The American beech tree grows in large pure stands and intermixed with sugar maple, yellow birch, American basswood, black cherry, eastern hemlock, eastern white pine, red spruce, sweetgum, Southern magnolia, ashes, hickories and oaks. It grows best in deep, rich, moist, well-drained soils. The bark is thin, smooth, and gray to blue gray. The sapwood of American beech is white with a red tinge, while the heartwood is light to dark reddish brown. The wood wears well and holds a polish, and it bends readily when steamed.
Care is needed in gluing, but the wood finishes well with paint or transparent finishes.
Sapwood and heartwood are permeable when pressure-treated with a compound like creosote. The red heartwood is extremely resistant to penetration. No information available at this time. Dry kiln schedules for commercial woodstemperate and tropical. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory.