Wood species selector
Walnut for a cutting board is wrong. Poplar for a visible tabletop is fine but looks cheap. Maple for outdoor furniture is wrong. This selector weights hardness, stability, cost, workability and availability against your project type and gives you the top three species worth shortlisting.
Selector
How the scoring works
Each species has a row of attributes: Janka hardness (higher is harder, more dent-resistant), tangential shrinkage (lower is more dimensionally stable), average US retail board-foot price (lower is cheaper), and a workability rating (1 = tear-out-prone, 5 = carves like butter). The calculator normalises each attribute to a 0–100 scale and weights them by your priorities.
Where the calculator won't help is colour, grain figure and local availability — those are aesthetic and logistical decisions only you can make. Use this to filter, then go look.
Limitations
- "Cost" is a US retail average. Real prices vary by region and by season.
- Workability scores are rough; a sharp tool and a hand that knows what it's doing can tame almost any wood.
- Outdoor projects need species with natural rot resistance (cedar, white oak, black locust). The selector weights this for you when you choose the project type, but always double-check.
- Food-contact species (cutting boards) should be closed-grain to avoid bacteria harbouring. The selector picks accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
Why is poplar recommended for drawer boxes but not a tabletop?
Poplar is dimensionally stable, machines cleanly and takes paint well — all you want for a hidden drawer box. As a visible tabletop it looks cheap (pale, greenish-grey, bland grain). The selector weights the "looks visible" property for tabletops and recommends species with stronger figure.
Is walnut worth the premium?
If you're building one piece you'll look at every day for ten years, yes. Walnut is stable, easy to work and ages beautifully. If you're building a project where most of the wood will be hidden or painted, no — poplar or maple will perform identically for a third of the price.
What about plywood and MDF?
Not on this selector. Plywood and MDF are engineered panels, not species — they're the right answer for cabinet backs, painted panels and shop jigs, but they're not what most people mean by "wood species". For sheet goods, the rule of thumb is: plywood for structural panels you can see the edge of; MDF for things you'll paint or that need a perfectly smooth surface.
Why no bamboo or other "eco" choices?
Bamboo is a grass, not a wood, and behaves very differently (it splits along the grain aggressively and won't hold a screw near an edge). There are legitimate reasons to use it but they need a different calculator. The same goes for reclaimed barn wood — its variability is the point, and our calculator assumes predictable new lumber.