The material your easel is made from affects far more than its appearance. Durability, weight, stability, maintenance requirements, and even how the easel ages over decades—all depend on material choice. Understanding these differences helps you select an easel that matches your working style, environment, and expectations.
This guide explores the three primary materials used in easel construction: wood, aluminium, and steel. Each has distinct advantages and limitations, and the best choice depends on your specific needs.
Wooden Easels
Wood remains the traditional choice for artist easels, and for good reason. It offers a combination of stability, workability, and aesthetic appeal that modern materials struggle to match. However, not all wood is equal.
Beechwood: The Gold Standard
Beechwood dominates the premium easel market. This European hardwood offers an ideal balance of properties: it's strong enough to support heavy canvases, hard enough to resist denting and wear, and stable enough to maintain its shape over decades.
Beech has a tight, even grain that machines smoothly and takes finishes beautifully. It's also relatively resistant to the humidity changes that cause lesser woods to warp. Most professional studio easels from brands like Mabef, Winsor & Newton, and quality Mont Marte models use beechwood construction.
Look for smooth, even grain patterns and hardware that's properly recessed into the wood. Budget "beechwood" easels sometimes use lower-quality wood passed off as beech—if the grain looks coarse or the finish is rough, be skeptical.
Oak
Oak is harder and heavier than beech, making it extremely durable but also more expensive and harder to work with. Oak easels are relatively rare but represent the pinnacle of wooden easel construction. Their weight provides exceptional stability but makes them essentially permanent fixtures—you won't be moving an oak studio easel without effort.
Pine and Other Softwoods
Pine and similar softwoods are significantly cheaper than hardwoods, which explains their presence in budget easels. While serviceable for light use, softwood easels have real limitations.
Pine dents easily—place something hard against it and you'll leave a mark. It's more prone to warping in humidity changes. Joints wear faster. A pine easel might serve a beginner well for a few years, but it won't become a decades-long companion the way a quality hardwood easel can.
- Beechwood: Best all-around choice for most artists. Excellent durability and stability at reasonable prices.
- Oak: Premium option for artists wanting the absolute best. Heavy and expensive.
- Pine: Acceptable for budget-conscious beginners or occasional use. Plan to upgrade eventually.
Wood Maintenance Considerations
All wooden easels require some maintenance to perform their best over time. Periodic oiling prevents the wood from drying out and cracking. Paint spills should be cleaned promptly to prevent permanent staining or interference with adjustment mechanisms.
Wood is sensitive to extreme humidity changes. A studio that swings between very dry winter heating and humid summers stresses wooden easels. Climate control, or at least keeping the easel away from heating vents and direct sun, helps preserve its condition. See our maintenance guide for detailed care instructions.
Aluminium Easels
Aluminium dominates the portable easel market. Its light weight—roughly one-third that of steel—makes it the obvious choice when you need to carry your easel any significant distance.
Advantages of Aluminium
Beyond light weight, aluminium offers excellent corrosion resistance. Unlike steel, it won't rust when exposed to moisture, making it ideal for outdoor painting where morning dew, rain, or coastal salt air might contact the easel.
Aluminium easels are also typically less expensive than comparable wooden models. The metal extrudes easily into consistent shapes, reducing manufacturing costs. For budget-conscious artists who don't need the aesthetic warmth of wood, aluminium provides good value.
Limitations
The same light weight that makes aluminium portable also makes it less stable. In even moderate wind, an aluminium field easel can become a frustrating sail, threatening to topple with every gust. Weighted bags or stakes help but don't fully compensate.
Aluminium conducts heat effectively, which creates issues in extreme temperatures. On hot days, an aluminium easel in direct sun can become uncomfortably hot to touch. In cold conditions, the metal chills quickly.
If painting in very hot or cold conditions with an aluminium easel, consider wrapping adjustment knobs and frequently touched surfaces with grip tape or foam. This insulates your hands from temperature extremes.
Quality Variations
Not all aluminium easels are equal. Tube thickness, joint design, and alloy quality vary considerably between manufacturers. Cheap aluminium easels may use thin-wall tubing that bends under stress or joints that wear loose quickly.
Better aluminium easels use thicker tubing, machined rather than stamped joints, and include features like replaceable wear parts. These cost more but last longer and perform more reliably.
Steel Easels
Steel appears less frequently in artist easels but serves specific niches where its properties shine.
Studio Applications
Some heavy-duty studio easels incorporate steel frames, particularly those designed for very large canvases. Steel's strength-to-weight ratio allows for slim structural members that still support heavy loads—useful when you need to accommodate a two-metre canvas without a massively bulky frame.
Steel's weight, a disadvantage for portable easels, becomes an advantage in the studio. A heavy steel easel doesn't move or wobble, regardless of how vigorously you attack the canvas.
Rust Concerns
Steel's major disadvantage is rust. Unlike aluminium, bare steel corrodes when exposed to moisture and oxygen. Quality steel easels are painted, powder-coated, or galvanised to prevent rust, but any coating can be damaged, exposing the metal beneath.
If you choose a steel easel, inspect it periodically for coating damage and address any chips or scratches promptly with touch-up paint. In humid environments, rust can develop surprisingly quickly on unprotected steel.
Steel vs. Aluminium for Portable Use
Some budget field easels use steel rather than aluminium to reduce costs. These are significantly heavier than aluminium alternatives—typically two to three times the weight. Unless weight is irrelevant to your situation (perhaps you drive directly to painting spots and never walk), the weight penalty makes steel a poor choice for portable applications.
Hybrid Constructions
Some easels combine materials to leverage different properties. A wooden main structure might include aluminium legs for weight savings, or steel reinforcements at stress points for durability. These hybrid designs can offer excellent compromises, though quality varies widely.
Making Your Choice
Consider your primary use case:
For studio work: Beechwood offers the best combination of stability, aesthetics, and durability for most artists. If budget permits and you paint large-scale, oak or steel-reinforced options provide extra strength.
For plein air: Aluminium is nearly always the right choice. Accept the stability trade-off in exchange for portability. Invest in quality aluminium construction rather than the cheapest option.
For mixed use: Consider owning both—a studio easel for home and a separate portable easel for outdoor work. Trying to compromise with a single easel often means sacrificing performance in both contexts.
For beginners: A mid-range beechwood easel provides excellent value and will serve you for many years as your practice develops. Avoid the cheapest options regardless of material—frustration with poor equipment discourages painting.