Choose the wood before you choose the slab.

The pine of dry Mediterranean coasts. Irregular, resinous and awkward to machine, with the lowest measured shrinkage of anything KORENA lists.

Density

540 kg/m³

Janka

Not listed

The cabinet-maker's favourite. Easy to machine, ages beautifully into a deep reddish-brown.

Density

560 kg/m³

Janka

4,226 N

Class 1 durability from a tree that grows in Europe. One of the only EU-native options that survives outdoors untreated, and a credible domestic answer to tropical exotics like teak.

Density

770 kg/m³

Janka

7,560 N

A pale timber from a dark tree. Works like Scots Pine, stays lighter with age, and moves less than any pine here.

Density

475 kg/m³

Janka

2,920 N

The lightest hardwood KORENA lists, and the one most often blamed for a fault that belongs to the blade.

Density

385 kg/m³

Janka

2,020 N

American Black Walnut is the chocolate-brown hardwood that built mid-century furniture. Imported into European yards as kiln-dried slabs, it works cleanly and finishes to a deep, warm tone that ages well.

Density

610 kg/m³

Janka

4,490 N

California's figured walnut, and the wildest figure in the walnut family. Graft unions between English walnut and Hinds rootstock produce violet, gold and marbled patterns no other walnut can match.

Density

640 kg/m³

Janka

5,030 N

Not a fir, and the stiffest softwood KORENA lists. Bold orange ring figure, structural strength, and a splinter you do not want to ignore.

Density

510 kg/m³

Janka

2,760 N

Rare salvaged hardwood with interlocked grain, wild figure, and exceptional steam-bending behaviour. Hard-won material with genuine craft heritage.

Density

560 kg/m³

Janka

3,680 N

Pale, ring-porous hardwood with bold grain and the best steam-bending behaviour in Europe. Strong and tough, but strictly interior use.

Density

680 kg/m³

Janka

6,580 N

The workshop workhorse. Pale, dense, fine-textured hardwood with straight grain, and the wood that bends.

Density

710 kg/m³

Janka

6,460 N

A refined cabinet wood with fine, even grain that ages from pinkish-tan to a deep reddish-brown.

Density

600 kg/m³

Janka

5,120 N

The one European softwood that will sit outside untreated, and the most decorative of the group. Hardest conifer KORENA lists, at the cost of fighting resin at every stage.

Density

575 kg/m³

Janka

3,290 N

The default European hardwood for furniture, joinery and architectural slabs. Open grain, calm colour, predictable behaviour at the bench.

Density

675 kg/m³

Janka

4,980 N

Master-grade carving and cabinet wood with a fine even texture. Slab-size pieces are rare and prized when they appear.

Density

700 kg/m³

Janka

7,420 N

Warm chocolate-brown hardwood with straight to wavy grain. Works cleanly, finishes beautifully, and reads as the maker's wood across European studios.

Density

640 kg/m³

Janka

5,410 N

Rare, culturally significant, and exceptionally durable. Dramatic orange-red heartwood against cream sapwood, and the wood of the English longbow.

Density

675 kg/m³

Janka

6,760 N

A Greek mountain endemic with almost no published property data. Bought for provenance and rarity rather than performance figures.

Density

Not listed

Janka

Not listed

The canonical butcher-block and kitchen-island wood. Pale, dense, food-safe, and hard-wearing. North American import, long established as a furniture-grade species through European channels.

Density

705 kg/m³

Janka

6,450 N

Pale, ruthlessly dense, and famously hard. The wood old joiners reached for when they needed plane bodies, mallet heads, and water-mill cogs that would not give up.

Density

735 kg/m³

Janka

7,260 N

Quartersawn London Plane reveals lacewood: large medullary rays catch the light in dense, scaly flecks. The slab's signature, and its whole reason for being on this list.

Density

560 kg/m³

Janka

4,180 N

The pine of the Atlantic coast and the Landes. The most resinous and least stable wood KORENA lists, with a bold coarse figure that suits rustic work.

Density

500 kg/m³

Janka

1,740 N

The most abundant conifer in Europe and the lightest slab material KORENA lists. Pale, even, easy at the bench, and soft enough that you should choose it deliberately.

Density

405 kg/m³

Janka

1,680 N

Harder than European oak and cheaper, with pores open enough to blow air through. An interior wood, and only an interior wood.

Density

700 kg/m³

Janka

5,430 N