Buckeye (Aesculus octandra, A. glabra)

Buckeye is a domestic hardwood

Location

Buckeye consists of two species, yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra) and Ohio buckeye (A. glabra). These species range from the Appalachians of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina westward to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Buckeye is not customarily separated from other species when manufactured into lumber and can be used for the same purposes as aspen (Populus), basswood (Tilia), and sapwood of yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera).

Characteristics

The white sapwood of buckeye merges gradually into the creamy or yellowish white heartwood. The wood is uniform in texture, generally straight grained, light in weight, weak when used as a beam, soft, and low in shock resistance. It is rated low on machinability such as shaping, mortising, boring, and turning.

Primary Uses

Buckeye is suitable for pulping for paper; in lumber form, it has been used principally for furniture, boxes and crates, food containers, wooden ware, novelties, and planing mill products.

*Much of the base wood information presented here is made available by the USDA FPL FS. If you are interested in a much more technical description of wood properties, I encourage you to visit the source.