An amazing number of woods have been used over the centuries to make antique furniture - find out more about the main ones and how to identify them.

Acacia - Used in 18th century furniture for banding in place of satinwood, it is yellowish colour with brown markings in it.

Alder - This was used instead of beech or birch for the rails in the back of chairs.

Amboyna - Used as a veneer in the first half of the 19th century, it is a yellow brown burred wood.

Applewood - This was used in the 17th and 18th century for chairs and spindles.

Ash - This was widely used to make country furniture. It is a pale yellow with a long reddish brown grain.

Beech - A popular wood for chair seats and also for turned legs of country chairs. It is a pale in colour and close-grained.

Birch - Like acacia (see above) this was used in place of satinwood veneers. It was also used in bentwood furniture. It is a strong wood with a rippled pattern of markings.

Bog Oak - This is oak buried in peat bog and is virtually black in colour. It was much used in the 16th and 17th centuries for inlays and in the 19th century for carved furniture.

Box - It is pale, close-grained and hard and used for stringing in furniture and boxes.

Cane - Used in colonial furniture, it comes from the rattan palm.

Cherry - A yellowish red colour, it was used in both French  provincial and late 18th century American furniture. Because it is usually cut in short planks, many pieces are used to make one table top.

Chestnut - often used in place of oak because it is similar in appearance, this timber is light brown and  used in English and French provincial furniture.

Deal - A name for timber from conifers in general, see pine.

Ebony - This very black wood has been used from ancient times. It is used both as a veneer, although it does have a tendency to split, and as a solid wood. It was also commonly used for inlays and bandings.

Elm - A light brown to yellowish timber much used in country furniture. It is somewhat similar to oak in appearance but, because it grows much faster, the grain is more pronounced.

Hickory - This North American wood was commonly used in New England for chair spindles and bentwood furniture. Its colour varies from almost white to a yellowish red.

Kingwood - Sometimes mistaken for rosewood, this West Indian timber is a purple colour when freshly cut although it  fades to greyish brown. Used mainly for crossbanding.

Lignum Vitae - Also from the West Indies, this wood sinks in water. Originally it was believed to have medicinal qualities. It was used mostly mortars, although sometimes it was also made into veneers for furniture. The colour varies from light yellow to dark brown.

Lime - This highly prized wood is ideal for carving because it does not split easily. It was used for furniture, sculpture and picture frames. The colour varies from white when freshly cut to light brown as it ages.

Mahogany - This is probably one of the most common woods seen in antique furniture because it was used extensively from the early 18th century onwards. It is a beautiful red-brown colour sometimes with a figured grain.

Oak - A very strong wood, resistant to woodworm, and used extensively for furniture until the early 18th century most of which has darkened to a very dark brown, almost black.

Pine - This usually refers to many types of coniferous wood (see deal), it starts as yellowish white darkening to dark yellow/golden brown with age. Much used for country furniture.

Rosewood - This timber does not come from roses. It varies in colour from light brown with dark markings to almost black. Much used as a veneer.

Sandalwood - An evocatively and beautifully scented wood which was used mostly for boxes.

Satinwood - This timber comes from the East and West Indies. There are variations in the wood coming from the two areas: that from the East Indies is a pale yellow with less pronounced figuring, from the West Indies it has a deeper orangey yellow colour with more pronounced figuring. It was widely used as veneers.

Walnut - European walnut is a golden to medium brown with spectacular markings, obvious when used as veneers. American walnut from Virginia is darker, remininscent of mahogany in colour, with a straight grain.

Yew - Much used for country furniture, tea caddies and treen, the colour is reddish brown.