Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

I think everyone has a favorite / least favorite wood - here's mine.

My Favorite is Red Oak - I like it's appearance - it finishes to a golden color without any tinting and I like it's open grain texture. For workability it's about as easy as it comes - machines like a dream. True green it smells a lot like puke, but not to bad...

My least favorite is Black Walnut - although in small amount is it tolerable. If I'm not careful and wear a good dust mask and shower immediately after sawing it. The stuff tears me up - I'm not right for days afterwords. It has that smell that just about makes me sick to my stomach. Drys my skin right out and sets me off into a far way land - I can't concentrate and my short term memory goes on a picnic for a few days. As far as workability it's not bad - but I try and stay away from it if at all possible.

[TracyP]

I too like oak, also like maple. But my favorite is believe it or not Eastern Red Cedar. That could change though as I am finding out it is a pain in the !@# to work with. But I love the beauty that only ERC has, the reds, yellows, and purples all in the same piece of wood. Call me crazy if you will but there is just something about that cedar that interests me greatly.

[nelsone]

Sorry the walnut bothers you Jeff! I love the stuff! Not sure I have a wood I hate.

[Bas]

I'll have to get back to you on that one in a few years. So far, I've used red oak, ash, poplar, cherry and pine. And I like all of them. Next species I'll be using are beech, purple heart, maple and sycamore, and in the fall white oak, cypress and walnut (once all the stuff is dry...). My guess is I'll like all of those too!

BTW, sounds like you've sawn a LOT of walnut in your life Certainly explains a few things....

[DaveO]

Wow I can't be so decisive. I have a love/hate relationship with them all
Maple, especially curly Maple is one of my favorites. It finishes so well, but machines so poorly.
Walnut, I love the natural color, especially air-dried or non-steamed. It machines very well, but is a pain to finish (to a high gloss) due to its open pore structure.
Oak is probably my most used wood. It machines well and finishes well, if you don't mind the open pore structure. I really like both QS RO & WO for the ray fleck and stability. I would prefer WO as it is a little more showier, but it is also harder to work with due to it's hardness.
I have worked with many other woods, Sycamore, Beech, Sassafras, ERC, Magnolia, Holly, Sweetgum, plus many Tropical species. My favorite wood is FREE wood.

Dave

Originally Posted by newtowood

I too like oak, also like maple. But my favorite is believe it or not Eastern Red Cedar. That could change though as I am finding out it is a pain in the !@# to work with. But I love the beauty that only ERC has, the reds, yellows, and purples all in the same piece of wood. Call me crazy if you will but there is just something about that cedar that interests me greatly.

Yeah - your right ERC is high on my list of favorite woods - for the same reasons. Although it's a wood that requires a great deal of trial and error to figure out how to work with since it splits real easy.

Originally Posted by nelsone

Sorry the walnut bothers you Jeff! I love the stuff! Not sure I have a wood I hate.

I must have a reaction to Black Walnut I guess If I have to cut it it's only on certain days - when the wind is not blowing. I take extra precautions to keep the dust down to a min like pour the water on the blade even if it don't need it. Black Walnut has the same effect on me in the shop after dry too - so I know it's just not what comes off the logs - it's the wood...

[JimmyC]

Over the years I've liked alot of woods, especially cherry. But, my comfort wood is red oak, wipe on a finish and rub it out, no fillers. It feels comfortable to the touch and just reminds me of houses and furniture that I've had over the years.

Jimmy

Originally Posted by Bas

I'll have to get back to you on that one in a few years. So far, I've used red oak, ash, poplar, cherry and pine. And I like all of them. Next species I'll be using are beech, purple heart, maple and sycamore, and in the fall white oak, cypress and walnut (once all the stuff is dry...). My guess is I'll like all of those too!

BTW, sounds like you've sawn a LOT of walnut in your life Certainly explains a few things....

Sure does explain a few things !!! But to be honest If I didn't have such a reaction to BW - I would cut it like crazy cause lots of people really like it especially if it has been air dried and not been steamed. It's a great wood for air drying it's hard to mess up since it has such a high max MC loss per day.

Originally Posted by DaveO

Wow I can't be so decisive. I have a love/hate relationship with them all
Maple, especially curly Maple is one of my favorites. It finishes so well, but machines so poorly.
Walnut, I love the natural color, especially air-dried or non-steamed. It machines very well, but is a pain to finish (to a high gloss) due to its open pore structure.
Oak is probably my most used wood. It machines well and finishes well, if you don't mind the open pore structure. I really like both QS RO & WO for the ray fleck and stability. I would prefer WO as it is a little more showier, but it is also harder to work with due to it's hardness.
I have worked with many other woods, Sycamore, Beech, Sassafras, ERC, Magnolia, Holly, Sweetgum, plus many Tropical species. My favorite wood is FREE wood.

Dave

Dave - what's not to like about Maple? Geeze I mean it comes in so many different varieties from fiddleback to birdseye to ambrosia to splated to dark and white - it's a very unique wood that's forsure - so if you don't like one piece your bound to like another.

Originally Posted by JimmyC

Over the years I've liked alot of woods, especially cherry. But, my comfort wood is red oak, wipe on a finish and rub it out, no fillers. It feels comfortable to the touch and just reminds me of houses and furniture that I've had over the years.

Jimmy

Jimmy I would venture to say Cherry is high on a lot of peoples list, especially Wild Black Cherry - but you know us bubbler kindof guys - we like Red Oak don't we?

[Trog777]

Fav's: Walnut, Cherry, Mahogany

Don't care much for working with Pine or Poplar

[adowden]

My favorite is cherry because of its smell, but I like QS oak alot also.

The only wood I dislike is maple. The one project I did with hard maple, gave me horrible splinters and chunked out alot. Even the soft maple (yeah, right) seemed to be harder on my blades than other woods that I have used. The soft maple was 8/4, so that may have been why it dulled the blades faster?

Amy

[JackLeg]

Cypress, of course! Works so easily and lasts so long!

Not crazy bout poplar, but no real hard dislikes.

[skysharks]

Red Oak is first then White Oak, then Black Walnut
I really dislike new pine.

[toolferone]

I love cherry! The older gets the morfe beautiful it gets! I don't like eastern red cedar because of its poor workability!

[PChristy]

Love working with Cherry, RO, ERC - I can't recall one that I don't like but I haven't worked with alot of different kinds yet - with the type of scrolling I do I use mostly RO 1/4 ply but I use the Cherry, RO, and ERC for the frames

[ScottM]

My favorites are red oak and spalted maple. Ok, just about anything spalted. My least favorite is the cheap BORG white wood plywood.