Walnut vs Maple vs Zebrawood vs Beech: A Wood Comparison

Four hardwoods cover almost everything we make. They differ in ways that show up years later — how the colour shifts, how an engraving reads, how the surface takes a knock. Start with the numbers, then the character.

Species	Janka hardness	Colour	Engraving contrast
Black walnut	~1,010 lbf	Chocolate brown, lightens with age	Low — reads as texture
Hard maple	~1,450 lbf	Near-white to cream, ambers with age	High — dark on pale
Zebrawood	~1,575 lbf	Golden with dark stripes	Uneven across the stripe
European beech	~1,300 lbf	Pale pinkish tan, very even	High and consistent

Janka hardness measures the force needed to embed a steel ball halfway into the wood — the standard industry comparison for dent resistance. Published values vary slightly by source and by individual board.

Black walnut

The wood most people picture when they picture a wooden keepsake. It is the softest of the four by the Janka measure, which is part of why it machines so cleanly and why the edges of a box come off the tool crisp rather than fuzzy. Its unusual habit: unlike most hardwoods, walnut lightens as it ages, its deep chocolate mellowing towards a warmer brown over years of light exposure.

Engraving on walnut is a quiet effect. The burn line is dark, the wood is dark, so the design reads through depth and texture rather than colour contrast — elegant in person, harder to photograph. Best for: anything meant to look understated.

Hard maple

Around 40 % harder than walnut and almost white when freshly cut, maple is the high-contrast choice. A name engraved on maple reads like print on paper, which makes it the safest species for small text or detailed line art. It ambers gradually with UV exposure, so a maple piece kept on a sunny shelf will be a warmer colour in five years than the day it arrived. Best for: intricate designs and anyone who wants the engraving to be the first thing you notice.

Zebrawood

The hardest and most opinionated of the four. Its alternating light and dark stripes are the whole point — and also the constraint, because those bands do not absorb laser heat at the same rate, so fine text crossing a stripe boundary loses evenness. Bold monograms and simple shapes work with the grain; paragraphs fight it. Best for: pieces where the wood itself is the statement.

European beech

The quiet workhorse: pale, tight and unusually uniform, with very little figure to compete with a design. That evenness makes it the most predictable species to engrave, which is why it is a common choice for keepsake boxes carrying long inscriptions. Best for: text-heavy engraving where consistency matters more than drama.

Choosing between them

• Want the engraving to shout? Maple or beech.
• Want the wood to shout? Zebrawood.
• Want neither to shout? Walnut — which is why it is our default.
• Long inscription? A pale, even species: beech first, maple second.
• Something that will be handled daily? Hardness helps: zebrawood and maple resist dents best.

A note on solid wood versus veneer

Every piece we make is cut from solid hardwood, which matters specifically for engraving: a laser cutting into veneer can burn through the face layer and expose the substrate underneath. On solid stock the groove is the same wood all the way down, so an engraving can be as deep as the design needs.

Caring for each

All four want the same things: no standing water, no direct sun for long periods, and an occasional wipe with a barely damp cloth. Pale species show finger oils sooner than walnut does. For a fuller routine, see our guide on caring for wooden accessories.