# Best wood for beginner?



## JDJ

I'm a new woodworker and I plan to build a lot of small furniture type stuff and was wondering what the best wood would be to use. Should I just use pine and plywood for everything? I'm in an area of the country where hardwood is difficult to obtain (plus its expensive!). What's a good cheap hardwood to start working with if pine isn't acceptable?

I would love to use beautiful hardwoods but I can't afford them to "practice" on. I don't think I have the skill to do them justice at this point either.


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## donwilwol

you can make some pretty nice stuff with pine. I still use pine a lot. There is no doubt adding hardwood created a mixture, but I'd start with pine, its easier to work with and its cheaper. As you gain confidence and learn how to choose the softwood, you can gradually move into something more expensive.

If you have access to a planer, you can also look into rough sawn lumber. Its cheaper. Its an extra step, but it also give you some flexibility. If you don't have a planer, no worries, you will someday.


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## gillyd

I second the suggestion to a planer. I am a newbie woodworker as well, and I can you without a doubt that I get so much more satisfaction from milling my own wood. You personally might not find it entertaining, but I enjoy taking a rough, beat up, old piece of wood and crafting it into something that might be usable. Maybe its my controlling personality


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## BobTheFish

typically I see after pine, the most commonly used and available wood is oak (it's even available at most of the home depots I've seen and it's right next to the pine). Then after that, I see a crapload of maple. If you aren't happy with pine, I suggest either of those. Oak's pretty easy to work with, maple can be a little harder. Honestly, I'd just check around, see what you can find, and what you might feel comfortable with pricewise and with workability. You might even find some cedar (technically another softwood, but I'm guessing you're wanting some variation from pine) or poplar or even, just maybe, MAYBE some walnut or cherry that's not going to break the budget.

I'd stick with some of the clearer varieties without too much figuring until you get used to the wood before getting into "lesser" grades that might have a knot or crotch or something else that might require a little more TLC. (they can be FANTASTIC for adding interest to a project, but still require a bit of attention).

Best of luck.


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## mark88

your cheapest hardwood is poplar which is an okay wood to use but I wouldnt recommend it for furniture. I personally LOVE pine. Its the easiest and cheapest way out but you can do ALOT with it. Next up I absolutely am addicted to working with cedar (softwood). You can build the nicest things with cedar and never worry about bugs or rotting. But the problem with cedar is it can get just as expensive as a hardwood in some areas. I get good deals on maple and I really love its natural look in the end. I don't know if maple may be available to you but give it a shot. Its one of the cheapest hardwoods you can get and one of the best looking. Long story short, 'cause I blab alot of jibberish, my vote is maple for hardwood and cedar for softwood if you want to upgrade from pine.


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## GaryK

You are in a part of the country that has Southern Yellow Pine everywhere. It's a great pine. It won't get your saw blade all covered in pitch or clog up all your sandpaper. Plus it's cheap.

You can get it all the way up to 2×12 in most stores.

A planer will help you to get it to the size you want since it comes with rounded edges.

After you learn more you can just use whatever hardwoods are available cheap in your area.


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## reggiek

I use alot of pine for making prototypes and for practicing new joinery techniques….I also keep some around for brushing up my joinery…and for testing machine set ups…..It is a wonderful inexpensive wood….I would not use it for fine furniture….but it does make inexpensive practical pieces. Butternut and Basswood are medium woods (not soft…not hard) that folks use alot….and they are great for beginners.

For hardwood, one of the most forgiving is Walnut….but it depends on where you are as to what wood is the least expensive. Where I am…oak is the cheapest hardwood found locally….it is not the easiest to get along with….but it is ok if you work it carefully (it has a very open grain that will chip, crack and is difficult to carve detail into). Maple is a sensible wood and there are several others like….Poplar, cherry…etc…. These are the domestic hardwoods and are usually cheaper then the imported…

If you plan on doing this for a while….the best bet is to mill your own….find a small sawyer that will sell you unfinished woods at reasonable prices….then mill it to your own specifications and use (you save alot of $$ this way).


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## BentheViking

I am in a similar boat as you JDJ. I am starting out and don't have a planer and feeling very limited not just by choices of woods, but being stuck with certain sizes. Check out Stevie Henderson and Mark Baldwin's 2x4 Series of books. It has lots of great looking projects all made from dimensional lumber. I picked like 5 of them up off of half.com for less than $15 shipped. I think I will start with stuff until I can have a better equipped shop.

Also, check craigslist and sometimes you can find some decent deals on nicer hardwoods that are leftover from other people's projects. Another thing I do is look for hardwood scraps at wood shops or construction sites. What other people think of as scraps you may find a great use for especially with small projects. I just grabbed a ton of scrap sapele off of a site that I will be able to use for a large project (probably a tile top coffee table) and a few smaller projects as well.

