Selecting the right wood for your sauna isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about creating the perfect environment for relaxation, ensuring durability, and maximizing your investment.
The wood you choose affects:
Our eight premium wood options each offer unique benefits. Let’s explore them in detail.
Clear Western Red Cedar stands as the gold standard in sauna construction. This knot-free wood delivers both exceptional performance and stunning visual appeal.
What It Looks Like: Rich reddish-brown hues with straight, uniform grain patterns. The clear grade means no knots or imperfections—just smooth, consistent beauty that ages gracefully to a distinguished silver-gray patina.
Aromatic Profile: Fresh, sweet cedar scent that’s particularly pronounced when heated. Many describe it as forest-like and calming, enhancing the therapeutic sauna experience.
Knotty Western Red Cedar offers the same excellent performance as clear cedar with added visual character at a more accessible price point.
What It Looks Like: Warm reddish-brown tones featuring distinctive knots and grain variations. These natural characteristics create a cozy, cabin-like atmosphere that many find more inviting than uniform clear wood.
Aromatic Profile: Same pleasant cedar fragrance as clear cedar, perhaps slightly more complex due to the knots releasing additional oils.
Clear Canadian Hemlock has gained popularity as an excellent alternative for those sensitive to aromatic woods or preferring a neutral sauna environment.
What It Looks Like: Light cream to pale brown coloring with subtle, straight grain. The uniform appearance creates a clean, contemporary look that complements modern home design.
Aromatic Profile: Virtually odorless when heated, making it ideal for those who prefer to add their own essential oils or enjoy a scent-free experience.
Nordic Spruce represents the heart of traditional sauna culture—over 90% of the world’s saunas feature this time-tested wood, and for excellent reasons.
What It Looks Like: Bright, almost luminous appearance with colors ranging from creamy white to pale yellow. Features small, tight knots that create an authentic Nordic aesthetic. The light coloring makes even compact saunas feel spacious and airy.
Aromatic Profile: Subtle, fresh scent reminiscent of northern forests. Less pronounced than cedar but adds a clean, natural background note that many find perfectly balanced.
Finnleo’s Black Taika represents the cutting edge of sauna wood technology—thermally modified spruce with a striking charcoal finish.
What It Looks Like: Deep charcoal to black coloring with visible wood grain texture. Creates a dramatic, sophisticated atmosphere unlike any traditional sauna wood.
Aromatic Profile: Subtle, slightly sweet scent from the thermal modification process. Much milder than cedar but more complex than hemlock.
Standard Aspen remains one of the most popular choices in Finland, offering excellent value and time-tested performance.
What It Looks Like: Creamy white to pale yellow with subtle grain patterns. Clean, bright appearance creates an airy, spacious feeling.
Aromatic Profile: Virtually scentless, allowing the natural sauna aromas of steam and any added essences to predominate.
Thermo-Aspen undergoes heat treatment that dramatically improves its natural properties, creating an ideal sauna wood.
What It Looks Like: Warm honey to light caramel tones with minimal grain pattern. The thermal modification creates consistent coloring throughout each board.
Aromatic Profile: Nearly odorless with just a hint of sweet, baked wood scent—perfect for pure air enthusiasts.
Eastern White Cedar offers excellent value with strong performance characteristics, particularly popular in the Great Lakes region.
What It Looks Like: Lighter than Western Red Cedar with colors ranging from pale yellow to light brown. Features prominent knots and varied grain patterns creating rustic charm.
Aromatic Profile: Milder cedar scent than Western Red Cedar—fresh and clean without being overpowering.
*Only available during certain seasons.
Often overlooked, Alder offers unique properties that make it an excellent choice for discerning sauna enthusiasts.
What It Looks Like: Light tan to reddish-brown with subtle grain patterns. Often features interesting color variations that add character without being distracting.
Aromatic Profile: Mild, slightly sweet scent when heated—often described as honey-like. Never overpowering but adds pleasant background notes.
Calculating Wood in Sauna:
While your sauna walls create the atmosphere, your benches and backrests are where skin meets wood. This direct contact demands special consideration—the wrong choice can mean uncomfortable hot spots, splinters, or even burns. That’s why we exclusively use clear (knot-free) wood species for all surfaces you’ll touch, unless you specifically request utility grades to manage costs.
The Science Behind Our Choice: Knots in wood contain concentrated resin that conducts heat differently than the surrounding wood. At sauna temperatures, these knots can become uncomfortably hot—even burning to the touch. Clear wood ensures uniform heat distribution and maximum comfort.
