So here is a pretty broad question due to the many factors at hand(look, workability, price, ect.), but what are y’alls favorite species of wood? When I started out I stuck to pine due to the low cost and frequency of my mistakes, but now a days pine is the last species of wood I go to. I am currently on a big alder kick, due to the color, way it takes stain, workability and character of the wood(knotty alder in particular). Ash is a close second, cherry and mahogany are up there, and poplar is on the rise thanks to the wide range of colors I have seen it bear(the light green of course, all the way to bright purple). So what do y’all consider your favorite species to be?
Cherry is my favorite for turning…right after green mesquite. As for flat work, white ash is the best…. don’t fool with many exotics, so no opinion there.
I use quarter sawn white oak for my furniture projects. Just started doing cutting boards and so far like cherry, maple, black walnut, purple heart (for the color) and white oak.
During the past 3-4 yearw, I’ve done quite a few projects in beech and really like it. Visible grain but not as overwhelming as oak. Not as brittle as maple. Mills very nicely
-- Adversity doesn't build character...................it reveals it.
My go-to hardwood is maple… it’s reasonably priced where I’m at and I enjoy working with it. Black walnut is another favorite but costs me about double what maple does.
Were I stuck on the proverbial desert island with one species of tree, it would be ash. It’s the aroma, the interesting but subtle grain, the workability and the sheen from a sharp cutting edge. Oh, I’d also like a grove of Titebond bushes as well, thank you very much.
Kindly,
Lee
-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"
Most everything I have made is from White Oak (quarter sawn and flat sawn). I have also enjoyed a few projects using Pecan/Hickory, Mahogany, and Walnut. I have yet to use Cherry but it is on the short list. Mesquite is on the short list also. Thanks for posting the question.
Cherry, anything Maple, Pine..White & SYP (Yellow),Arkansas, Heart, Popular, Walnut, Cypress, Sapele, Spanish Cedar Oak dust makes my hands stiff and hurt so I try not to use it. Never use Exotics for the same reason as Oak.
Poplar has some cool green to dark purplish figure,rainbow,thru em.havent found a stain,or the rite hue to me,ive tried both water@oil?that be a good ?
Cherry, Maple, Black Walnut and I agree with you on the alder, it is easily available where I live so I have boatloads of it. It cuts, carves and takes finish well. In addition it is hard enough for most of my needs.
Mahogany was and still is my favorite. Black Walnut is my new kick. I still use pine, I do like Oak, Ash is good, Good old Fir (hard to get here) ‘Well I guess ALL woods are fun….. Not really into exotics. My feeling is if I cannot pronounce it…...I shall not use it. .ANYTHING BUT MDF. MDF is the “RAP” of wood. Dust is Dust is DUST !
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