When someone asks "what wood is it?" they usually want one of two things: reassurance that it's safe, or a sense of whether it will last. The answer to both depends on the specific species, and "it's wood" doesn't help.
We use three species. Each one is the right answer to different problems. Here's what those problems are and why each species solves them.
Beech — Fagus sylvatica
Default choice. Most of what we make is in beech. It's the species that appears in kitchens and children's rooms across northern Europe because it's been tested by decades of exactly this kind of use and found reliable.
The grain is very close — the wood fibres are densely packed and don't want to separate along a predictable plane. This matters for anything that will be dropped repeatedly. Beech doesn't splinter into the kind of shards that create a hazard. It dents, marks, scratches, develops patina. All of this is fine.
It takes oil finish uniformly. The surface colour is consistent across a board, which means a set of stacking pieces will look coherent rather than patchwork. When the finish wears in unevenly over time, it does so in a way that reads as character rather than deterioration.
Weight: dense. A 60mm cube in beech weighs around 110g — present enough to feel solid in a small hand without being difficult to manipulate.
Ash — Fraxinus excelsior
Used for pieces that need to be lighter or that have long, thin elements. Ash has longer grain fibres than beech, with more spring to them. This makes it the better choice for axles, dowels, and any structural component that will experience repeated bending force rather than direct impact.
A pull-along toy's axle takes a different kind of stress than a stacking block does. The axle flexes laterally every time the toy changes direction. In beech, this flexing over years of use can cause a crack to develop along the grain. In ash, the longer fibres distribute the stress more evenly. The piece handles this kind of fatigue better.
The grain of ash is more open than beech, which gives it slightly different visual character — small tonal variation across the surface, especially visible when oiled. We think this looks interesting. If you want absolute visual uniformity, ash isn't the choice.
Maple — Acer saccharum
Used least frequently. Maple has the tightest cellular structure of the three, which makes it the best surface for water-based pigments. When you apply a tinted water-based finish to beech, the pigment can spread unevenly along the grain. On maple, it sits precisely where you put it.
This matters for pieces where distinct colours serve a function — alphabet sets where each letter needs a clear, consistent colour; stacking games where colour matching is part of how the toy works. For these applications, maple's surface consistency is worth the higher cost.
It's also harder and heavier than beech, which isn't always an advantage for toys intended for young children. We don't use it for pieces going to children under three. Above that age, the weight difference from beech is manageable.
If you're ordering a custom piece and have a specific reason to want one species over another — a child with a known sensitivity, a specific aesthetic preference — mention it in your message. We'll tell you whether it affects what we can make.