# strong, cheap wood?



## Peter5

I have a question for you all: If I don't care about aesthetics but want a strong wood, what's the best way to go? I'm building a piece where I need a strong support piece that will not be seen. I think Pine will be too soft and weak. So what should I use without wasting a piece of walnut that will never be seen?


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## SCR0LL3R

Ash is really strong (one of the strongest by weight, I believe) and around here, also really cheap… I can get it cheaper than pine.


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## reberly

Tulip poplar is a good structural wood.


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## Peter5

OK, awesome, thanks! I'll see which of those two is cheapest at my local lumber yard.


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## 8iowa

Take a look at Southern Yellow Pine. It's heavy, very strong, and hard. It's a common construction and flooring wood. It's also abundant and inexpensive. If you were closer I'd give you some.


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## Loren

Douglas Fir is pretty tough and resilient. Deflection is about the
same as pine but toughness of what we get in So. Cal tends
to be more than the common pine we get here.


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## Nomad62

As important is the grain of the wood you end up using. Make sure the growth lines will reach from end to end, and that the piece is installed so the the surface that faced the outer edge as the tree grew will face up or down, not to a side.


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## 747DRVR

Oak


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## crank49

Around here ash and hickory are usually used for firewood since Stanley moved their handle making business to China, but they are both very strong durable woods. Ash and hickorry usually stay straight and can absorb considerable impact as well. That's partially why they were used for hammer handles.


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## richgreer

I'd suggest Hackberry. It's plentiful around here (Iowa), it's very strong, it is essentially ugly and undesirable for aesthetic applications and it is may be the cheapest hardwood I know of.

It looks like a dirty white wood. Some people I know bleach it. Then it looks decent.


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## SCR0LL3R

Doh! Don't they know that God kills a kitten every time somebody burns hickory for firewood!


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## clafollett

Too funny Keith!

I'm down here in Florida and only wish I could easily get my hands on some of that hickory!


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## Lochlainn1066

Ha, around here (southern MO) hickory is common enough that I don't cringe when my dad burns it. It has the most energy value, hands down, of any common firewood.

I DO cry when he saws up and splits 2' diameter clear, straight red oak boles, but only because I don't have my bandsaw mill finished yet. Once I do I'll make him take the nasty stuff and branches and give me the good stuff.

What really, really makes me cry is wind downed trees I just don't have a chance to get to (or never see) before they rot.


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