The sapwood is white with a red tinge, while the heartwood is light to dark reddish brown.

The wood is generally straight-grained with a close uniform texture. Beech works readily with most hand and machine tools. It has good gluing properties and can be stained to a good finish. Beech is classed as heavy, hard, strong, high in resistance to shock and highly suitable for steam bending.

Good resistance to abrasive wear.