American walnut is one of the most sought-after species in markets across the world and is unique to North America. Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) data shows U.S. walnut constitutes 1.0% of total U.S. hardwood growing stock and while 0.31 million m3 is harvested each year, more than 1 million m3 of American walnut grows naturally during the same period. The sapwood of walnut is creamy white, whereas the heartwood is light brown to dark chocolate brown, making the difference in colour quite distinct. Walnut is tough, hard and of medium density and is considered one of the supreme species for high end furniture, cabinets, doors and interior joinery.
Hard maple, growing naturally in the hardwood forests of North America, is world-renowned for its delicate colour, hardness, fine grain and finishing quality. American hard maple is a cold climate species although trees can grow throughout the USA. Forest Industry Analysis (FIA) data shows U.S. hard maple makes up 7.0% of total U.S. hardwood growing stock and that while 9.1 million m3 are harvested each year, more than 18 million m3 of American maple grows naturally across the U.S. hardwood forests each year. The sapwood of hard maple is normally creamy white and the heartwood varies from light to dark reddish brown. The wood has a close fine texture and is generally straight grained but can occur as ‘curly’, ‘fiddleback’ and ‘birds eye’ figure.