Despite the large number of choices at your local lumber yard, choosing what type of wood you want or need for a home improvement project does not have to be a scary thing.

“As long as you know what you want to do in your application,” said Damien Skal, a Butler chain saw carver and former general contractor, who knows a thing or two about wood.

The kind of wood you want depends on what you want to do.

“It depends on the application as well,” Skal said. “It depends on the look that you want for the final product.”

One of the most basic choices is between soft wood and hardwood. Most homes are built with pine, which is a soft wood.

Hardwood is used mainly for decorative purposes, like cabinetry, as well as flooring because it is able to take the beating of foot traffic.

The grains and colors of hardwood — such as oak, walnut and cherry — are more appealing for decorative cabinets and floors.

“Cherry is a beautiful wood. A lot of cabinets are made of cherry,” Skal said.

Some folks may be interested in exotic woods for decorative purposes, which are very expensive but very nice looking.

“Deep, rich color,” Skal said.

One of the most common cuts of wood is the two-by-four.

Over time, the size of those cuts has changed. Years ago, these cuts actually were two inches by four inches. Today, they are usually about a quarter-inch to a half-inch less on both ends. Skal said he is not sure why that happened.

There also are different grades of lumber, which Skal said depends on how many knots and branches are in the wood.

When a tree goes to the mill, they will grade the logs. Clear means that there are no knots or twists.

“It’s a nice, long, straight piece of wood free of any knots or limbs,” Skal said.

However, he said some people like wood with knots for certain purposes. For chain saw carving, he said he likes knots — they show more natural beauty.

Treatment for wood also can be necessary. Skal said wood can suck in moisture and later push it out, causing it to shrink and swell.

“It’s all preventive maintenance. If you want something to last a long time, you’re going to want to put some sort of repellant on there to not only condition the wood, but also to keep moisture out of it,” Skal said.

For exterior woods, treatment is applied to protect it from not only wind and rain, but also from ultraviolet light from the sun, which can fade wood.

“A lot of older barns around here are not treated and you can tell they are not treated because they are old and weathered and black and gray,” Skal said.

Interior woods sometimes are treated with oils or finishes to help protect them.

Pressure treated wood is a type of lumber that is treated with a material or chemical to help prevent rotting and keep insects and bugs away.

“It lasts for a long time outside,” Skal said.

He said a lot of decks are built with pressure treated lumber.

“It holds up well with the weather,” Skal said.

This wood is used for exterior work, such as pavilions and decks.

Kiln-dried wood involved pressing the wood and putting it into large kilns to slowly take natural moisture out of the wood. When it is finished, it is dried and subject to only limited shrinking, which makes it more stable. Regular, rough-cut lumber has the chance of shrinking, he said.

Other wood products include particle board or oriented strand board, which is composed of chips of wood mixed in with a glue-type of material, pressed and dried and cut into four-by-eight-foot boards. This usually is used for framing homes for outside sheeting and sheeting for roofs. There also is material like this used for under the floor.

There is laminated veneer lumber, made up of several thin layers of wood held together by adhesive, which is used in framing because it can carry heavy weight over a large span. Skal said this is very durable and less susceptible to sagging compared to milled lumber. Often, a board of this is used instead of steel beams to carry the weight of a house.

Skal has been chain saw carving for about seven years and was more or less self-taught. He often works with Ken Tynan, another Butler-based carver.

“Both of us try to work as much as we can together,” Skal said.

For carving, he typically uses full logs of white pine, which is abundant in the region.

“It’s easy to carve; it’s a soft wood. It takes a finish great,” Skal said. “And it will hold up to the weather as you take care of the wood.”

He said that treating finished carvings — to repel water and sunlight — will help make them last.

For some carvings, Skal said he will use kiln-dried lumber, and make a lamination out of it — gluing the pieces together into a rough shape similar to the subject he wants to carve.

“The benefit of doing that is less chance of cracking,” Skal said.

When wood shrinks, he said, it cracks. The laminated wood is dry and has additional integrity from the glue.

“When you come down to the finished product, it probably will not ever crack,” Skal said.

He said he is happy to be able to work with lumber in such a unique way.

“Wood is a beautiful product,” Skal said.