The objective of this publication is to compare the performance of five common Saskatchewan wood species in typical secondary wood processing applications. The machining, fastener withdrawal, and finishing properties of trembling aspen, black spruce, white spruce, western white birch and jack pine are presented. The American Society for Testing and Materials test procedures used as a guideline were D-1666 and D-1761 for the machining and fastener withdrawal tests respectively; and D-3359 and D-4541 for the finish coating adhesion test. The machining tests included planing, sanding, shaping, mortising, drilling and turning. In these tests, the resulting machined surfaces were examined for machining-related defects. The fastener withdrawal tests measured the mean force required to withdraw nail and screw type fasteners. The finishing tests determined the adhesion of a number of typical commercially available coatings to each of the wood species and the appearance attributes of a broad range of furniture-type production finishes. All of the species performed well in the tests but some of the results were surprising, as comparisons revealed relative strengths and weaknesses across species.