Try Right Now

Different varieties of oak are also paired together with a bright stained variety wood for the top of the desk to make them look modern and attractive. 

Cherry wood

The color of the cherry wood ranges from pink to light brown or reddish-brown. Cherry wood is one of the most popular wood to make a desk. The color of the cherry wood ages and deepens with time, and this is one of the main reasons for its popularity. This ripening in the color of the wood, which is very distinct, occurs due to a lot of natural factors like oxidation and Ultra Violet light.

Cherry wood

It is very smooth grained and the most priced quality hardwood.  It is also unique because a single cherry wood can have different types of grains based on its growth and maturity. It has a very fine texture, which makes it more workable with both machines and manual work, especially for screwing, gluing, nailing, and polishing. 

The cherry wood is one of the varieties that are highly rated for its workability and versatility. The sapwood or the outer part of the tree can often be found with lighter grains while the heartwood or the center part of the bark of the tree has darker ones. 

In other words, the grains grow darker as we move to the inner parts of the bark, which makes it very aesthetically appealing. These qualities indeed make it a dream for the craftsman to work with it.

Ashwood

Ashwood is the best wood for a desk.  It belongs to the family of olive trees and is one of the most economical choices of woods for furniture making. The ash wood is known for its light color, straight grains, and beige colored hue that makes it very distinct. It is also one of the most durable and preferred wood and indeed graded as the best wood for the top of the desk.  

Ashwood

Like the oak trees, the ash wood trees also grow in large varieties throughout the North American regions. He most popular varieties of ash wood used in furniture making are black, white, and green ash wood. It has a very lightweight, absorbs wood stains really well, and also very durable after oak wood. 

Read also:  Unique Halloween Mason Jar Lantern Tutorial for 2020

It is one of the types of wood that is well known for the shock-resistant qualities that make it the best wood for desktop. The color of the ash wood also ripens with time but not as much and as distinct as that of cherry wood. 

The lightweight character of the wood makes it easy for transportation, handling and carrying, and this is why it one of the recommended wood to make desks. It is believed that ash wood has a big part in the extensive and ancient American culture where it was used to make any item out of wood right from weapons to even build homes.

Maple wood

Maple wood is known to have some of the most incredible features of any piece of wood. It is very strong in nature with dense yet smooth grains, and they also stain very nicely. The color of the maple wood ranges from reddish to a light brown color that makes it more attractive. 

Maple wood

The most common and prevalent variety of maple wood in the US is the sugar maple. It is also called the hard maple or rock maple, named after its strength. The high degree of strength in the wood makes it very durable. The white hue on the wood adds to the aesthetic beauty of the wood, and it also ripens with age as any other variety of wood. 

With the passing of age, the wood achieves a honey gold color that makes it really attractive and more an artistic piece of furniture work.   These are all some of the reasons why maple wood is one of the best wood to build a desk. It is one of the most preferred varieties of woods for high-end furnishing. This is because both the natural wood and the stained ones add intrinsic beauty. 

The natural wood often showcases a kind of class and indeed is known to brighten the area while the stained one usually is style statements and make the furniture look gorgeous and attractive.

Walnut wood

The walnut wood is known for its richness in color, which ranges from light brown to chocolate brown. It is dense, hard, and has strong grains, which in addition to its color, make it the most fashionable wood varieties. The walnut wood gains luster in it with the passing of time, which makes its rich color glow and shine for itself, making it really attractive and captivating for the eyes. 

Walnut wood

There are many varieties of walnut wood. The brown variety is the most commonly used variety for furniture making. It is also known to be one of the most easily machined varieties of quality hardwood. Interestingly the heartwood or the center or the inner portion of the walnut tree alone has this rich dark color. 

Read also:  25 DIY Drying Rack Designs That Are Easy To Build

The sapwood or the outer part of the tree has a much pale color, and hence only the heartwood part of the walnut tree is used for furniture making. Further, unlike the above varieties of woods, the color of the walnut tree lightens with the passage of time. However, this lighting process is indeed very meager and not very distinct as such. 

Despite this lightening being very meager, the craftsmen and the woodworkers often give an oil finish to the furniture made out of the walnut wood. This is done in order to reduce the lightening in color even further. Moreover, this oil finish, in combination with the dark-colored wood, adds to the beauty of the furniture. But the oil finished furniture must be regularly oiled in order to enhance and maintain the color and luster of the furniture.    

Endnotes

The above are some of the best wood for a desk.  Taking into consideration the amount of investment and budget involved, buying a pre-made desk from the furniture shops might not be a pocket-friendly option. 

Making a desk yourself would be the best option if budget is a major criterion. The choice of wood has to be very wise and well thought. The things that have to be taken into consideration for selecting the type of wood must be the purpose or usage, the budget, the types of wood available, etc. 

Therefore, choose the right type of wood to make your desk after a good amount of research and inquiry about the quality, characters, price, and the availability of the wood to make a worthy investment of a very useful piece of furniture like desks.   

You may also like

Leave a Comment