FDM - July 2009

eastern hardwoods
Sycamore and wormy maple scored highest
in customer rankings of underutilized species.
By Sudipta Dasmohapatra, Harry Watt, Phil H. Mitchell, North Carolina State University

The Wood Products Extension group at North Carolina State University has been working on a project to review opportunities for using underutilized hardwood species for higher value furniture and other wood products.

These woods can be dried flat and free of stain, and can be finished in clear or light to heavy stain. Woods such as beech, sycamore, black gum, tupelo, hackberry, sweetgum and wormy red maple are typically priced as green lumber in truckload quantities at the sawmill for a quarter to one-third the price of premium woods such

as hard maple and cherry.

Furniture pieces made of these seven underutilized species were manufactured at the Hodges Wood Products Laboratory at North Carolina State and displayed at the High Point Furniture Market in April 2008. Show attendees were asked to complete a short survey about their perceptions of the use of these species for higher value products based on the furniture displayed.

Of the 41 respondents to the survey, 30 percent were involved in furniture design services, 25 percent managed furniture retail stores and 19 percent

were furniture manufacturers. A quarter of respondents were from other woodworking companies, cabinet manufacturers, hardware and specialty products manufacturers.

Respondents were asked to rank their preference for the seven species on a scale of one (best) to seven (worst) based on the displayed furniture items of tables, chairs, bookcases and shelves made of these species.

Sycamore and wormy maple were the most preferred species (see Table 1). Red oak was perceived as the second most preferred species followed by beech, sweetgum, hackberry and tupelo/black gum.