North Carolina Woodworker
An Educational Service Of North Carolina Woodworker, Inc.




Javascript DHTML Drop Down Menu Powered by dhtml-menu-builder.com
Go Back   North Carolina Woodworker > Woodworking > Wood
Javascript DHTML Drop Down Menu Powered by dhtml-menu-builder.com
Wood Discussions about wood. Species, Properties, etc. Includes special wood offers to members, lumber runs, group buys.

» Upcoming Events
  1. Klingspor Wood Workers Show Case - Raleigh, NC -- September 11
  2. Thomas Day Museum Tour Hosted by Jerome Bias -- October 9th Click here for more!
  3. Angels for Heartstrings -- October 10th Click here for more!
  4. Klingspor Extravaganza - Hickory, NC -- October 29 and 30
  5. Welcome New Member Chat! Every Thursday evening at 7:30pm Click here for more!
Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 06-22-2008, 10:44 PM  
Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite
Name:
City:
State:
County:
Posts: n/a

Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to jeff...  
jeff... 06-22-2008, 10:44 PM
Guest

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.
Views: 2113
Old 06-26-2008, 11:18 PM   #46
jeff...
Guest
 
Name:
City:
State:
County:
Posts: n/a
Re: Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

Originally Posted by erasmussen View Post
My least favorite wood, is flat wood
My favorite wood is round wood

I can arrange some round wood for you - question is can you turn it
Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to jeff...    
Old 06-27-2008, 10:32 AM   #47
 
Travis Porter's Avatar
 
Name: Travis
City: Wake Forest
State: NC
County: Wake
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 7,420
Threads: 225
Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 5.25 over 180 days
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

Originally Posted by jeff... View Post
On a side note - I know a sawyer up in Va that was talked into squaring up some recycled creosote soaked light pole - I think it was like 16 poles. It just about killed him - he was in the hospital for over a week - broke out in a rash from head to toe and inside his lungs. You guys please be careful when messing around with older recycled wood, especially old pine - you never know what kind of treatment it may have had and what is waiting for you to be exposed to.

Thanks
Aaaahhh, creosote.

My father was a firm believer in creosote. Used to buy it at Kmart by the gallon. We tried to spray it one time with a wagner sprayer. Stuff got into a fine mist and ate us up alive for the day. We ended up going to the mall just to be in air conditioning as the stuff is HOT!!!
Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to Travis Porter    
Old 06-29-2008, 07:08 PM   #48
 
Name: Jim
City: Lexington
State: SC
County: Lexington
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 243
Threads: 6
Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 0.12 over 180 days
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

I like the species of wood I have worked with (Oak, maple, cherry, beech, walnut, pine, fir, mahogany, and purpleheart that I can remember). I've used oak the most because of price and because it fit my projects. In oak, I like red, red oak. There is so much variety of oak that there is some I do not care for in both white and red but more good boards in red. I do not like the grey stuff and especially the stuff that stinks when you cut it. A nice red piece, however, is almost the color of cherry that hasn't seen too much sun. It seems to me that the heavier oak is, the more likely it is to stink.

In maple, I like the stuff with figure, which fortunately is not rare. Hard tends more to the grey color I do not care for, however.

Cherry also has figure a fair amount of the time. It also varies quite a bit in color. Redder is prettier to me but figure trumps color. Some of it is more brown and I do not care as much for that.

In walnut, I prefer air dried to kiln dried. I do not like the grey color they get by steaming the wood trying to darken the sapwood. Air dried has purple highlights that is really nice. A lot of walnut I see seems to be limb wood with pith running through it. Combine that with kiln drying and you can get some pretty ugly walnut. Now when you find some air dried walnut from the trunk of the tree, with figure, I think you have the king of woods.

Softwoods are more utilitarian, to me. Nice for the right project but not as nice as hardwoods for most uses. I put poplar with the softwoods although I understand it is technically a hard wood (deciduous). They all lack figure, machine easily, finish well (escept for pine with a lot of resin) and damage relatively easily.

Jim
Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to JimD    
Old 06-30-2008, 09:09 AM   #49
 
fivestring's Avatar
 
Name: Gary
City: Mount Holly
State: NC
County: Gaston
Join Date: Nov 2005
Age: 51
Posts: 86
Threads: 10
Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 0.00 over 180 days
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

My favorite is just about any wood except mdf.

My least favorite is mdf.


Oh wait.....is mdf even a wood
__________________
-----------------------------------------
Bluegrass:THE original country music!
Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to fivestring    
Old 06-30-2008, 09:32 AM   #50
 
pcooper's Avatar
 
Name: Phillip Cooper
City: Maiden
State: NC
County: Catawba
Join Date: Dec 2006
Age: 49
Posts: 410
Threads: 15
Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 5.79 over 180 days
Thanks: 1
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

Originally Posted by fivestring View Post

Oh wait.....is mdf even a wood

Well, if you REALLY stretch it, yes it is, but it goes through the paper/cardboard thing first as I understand it. I think it is about useless.
__________________
Today a pile of wood, tomorrow a pile of sawdust......
Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to pcooper    
Old 07-06-2008, 11:19 AM   #51
 
Name: Chuck
City: Rocky Mount
State: NC
County: Nash
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,597
Threads: 126
Avg Visit Freq/Week
= 6.07 over 180 days
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Re: Wood - what's your favorite / least favorite

With money as a consideration, I like cherry.

If money were no object then bubinga. Bloodwood, lacewood, padauk, and wenge follow bubinga but are a considerable distance behind.

I'm not a fan of coloring wood, regardless of how it's colored. LOML has a different outlook and her vote gets weighted heavily. She does not care for light-colored woods unless used as accent pieces.

I like zebrawood but have found it to be difficult to machine sometimes. Same goes for purpleheart.


Chuck
Show Printable Version Email this Page   Quote this post in a PM to cpowell    
Closed Thread New posts
  North Carolina Woodworker > Woodworking > Wood

Tags
favorite , wood

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


LinkBacks (?)
LinkBack to this Thread: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f64/wood-whats-your-favorite-least-favorite-15515/
Posted By For Type Date
ToolCrib.com Blog This thread Refback 11-07-2008 01:30 PM
15 Least Favorite Woods for Woodworking and Why - ToolCrib.com Blog This thread Pingback 10-06-2008 05:20 PM

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
My Favorite Pen jeff... Woodturning 18 05-11-2008 11:09 PM
Favorite Wood jeff... Wood 30 11-19-2007 08:47 PM
Everyone favorite wood glue taandctran General Woodworking 27 03-31-2006 10:57 PM

The Woodworking Source Ad

Kreg Ad

Lee Valley ad

How to get discount qualified


Mountain Sawyers Ad


Search Woodcraft.com for All Your Woodworking Needs


Search Woodcraft.com For ALL Your Woodworking Needs!
» Stats
Members: 4,701
Threads: 31,335
Posts: 322,311
Top Poster: DaveO (15,165)
Welcome to our newest member, Eroyern
» Today's Birthdays
ralphie9
Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.2

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:19 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
SEO by vBSEO 3.3.2
Template-Modifications by TMS
Content Copyright © 2005 - 2009 North Carolina Woodworker, Inc.