Black walnut wood is one of the most desirable for cabinets, veneers, furniture, and interior finishing. It is hard, heavy, coarse grained, very attractive, and easy to work with. It is also used for gunstocks. The dark brown heartwood is often accompanied by a lighter streak of sapwood towards the outer edge of the tree. This colour gives walnut a very rich and elegant appearance.
White Oak heartwood is a light to medium brown, commonly with an olive cast. Nearly white to light brown sapwood is not always sharply differentiated from the heartwood. Grain is straight, with a coarse, uneven texture. White oak is a very durable hardwood and often used in cabinetry, flooring and boat building.
Unlike most other hardwoods, the sapwood of hard maple lumber is most commonly used rather than its heartwood. Sapwood colour ranges from nearly white, to an off-white cream colour, sometimes with a reddish or golden hue.