European Beechwood

APPEARANCE: The color is a light cream with darker heartwood, something between maple and ash. The grain is short, mostly straight, with beautiful, even texture. Beechwood imparts definite warmth to the environment and can make the interior look spacious. Furniture manufacturers and cabinet makers figured out the trick for quite a while that's one reason many pieces of furniture designed for small habitats such as apartments or flats are often veneered with beech wood. European Beechwood PHYSICAL PROPERTIES: Dense, heavy, and hard (1300 on the Janka scale) yet somewhat brittle due to its short grain. Not having any specific taste or odor and being very gentle on the knifes edge, it becomes an obvious choice of cutting boards, chopping blocks, and butcher-block countertops. The unfinished wood has poor dimensional stability, as it reacts promptly to the changes in the environmental humidity. It is, therefore, necessary for the wood to be sealed with great care before installation. European Beechwood WORKING PROPERTIES: Beechwood machines very well and has exceptional stain acceptance. Being a dense wood, it tends to split along the grain, so pre-drilling is a must for nails and wood screws. European Beechwood TRIVIA: Although beech wood is not very durable outdoors, its durability increases when soaked continuously. That's why beech wood came as the right candidate for building water wheels and underwater ship elements when white oak or other traditional water-resistant timber was not available.