Wood terms Hardwood – Hardwood comes from leaf-bearing trees like ash, birch, cherry, maple, oak, and yellow poplar. We use only hardwoods in Moosehead furniture. Softwood – Softwood comes from evergreen trees like cedar, fir, pine, and spruce. Kiln-dried – Wood naturally contains moisture, which can cause it to crack and rot if it’s not dried with care. So, wood used for building furniture is usually air-dried for several months – at least three and often six – and then kiln-dried for several weeks, or until its moisture content is only six to eight percent of its weight. Then, and only then, can the wood be used to build furniture sure to stay strong in humid or in very dry climates. Wood color – Wood color can vary even if it’s cut from the same tree, making color matching quite an art. Mortise and tenon – Mortise and tenon is a very strong wood joint made by fitting two pieces of wood – a rail and a post – together at right angles. Rails are notched on a tenoner to fit a square opening in the post and glued in place. Dovetail – Dovetail joints are often used to join the sides of a drawer to the front. Artisans carefully cut trapezoid-shaped pins on the end of one board that then interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. Once glued, the joint is strong and permanent. Since the pins and tails must fit together precisely, craftsmen who hand-cut dovetails must be highly skilled. Mitered – A mitered joint is made by beveling two surfaces, usually at a 45° angle, to form a corner, usually a 90° angle. Biscuit joinery – In biscuit joinery, a small blade is used to cut crescent-shaped holes in the opposite edges of two pieces of wood. Then oval-shaped wooden biscuits – compressed wood shavings stamped into an oval shape – are covered with glue and placed in the slots. As they soak up the glue, the biscuits swell and create a tight bond.