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Formhaus

Materials · the fourteen species

The materials.

Fourteen species, one spectrum — pale to black, no stain. The tone is the wood itself, and the making prices the same across all fourteen, so the board alone sets the difference. Tap any species for its full page, or send it straight to the configurator.

UNDECIDED? START HERE

Help me choose.

Three questions pick the species nine times out of ten: what tone does the room want, what will the piece survive, and does it need to live with wood you already own?

1 · BY TONE

Want the room light? Soft Maple and Hard Maple are the pale end; Movingui adds a true gold. The middle belongs to the oaks — White Oak is the anchor most rooms reach for. Warmth comes from Sipo, Sapele, and Mahogany; depth from Walnut; and the dark end runs through Wenge to true-black Ebony.

2 · BY WHAT IT SURVIVES

Daily service — restaurant tops, working kitchens — favors the hard end of the Janka column: Hard Maple, White Oak, Sapele, Wenge. A true chopping surface is Hard Maple in end grain. And anything living outside starts with Teak or Iroko — the two boards on the spectrum built for weather.

3 · BY WHAT IT LIVES WITH

Matching existing wood is almost always a species question, not a stain question. Oak floors want White or Red Oak; walnut millwork wants Walnut. Put the real board next to the real room before deciding — that’s what samples are for.

WHY THERE’S NO STAIN MENU

We believe the most beautiful color a board can wear is its own — so instead of one wood in many costumes, we carry fourteen woods, each in its natural color, sealed in a clear coating that deepens the grain instead of covering it. The one honest exception is color-matching wood you already have: when a project must sit beside existing stained millwork, the shop takes that on as a custom request, matched to your sample.

Soft Maple01
TONE
01 — THE PALE END
GRAIN
QUIET, EVEN · WARM CREAM
HARDNESS
950 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Hard Maple02
TONE
02 — PALE
GRAIN
CLOSED, FINE · NEARLY WHITE
HARDNESS
1450 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Movingui03
TONE
03 — GOLDEN
GRAIN
SATIN RIBBON FIGURE · GOLDEN YELLOW
HARDNESS
1020 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Red Oak04
TONE
04 — WARM LIGHT
GRAIN
OPEN, BOLD CATHEDRAL
HARDNESS
1290 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
White Oak05
TONE
05 — THE ANCHOR OF THE SPECTRUM
GRAIN
TIGHT, EVEN · RAY FLECK QTR
HARDNESS
1360 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN · RIFT · QTR
European Oak06
TONE
06 — HONEY
GRAIN
GENTLE FIGURE · FINE RAYS
HARDNESS
1120 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Teak07
TONE
07 — GOLDEN BROWN
GRAIN
STRAIGHT, OILY · GOLDEN BROWNOUTDOOR ✓
HARDNESS
1070 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Iroko08
TONE
08 — DEEPENING GOLD
GRAIN
INTERLOCKED · GOLD DEEPENING TO BROWNOUTDOOR ✓
HARDNESS
1260 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Sipo09
TONE
09 — EVEN RED-BROWN
GRAIN
MILD, UNIFORM · CALM
HARDNESS
1180 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Sapele10
TONE
10 — RED-BROWN
GRAIN
RIBBON-STRIPE FIGURE
HARDNESS
1410 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Genuine Mahogany11
TONE
11 — DEEP RED-BROWN
GRAIN
FINE, STRAIGHT · CHATOYANT
HARDNESS
900 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Walnut12
TONE
12 — CHOCOLATE
GRAIN
OPEN, FLOWING FIGURE
HARDNESS
1010 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN · RIFT · QTR
Wenge13
TONE
13 — NEAR BLACK
GRAIN
COARSE, DEAD-STRAIGHT · TAN VEIN
HARDNESS
1930 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN
Ebony14
TONE
14 — THE BLACK END
GRAIN
DENSE, GLASSY · TRUE BLACK
HARDNESS
3080 LBF
MATERIAL
$$$$
CUTS
PLAIN

MATERIAL — RELATIVE BOARD COST FROM THE LIVE RATE CARD, $ LOWEST TO $$$$ HIGHEST · THE MAKING PRICES THE SAME ACROSS ALL FOURTEEN

How to choose

01MATCH THE ROOM — start where the room starts. Oak floors and millwork usually mean White Oak — the anchor of the spectrum; the maples keep a space light; Walnut and Wenge carry the dark end without a drop of stain.

02MATCH THE WORK — for tops in daily service, density earns its keep: Wenge, Hard Maple, Sapele, and White Oak lead the Janka column. Genuine Mahogany and Walnut are gentler boards, happiest where they are admired more than abused.

03MATCH THE BUDGET — species moves the material line only; the making prices the same across all fourteen. The band column tracks the live rate card, so the spread you see here is the spread the configurator charges.

Common questions

Which species is the hardest?

Ebony — 3080 LBF on the Janka scale, the densest board on the spectrum. Wenge, Hard Maple, and Sapele follow. Janka measures resistance to denting: higher is harder.

Which species matches existing oak floors and millwork?

Usually White Oak — most oak flooring and millwork of the last decades is White or Red Oak, so matching means using the same wood, not a stain. Red Oak reads warmer and bolder; rift sawn White Oak reads calmest.

Does the species change the price?

Only the material line. Milling, finishing, and delivery — the value add — price identically across all fourteen species, so the board alone sets the difference. The material band here tracks the live rate card the configurator charges from.

Decide with it in hand