"Greg O" wrote in message
...
I friend on mine has a wrought iron park bench he wants me to cut some wood
for.
The question has come up, "Which wood?".
Anteing semi-exotic is out of the question. Something readily available at
the local yard.

The others adequately addressed the "which species" question. What I suspect
the OP really needs to know (although he didn't ask it) is where?, rather
than what?

"the local yard" is the wrong answer. Look up "hardwood" in your yellow
pages. Regular lumber yards generally don't carry much beyond SPF
(spruce/pine /fir).

-Steve