# Church pews... anyone know what they're usually made of?



## Poplarguy (Sep 13, 2018)

Can get a few of these free, but I'm wondering what kind of wood pews are made of before making the drive.

Anyone have any ideas? These are the best photos I have unfortunately.


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

It will be hard to generalize.
Old school USA pews were typically made from Oak. Northern European mfg often use Beech as well.
But modern world has embraced lower cost versions where parts or entire bench can be made from man made engineered wood. Can see for yourself that even melamine coated MDF is used: http://www.pews.com/


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## jutsFL (Nov 1, 2018)

You must be near me… These are right down the road from me, saw them on FB too.


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## Poplarguy (Sep 13, 2018)

> You must be near me… These are right down the road from me, saw them on FB too.
> 
> - jutsFL


Good, we can help each other load a few!

Seems some of these are made of ply, trying to figure out before I head over there.


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## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

Depends how old they are, some newer ones are made out of particle board.


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## GR8HUNTER (Jun 13, 2016)

ours are RED OAK but dont think they are :<((((


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## jutsFL (Nov 1, 2018)

> You must be near me… These are right down the road from me, saw them on FB too.
> 
> - jutsFL
> 
> ...


Ya, from the looks of them I deemed them likely to be a maple veneer over who knows what. Had they looked like ANY form of joined boards id go scope them out for us. But even as close as I am, I'm feeling rather lazy now and gotta be up at 0500 for work…


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## ColonelTravis (Mar 19, 2013)

I would be some money (not a lot but definitely a little) that they are veneered. I've seen a few ads like this where I am and I've gone out there and they've always been veneered. I haven't seen solid wood pews except in very old churches. If they were solid wood, I highly doubt they'd be given away or else someone at the church would have snapped them up before they were advertised.


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

I got a church pew from a guy as a trade for some CNC router work. It was made of solid glued up 1+ inch red oak. The wood was very high quality but I had to be careful with hidden metal fasteners. I used it to make a riser for the front of another little church.


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## JCamp (Nov 22, 2016)

I've been to dozens of churches through the years and nearly all the pews were oak. The older ones seem to be more solid wood while the new ones (being in the last 40 or so years) seem to be oak ply.


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## JohnMcClure (Aug 24, 2016)

A friend recently scored one, man was it disappointing to see it was made of MDF. I'd love to get a really old good one.


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## Sawdust2012 (Sep 17, 2013)

The seem to be held together by chewing gum.


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## Gentile (Jun 3, 2013)

A buddy of mine and I refurbished 6 pews for a local Chapel that had been fire bombed. The ends are oak veneered particle board 3 layers of 3/4". The seats and the backs are oak vineered batten board. It was quite a challenge, the Padre wanted to save rhe seats and the backs. He wanted to use older ends, from a different set of pews, laminated oak. We had to adjust the older ends to fit the contours of the newer ends.
I hope that makes sense, I'm looking for pictures…


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## Poplarguy (Sep 13, 2018)

Thanks guys, I wound up passing on grabbing any of these, just seemed like they wouldn't be made of anything worthwhile. They look too new.


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