Three hardwood species were chemically modified by furfurylation in order to assess their behavior to machining. Two treatment protocols were achieved: one being a combination of a thermal treatment prior to the chemical modification with furfuryl alcohol solution and the other one being only a chemical modification by furfuryl alcohol solution. Both treatments showed an overall improvement of the dimensional stability of all wood species and a decrease in the moisture content while density and Brinell hardness increased.Although, some differences have been observed between these two treatments with a better anti swelling efficiency and Brinell hardness of the samples subjected to a heat treatment prior to furfurylation. Nevertheless, the machining behavior of the latter samples was poor compared to samples modified only by furfurylation. Differences in machining behavior were also observed among the studied wood species and the furfurylated hornbeam appeared to be the most interesting modified wood.