Wood
All woods are a little different. Each has its own personality to work with as well as how it looks in a finished piece. The woods I like to work with are Cherry, Walnut, Maple and Quarter Sawn White Oak. All are hardwoods as opposed to pine which is a softwood. I do not work in softwoods. They are not as durable as the hardwoods and the joinery tends to be weaker. For the technical differences on hardwood and softwood click HERE
Quarter Sawn White Oak has definitive ray flecks and a porous texture when finished. Cherry can be light or dark, white or red, tends to darken as it ages and is buttery smooth when finished. Walnut has a distinctive odor when being worked and looks distinguished when finished. Wenge is a terror to work - the raw wood leaves splinters in your hands and quickly dulls the sharpest tools, but the long straight black lines in the chocolate brown wood, while subtle, give the piece an exquisite air and finishes to a wonderful luster. Maple, which can be hard to work as it tends to tear out quite easily, finishes like glass.
Here are some links to sites that have good pictures of various woods that are available: