Which hardwood for first priject
- Thread starter ralitaco
- Start date
My choice would be walnut or sapele. Both cut and plane easily, and are not real hard, nor too soft. Also, easy to finish, and don’t require stain.
Several things will inform your wood choice. Start by asking yourself:
What do I want to build?
How strong does it have to be?
What design style (Shaker, Mid Century Modern, farm house, etc.) will I use?
Where is it going to end up?
Will using a particular species require me to paint/dye/stain it to fit in with the rest of the furniture in the area?
I’d submit that it depends greatly on what tools you have at your disposal. If you have the hand and/or power tools required to mill rough lumber flat, square and smooth, you can choose any hardwood you like and that your wallet might permit. However, conventional wisdom would suggest that initial work with hardwoods be limited to less costly varieties such as oak, maple or butternut. Poplar is relatively inexpensive, but often viewed as ugly when folks try to finish (stain) it to look like something that it isn’t. I would also recommend avoidance of highly figured woods until experience permits. Highly figured woods can be beautiful, but they are (1) expensive and (2) can be challenging until one learns how to deal with their personalities.
If your present assortment of tools limits your ability to mill lumber accurately, your choices may be limited to the species commonly available pre-milled as reasonably flat and square. This is a very common starting point for many woodworkers. Most big box home centers offer milled boards. Typically, the choices are pine, oak and maple.
Good luck. Have fun.
If your present assortment of tools limits your ability to mill lumber accurately, your choices may be limited to the species commonly available pre-milled as reasonably flat and square. This is a very common starting point for many woodworkers. Most big box home centers offer milled boards. Typically, the choices are pine, oak and maple.
Good luck. Have fun.
I suggest you start w/ Matt's check list first, because w/ most things woodworking, "IT DEPENDS". If you don't already have a particular project in mind, and just want to build something out of better wood, I would start w/ something simple and a pretty basic wood. Maybe a simple stool, or a box, and use Poplar. It's fairly generic and relatively inexpensive.
Commerce in hardwoods is quite different than framing lumber.
Do a google search on hardwoods available in Wilmington. Visit at least three of the sellers. That will give you an idea of what's available and the price ranges.
Hardwoods, like any natural raw material, is strictly graded by the presence or the lack of various defects. Cheap lumber has lots of defects that can be very frustrating to a beginner. Its a good idea to become familiar with those defects and the NHLA grade rules.
I think you'll find, like most hardwood users, that the most expensive grades are the least expensive to use.
Do a google search on hardwoods available in Wilmington. Visit at least three of the sellers. That will give you an idea of what's available and the price ranges.
Hardwoods, like any natural raw material, is strictly graded by the presence or the lack of various defects. Cheap lumber has lots of defects that can be very frustrating to a beginner. Its a good idea to become familiar with those defects and the NHLA grade rules.
I think you'll find, like most hardwood users, that the most expensive grades are the least expensive to use.
Glad you are expanding your horizons! Not sure what tools you have to mill with. If you have a jointer and planer, I’d suggest getting some rough sawn oak, or white oak and milling the rough sawn wood to your required specs. This way you will get experience milling your own stock. I suggest some sort of oak because it is relatively inexpensive but physically harder species and therefore will give you experience using your tools on a harder species. Please let us know what you decide and send some pics of your project.
My thoughts:
First: One you can afford to buy more than your project will need.
Second: One you think will look good good for whatever project you have in mind,
I would stay away from the big box stores (i.e red oak and poplar, normally) because they are overpriced for the quality of the lumber.
If using hand tools, long grained woods like oak will require you to really pay attention to how the grain runs in the particular board. Hand planing against the grain (which the direction may change on any edge somewhere on the same board) could easily result in tear out. That said, reading the grain is a skill you will need to master sooner or later when using hand planes.
If hand cutting dove tails, a hard long grained wood like white oak will be more difficult than a softer cross-linked wood like maple or cherry.
A middle of the road wood that IMHO is attractive is walnut.
For power tools, the main difference you will see (depending on the wood) is that it will cut slower, and have more of a propensity to get burn marks. Dull or dirty cutters and saw blades will greatly increase this problem. May want to clean all the resin off your saw blades and router bits before you start, as well as making sure your planer blades are sharp. For power planing, take smaller amounts off with each pass.
I use both hand and power, and have done so since I got serious about woodworking. The first hardwood I used was black walnut, (thanks to Creelbilly for me to be able to get a fairly large amount rather inexpensively). For me, it was a good wood to learn on, as well as gave me enough confidence that I was able to make some major pieces of furniture that I was proud of.
Welcome to the slippery slope!
First: One you can afford to buy more than your project will need.
Second: One you think will look good good for whatever project you have in mind,
I would stay away from the big box stores (i.e red oak and poplar, normally) because they are overpriced for the quality of the lumber.
