How Natural Wood Changes Color Over Time

Many types of wood change color over time. Some get darker, some get lighter. All wood will eventually turn silvery grey if left to weather, but that's another story.

Here we're covering color change in freshly milled wood, particularly species with a lot of natural red color. Of the woods we offer, that includes Cherry, African Mahogany and Red Oak.

Red Oak isn't very red and doesn't darken dramatically. Cherry and African Mahogany, however, have a lot of natural red color and are known to darken quite a bit.

Both Cherry and Mahogany darken significantly with age and exposure to light. Most of the change happens in the first few months after a piece is milled, then the process continues slowly for years. Some pieces will darken more rapidly than others, but they seem to eventually end up at about the same color.

The darkening process will take place with or without exposure to direct sunlight, though more sunlight will accelerate the natural darkening of the wood.