Stories in the grain.

When choosing a finish for solid wood, there are two main paths. We looked at how oil appears on a Maple Burl board finished with a “sanding oil finish” and on a jujube round slice, then整理ed how it differs from varnish.

A wood with “iron” in its name. Ironwood is less the name of one tree than a term for several hard woods grouped together. Perhaps for that reason, boards sold under the same name can look completely different.

A wall shelf is a piece of furniture made from a single board. That is why the eye you bring to choosing the board determines the result: the edge, length and width, and thickness. We organized those criteria using Woodway boards with “shelf” in their product names.

A cutting board is wood that comes into contact with knives and water every day. Hardness, moisture, skin irritation, and finish: we have organized the four things to consider when choosing cutting-board wood, together with photos of Woodway’s cutting-board stock.

Light sapwood, gently flowing grain, and the waves of Claro Walnut. On the actual solid wood before it becomes furniture, we look for what comes after color.

A small square stick no larger than a palm becomes a ballpoint pen or fountain pen on a wood lathe. We follow the different colors and grains of each species, along with the steps that turn a square blank into a pen.

When people first see a purpleheart board, they naturally suspect that it has been painted. But this purple comes from inside the wood. Look at the purple across the broad face together with the bright band along the edge, and you can read how the tree grew.

When people hear “ebony,” they often picture a jet-black wood first. But when different ebonies are brought together, each has a distinct character: brown stripes across a black ground, reddish stripes, or black patterns spreading across a cream-colored ground.

Moabi from Africa and brownheart from South America. From a distance, both look brown, but placed side by side, their color temperatures and grain character are entirely different.

Woodway explains why mineral oil is used instead of cooking oil and outlines the application process, with photos of Stella Oil imported by Woodway.

Examining the piece patterns and outer lines of finished cutting boards alongside scenes of boards secured with clamps.

We examine the overall outlines of two log sections and two boards, followed in turn by their sides and end faces.

Explore the different views of a single board, from its overall outline to its face and edges.

A sequential look at photos documenting the making of a low table that preserves the tabletop’s contours and grain.

Examine them in photographs, from the overall outline to the handles and edges.

Compare the broad faces, edges, and dimensions listed in the product names in sequence.

We examine three slabs in sequence, from their overall outlines to the flow of their grain.

A piece of wood with extending, curved branches reveals different lines and negative spaces depending on how it is positioned.

Even light-colored boards sold under the same name differ in width, side profile, and thickness. Start with the overall outline, then move your gaze to the end of each board.

Log sections that retain their natural outer surfaces, light and dark rectangular boards, and round slices. The same-named wood appears in different forms.

Straight blocks and log sections with branches left intact. The outline of the same object changes depending on which piece of wood it is placed on.

From crown-like slabs to round slices and long, extended boards, these pieces are examined from multiple angles to reveal their different forms.

The broad face of a square block, its dark side, and the round end of a wood dowel. Rather than looking at what came before or after in time, we look at the color and grain revealed now.

Guyana rosewood and the trade name rosewood. Rather than focusing on the similarity of the names, look first at the colors and lines left in the boards shown in the photographs.

Straight boards, bark-covered live-edge boards, and a round slice with a hollow center. The same yellow hue appears within different outlines.

A dense wood from Central Africa. Black lines run straight across its deep brown ground, then overlap like waves when it is cut at an angle.

A wood brought in from Mexico. Black lines ripple across a yellowish-brown background, curling into eye-shaped patterns when they meet a knot.

The tree in the yard that bears jujubes each autumn. Saw it open and red heartwood appears, while the grain bends and swirls around every knot.

Black streaks cross a red ground. The orange glow of a freshly cut surface deepens into a rich red over time.

Remove the cracked and hollowed-out surface, and green heartwood with a yellow border emerges. Each slab reveals a different face of lignum vitae.

Sawn straight, its grain stacks up like mountains; around burls and branch junctions, it becomes burl wood. Two faces from a single tree.

A tree best known first for its spring greens. Sawn into boards, it shows waves; cut into rounds, growth rings; finished, a deep red.

A small landscape unfolds between dark lines and pale edges. We slowly read ziricote—from a living tree to material for musical instruments and furniture.

Brown that looks black, with fine lines revealed up close. A look at the quiet tension created by wenge’s color, texture, and natural edges.

It may look dyed, but the color comes from the wood itself. Read about the appeal and transformation of its vivid purple, along with ways to place color within a piece.

A wood in which even small pieces retain a landscape. We examine the process of reading its bright ground and curving grain, then turning a single piece of bocote into a work of art.

A rosewood where orange, reddish brown, and dark lines overlap. A material story that requires understanding not only its vivid colors, but also bonding, finishing, and dust.

The African wood that becomes clarinets. Why thick, straight logs are rare—and why this wood is so heavy.

Before the Stone Age, there was an age of wood. It simply rotted away and disappeared.

Neither structural lumber nor plywood, but wood that is rare, beautiful, and strong.

Understanding the structure of wood is a way of respecting the tree.

Wood where even nail holes and cracks become texture.

An original painting marked “Hendry Lilanga” on the back of the canvas, together with the wood supporting it.

East African carving that creates expression by leaving the pale sapwood against black mpingo.

A record of the day African blackwood logs that had crossed the sea were unloaded at Woodway’s warehouse.

The journey of thick imported logs through a sawmill, where they become boards.

The first scene in the journey of a Chinese toon tree in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, to becoming Woodway timber.

Traces of the Silk Road remain in the name Persian walnut.

Jeju’s camphor trees, designated Natural Monuments, and camphor cutting boards that cross the sea from Australia.

A tree so heavy it sinks in water, and turns green when exposed to light.