If using hand tools, long grained woods like oak will require you to really pay attention to how the grain runs in the particular board. Hand planing against the grain (which the direction may change on any edge somewhere on the same board) could easily result in tear out. That said, reading the grain is a skill you will need to master sooner or later when using hand planes.
If hand cutting dove tails, a hard long grained wood like white oak will be more difficult than a softer cross-linked wood like maple or cherry.
A middle of the road wood that IMHO is attractive is walnut.
For power tools, the main difference you will see (depending on the wood) is that it will cut slower, and have more of a propensity to get burn marks. Dull or dirty cutters and saw blades will greatly increase this problem. May want to clean all the resin off your saw blades and router bits before you start, as well as making sure your planer blades are sharp. For power planing, take smaller amounts off with each pass.
I use both hand and power, and have done so since I got serious about woodworking. The first hardwood I used was black walnut, (thanks to Creelbilly for me to be able to get a fairly large amount rather inexpensively). For me, it was a good wood to learn on, as well as gave me enough confidence that I was able to make some major pieces of furniture that I was proud of.
Welcome to the slippery slope!
Poplar - is perfect if you intend to paint or don't have unrealistic expectations about what it'll look like when stained.
Maple - all around good choice if you don't get the hard variety or highly figured boards. The former destroyed my router bearings once, and the latter may have tearout problems.
Oak - white or red. Another good all around choice.
Mahogany and variants - I'd avoid as it tends to splinter when routed, planed, jointed, turned, even with sharp tools.
Other, less common hardwoods (bubinga, purpleheart, wenge) machine well but are probably too expensive for a first project.
Good luck and welcome to the dark side LoL.
Maple - all around good choice if you don't get the hard variety or highly figured boards. The former destroyed my router bearings once, and the latter may have tearout problems.
Oak - white or red. Another good all around choice.
Mahogany and variants - I'd avoid as it tends to splinter when routed, planed, jointed, turned, even with sharp tools.
Other, less common hardwoods (bubinga, purpleheart, wenge) machine well but are probably too expensive for a first project.
Good luck and welcome to the dark side LoL.
After 10 replies I'm surprised no one recommended cherry. Here's what is has going for it:
- It's a "softer" hardwood--easy to work with power or hand tools
- Seldom has tricky or treacherous grain patterns that confound inexperienced woodworkers
- Seldom splits out or warps with atmospheric changes
- Finishes nicely and evenly with clear finishes. Does not require staining.
- It's ranking among hardwoods means the wood quality will be equivalent to high grade workmanship in your finished piece
- Color usually will blend with multiple furniture styles or other wood species
- Price is in the middle for all decent hardwoods
- When using power tools it has a tendency to burn, which requires extra work to clean it up unless your power cutters are really sharp
- It changes color when exposed to direct sunlight. Read up on this and you'll know how to prevent it
WOW!!!
Thank you all for the replies. I should have provided a few more bits of info. So I have no hand tools just power tools. I also do not have a jointer nor a working planer (I have that 220V Craftsman planer but my garage does not have a 220 outlet - yet) with that said I will be relying on the wood dealer to mill the boards for me. The one in Jacksonville said he would do it based in haw many board feet I purchase.
As for the project - well I don’t have anything set in stone yet but was thinking about doing a Harry Potter Deathly hallows lamp for my daughter. I was inspired by Cory Stutts’ piece. Of course I do need a stool too but I think this will do.
Eventually I want to make a new coffee table with a lift top but I am not close to that level yet.
Thank you all for the replies. I should have provided a few more bits of info. So I have no hand tools just power tools. I also do not have a jointer nor a working planer (I have that 220V Craftsman planer but my garage does not have a 220 outlet - yet) with that said I will be relying on the wood dealer to mill the boards for me. The one in Jacksonville said he would do it based in haw many board feet I purchase.
As for the project - well I don’t have anything set in stone yet but was thinking about doing a Harry Potter Deathly hallows lamp for my daughter. I was inspired by Cory Stutts’ piece. Of course I do need a stool too but I think this will do.
Eventually I want to make a new coffee table with a lift top but I am not close to that level yet.
Watch CL/FBM for 1960's and older craftsmen "stationary" tools. Well built and easy to find parts if needed. Lots of bargins to be found if your not afraid of a little refurbishing. Always liked the pedistal line/models.
I get most all my wood from a cabinet shops dumpster. Walnut, maple, cherry. As a beginner myself it all seems easy to work with it although it does need so squaring up as I found out on my first project however glue mixed with saw dust hides a lot of issues and the peices were still nice enough to give away. Right now I'm doing boxes off youtube and Doug Stowes book on basic boxes. Good Miters can be elusive if the set up is not right. I just swapped out my miter saw because it had a little flex in the top end that i could not find a way to shim. I had to trash 6 small projects but it cost me nothing but time and time builds experience. Oh, I have noticed some of the wood working stores like Rockler and Klingspor sell piece goods for small craft projects as well. Pretty cheap.