The luxury choice for benching. Western Red Cedar benches stay remarkably cool even at high temperatures, thanks to cedar’s unique cellular structure.
The smooth, splinter-free surface feels silky against skin, while natural oils provide antimicrobial properties. Perfect for those who want the absolute best.
For those preferring neutral aesthetics and no aroma. Hemlock benches offer consistent performance with a modern look.
The fine grain ensures comfort, while the light color keeps surfaces cooler. Ideal for contemporary saunas or those with sensitivities.
Aspen’s tight grain and absence of resin make it ideal for skin contact.
It maintains a comfortable temperature, resists moisture absorption, and develops a beautiful patina over time. The bright color also helps benches stay cooler by reflecting heat.
Abachi is similar to Aspen in color and tone and is ideal for sauna benching and backrest material.
It maintains a comfortable temperature, resists moisture absorption, and develops a beautiful patina over time.
An exceptional yet underutilized option. Alder’s natural properties make it one of the coolest-to-touch woods available.
The smooth texture feels luxurious, and its subtle honey scent adds to the experience without overwhelming. Excellent choice for those seeking something unique.
When it comes to sauna wood, experience matters. As a Finnish-owned company with generations of sauna tradition behind us, we don’t just sell wood—we share our heritage.
Most of us grew up with saunas, built them with their families, and understand how each wood performs not from spec sheets, but from decades of real-world experience.
Sauna-Specific Selection: Every board in our inventory is chosen specifically for sauna use. We reject lumber with excessive knots, improper grain, or inadequate drying. Our materials are kiln-dried to optimal moisture content and stored in climate-controlled facilities to ensure stability.
Expert Guidance: Can’t decide between Nordic Spruce and Cedar? Wondering if Thermo-Aspen is worth the investment? Our team provides honest, experience-based recommendations tailored to your specific project, climate, and budget. We’ve built hundreds of saunas—we know what works.
See, Touch, and Experience: Our Minnesota showroom isn’t just a display—it’s a working showcase. See every wood type installed in actual saunas. Feel the difference between clear and knotty grades. Take a complimentary sauna session to experience how different woods perform at temperature. Photos can’t capture the full sensory experience of quality sauna wood.
Complete Solutions: Whether you’re planning a $50,000 custom outdoor sauna or selecting materials for a DIY basement project, we have you covered:
Not ready to visit? We’ll ship wood samples directly to you. Compare colors, feel textures, and even test aromatics by warming samples with a hair dryer. It’s the next best thing to visiting our showroom.
Don’t leave your sauna wood selection to chance. Whether you’re ready to start building or just beginning to explore options, we’re here to help. Our goal isn’t just to sell you wood—it’s to ensure you create a sauna you’ll love for decades.
Ready to get started?
We build saunas the way they should be built—with Finnish expertise and Minnesota craftsmanship. Our team doesn’t just sell saunas; we use them daily, understand their construction inside and out, and have helped over 250 families create their perfect sauna experience—whether through a fully custom done-for-you sauna, DIY sauna kit or a modular system.
Every sauna we build reflects decades of combined experience in woodworking, construction, and traditional sauna design. Our builders handle projects from compact home saunas to luxury custom installations, ensuring precise construction and authentic performance every time.
Before you invest, visit our showroom to experience authentic sauna heat. Feel the difference quality materials and proper construction make. Talk with specialists who understand löyly, ventilation, and the details that separate a great sauna from an expensive disappointment.
Our 50+ five-star reviews on Google come from customers who’ve experienced the difference professional guidance makes—from initial design through your first sauna session.
Experience the difference quality makes at our Cokato showroom, where you can see, touch, and even try our saunas before making your decision. Our showroom features models of custom indoor, custom outdoor and modular saunas, allowing you to compare construction quality, experience different wood types firsthand, and feel the authentic heat firsthand. Whether you’re drawn to the aromatic Western Red Cedar, the clean look of Canadian Hemlock, or the traditional Nordic Spruce (and more), seeing and smelling these woods in person makes all the difference.
Our sauna experts are here to answer your questions, explain the differences between modular and custom construction, and help you visualize how a sauna would fit into your lifestyle and property. Many customers tell us that visiting the showroom transformed their understanding of what they wanted—there’s simply no substitute for experiencing seeing and sitting in a sauna before you buy.
Our sauna showroom is located at 500 Cokato St W in Cokato, Minnesota. View our current business hours on Google Business Profile here or call 612.505.9700 to schedule an appointment.
Book a consultation with one of our sauna specialists—we’ll walk you through your options, answer your questions, and help you take the first step toward building your dream sauna.
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