WHICH WOOD?
Your visual impression of any wood floor is comprised of three parts: the sheen of the protective finish, 
the stain color, and the wood itself. At Donald Williams Wood Floors, where we make floors to your specifications, you have choices in all three categories.
1) YOUR CHOICE OF WOOD.
Species: In our shop we have samples of more than 75 species of wood suitable for flooring, including some common kinds such as oak, walnut, fir, bamboo, and cherry, as well as many exotics from Asia, Australia, Africa, and Latin America that you've probably never heard of.
Criteria: How do you decide which is the right wood for you? Each species of wood has unique characteristics, and we can advise you regarding these important criteria--color, hardness, grain pattern, dimensions, availability, grading, texture, and pricing--as you decide which are most important for your project.
Reclaimed: Although the new flooring we use comes from well-documented, sustainably-harvested sources, you may also want to consider reclaimed flooring . It sometimes offers qualities different from 
newer flooring in, for example: appearance (e.g. old nail holes), or texture (e.g. tight grain), or romance (it may be dredged from river bottoms!). Sometimes reclaimed flooring is easier on the environment as well . (See the section Solid or Engineered?)
Distressed: Though most of our customers want us to sand their wood floors before finishing them, we have installed many thousands of square feet of flooring heavy with natural "character" which we leave unsanded, and sometimes actively distress, providing a floor with an impressive rustic, rural quality.
Visit Us: A visit to our shop, where you can see and hold these many beautiful different woods, is the best way to experience their variety. However, in the meantime, below is a brief survey.
Of the many species of wood available for flooring today, domestic red and white oak are the species we use most often.
Red oak White oak
However we also employ a number of other woods.
Canadian maple, for example, is even harder than oak, and whiter. 
Canadian maple
Fir offers availability with long lengths and unique grain.
Douglas fir
Walnut and American Cherry offer incredibly rich colors,
Black walnut American cherry
while Texas Mesquite is harder yet, and almost as red as the Brazilian cherry we use.
Texas mesquite Brazilian cherry
We have available (without the cutting of a single live tree!) heart pine from Georgia: it comes from centuries-old logs perfectly preserved and dredged from the rivers of the South, and milled up to 11 inches wide.
Heart pine
From Australia come hardwoods unique in grain and texture,
Australian cypress Jarrah
and from Russia we have birch of amazing clarity.
Russian birch
From Asia comes flooring of bamboo, a vastly renewable product of intriguing grain.
Bamboo, carbonized Bamboo, natural
Or the dense and nearly black or zebra-striped Wenge from Africa. 
Wenge
2) YOUR CHOICE OF COLOR.
Most of our customers want the the natural color of their wood floors to show, and then we seal the floors with a neutral/clear stain. If a different color is desired, the wood can be stained. We have stained floors every shade of brown, as well as white, black, red, green, et. al. We can also mix stains to obtain the color right for your project. The choice is yours.
3) YOUR CHOICE OF FINISH.
The purpose of the finish on your floor is to provide a barrier between the wood and the moisture and dirt that is walked onto it.
Prior to 1970 wood floors were finished with lacquer, shellac, and wax. We still wax a few floors every year at a customer's request. But most floors today are finished with low-sheen polyurethane, not only in Northern California but nationwide as well. Generally two to four coats of finish are applied on a floor. You determine the number of coats, depending on your anticipated usage and budget constraints. Usually the finish dries overnight.
Two kinds of polyurethane are widely used. Oil-base polyurethane has been popular since the 1970's and is still considered an excellent, rich, and durable protective finish. Water-base polyurethanes offer similar protection and are friendlier to the environment. Most finishes have a reflective quality called sheen that provides a sense of depth or richness to the wood. However, if you prefer an appearance as natural as possible, ask about the water-base finish with a sheen so low it's almost invisible. Again, the choice is yours.
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