The Difference Between Oak, Sapele, and Cherry

We work with three hardwoods: red oak, sapele, and cherry. Each appears in the product line for a specific reason, and each behaves differently enough that understanding them is worth a few minutes if you're buying something made from one of them.

Red Oak

Red oak is the lid wood. Every candle lid we make is red oak, and that's not likely to change. It has an open, coarse grain that takes oil well, a warm honey tone that deepens beautifully after finishing, and a stability under display conditions that makes it the right long-term choice for something sitting in a room for years. See Why We Use Red Oak for Every Lid for the full reasoning.

The grain figure in red oak is pronounced and visible — more so than sapele or cherry. That character is part of the appeal. No two lids look exactly alike, because no two pieces of red oak are exactly alike. Red oak also appears in our round Whiskey Smoker, where its open grain structure and durability in heat-adjacent conditions make it the right choice.

Sapele

Sapele is the tray wood. It's an African hardwood with a rich, medium-dark tone and a distinctive interlocked grain structure that produces a ribbon figure — a subtle shimmer that shifts depending on the angle of light. On a quartersawn or riftsawn surface, this figure is particularly pronounced. Sapele is denser than red oak and machines very cleanly, which makes it well-suited to the CNC routing our trays require.

Set a red oak lid on a matte black jar sitting in a sapele tray and the whole thing reads as one object — three materials at different points on a tonal range, each doing something distinct. Sapele provides the grounding, darker element that anchors the composition without competing with the warmth above it.

Cherry

Cherry is the wood of our oval Whiskey Smoker. It has a warm, reddish-pink tone when freshly milled and a fine, consistent grain that finishes to a silky smoothness. Cherry is slightly lighter in feel than sapele — quieter in figure, more refined in character — and it develops a pleasant warmth over time with exposure and handling.

On the oval smoker, cherry's smoother grain and lighter color distinguish it visually from the round red oak version. The two smokers are related objects that make different statements — same function, different material personality. Both are finished with pure tung oil and designed to be used, not preserved.

Why It Matters

The wood you hold is the product as much as what it's paired with. These materials were chosen for specific reasons — for how they look, how they machine, how they finish, and how they age in real-world conditions. Red oak is tactile and warm and present. Sapele is dense and rich and grounding. Cherry is refined and quietly beautiful. All three are finished the same way — pure tung oil — and all three are meant to be handled.

Shop our full woodworks line to see what's available in each.