Just my two cents


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## gfadvm

Make friends with some hardwood floor installers. They throw away a LOT of beautiful wood that make great boxes and small projects allowing you to get you feet wet with some hardwoods for little or no $.


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## bigike

I use the wood from pallets and some of it is sycamore, oak, walnut, poplar, these are some of the woods I find on the pallets we get at my job but I'm sure any shipping and receiving co will let you have some. I mainly look for nice grain patterns, I notice most of the wood is oak though.


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## SnowyRiver

I agree with pine or poplar. Poplar being a bit more expensive, but you can make great projects with either.


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## Sawdust2

Poplar. Easy to work. You can even make some nice stuff with it. Stains OK after a seal coat.
Find a local lumber yard and go see what sort of a deal you can make with them. 
Stay away from the big box stores. 
If you have a Rockler or Woodcraft nearby you can try them but they tend to have a premium price on their lumber.
I've gotten a few good deals on craigslist.

Lee


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## auggy53

im new at this stuff also , i bought a planer not long ago and really like using it . i drive through industrial parks and salvage old pallets , you get alot of pine wood and oak wood out of them but you really have to be carefull with the nails and such. i like free wood !


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## azal

Alder out here is fair priced, and easy to work with. I have built several sets of cab's with it, stains and finishes well.


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## McKinneyMike

Poplar would be my choice for any beginning woodworker. It is very easy to work with, it is relatively stable vs other woods, will not fill tools with pitch and it just a dream. 
It is not a wood that you will likely want to stain, but in the beginning, I would focus on your technique and your craft. Getting things square, joints tight and learning the basics. 
Poplar is just a superb wood to build utility projects that can be painted and actually used, while honing ones skills. I still like it for a great deal of work.


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## AaronK

hey don't knock all the poplar at lowes - i got some nice purpley stuff I used to make drawer sides and bottoms. really nice looking and has a distinctive mild scent!


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## dbhost

Pine is fine, sort of. Just be careful to avoid construction grade pine. One of the big problems I run into when I incorporate construction grade materials is that they tend to be moisture loaded, and as they dry out and equalize to the environment around them, they tend to warp. So be sure you use kiln dried stuff.

IF you can afford to g a little bit more expensive, flat sawn oak seems to come up on Craigslist on the cheap pretty frequently, and at least here in Texas, it tends to be cheap kiln dried from the mills. Kiln dried oak, even flat sawn tends to kick up your projects quite a bit. I am where I would consider my skills to be an "advanced beginner". I have produced some projects I am very proud of, and some I simply try to hide… And the material between them tends to go up the scale. I am not so proud of any of my pine projects, but almost everything I have made with oak or walnut just makes me smile like a fool every time I look at it…


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## skippyland

I know I'm late to the discussion, but I'd vote for poplar. Too much pitch in pine, which is what I broke in on. Craig's List is an option, but lately I've been real lucky at auctions…but keep in mind that usually means you're gonna have to "clean" and dimension the the wood. Take your time and patience helps.


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## Gregn

I first started out with White Pine which is very soft. Because of the softness White Pine can be a frustrating wood to work with. White pine can also be forgiving in that if you should ding it up during the process of building its easy to steam out dings. Another thing White pine will do for you is to help you to see how sharp your tools are. For instance when using a chisel if its not sharp it will tear the fibers indicating you need to sharpen your chisel to be able to shear the fibers to produce a clean edge. When it comes to finishing you will want to use a wood conditioner before staining to control blotching. Southern Yellow Pine is more resinous, but is hard and doesn't ding as bad as WP. SYP for me was a next step for working with hard woods as you will learn different technics in working with the wood. Because Pine is an inexpensive wood it will be less costly to redo when you make a mistake.

Plywood can be used to make a wide variety of projects by its self or combined with other types of wood. One thing to remember about plywood is that its thickness is not the same as dimensional lumber. You will want to account for that when making grooves and dado's and other joinery when combining other woods with plywood. You may want to consider getting a set of plywood bits to help with that. Here again depending on the quality and type of plywood you may want to use a wood conditioner before finishing with stains. If you go to my project page http://lumberjocks.com/Gregn/projects you will see some of my projects made from plywood and Yellow pine and combination.

In my opinion any wood a beginning woodworker can find is a good wood to hone your skills with. Consider reclaimed lumber as a source to find hardwoods to learn to practice with to build your skill level with. Most of all is just getting into the shop and build something. You will soon learn what you can do and acquire the kind of wood you want to work with.


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## oblowme

For a beginner I'd suggest Pine and here's why: F1f+btr Red Oak leaves the mill at around $1000/m, that's a dollar a foot rough green. Freight varies but $100.00/m is a close average. Kiln drying can add another $400.00/m. give or take, and running it through a planer/cut up line is around $200.00/m. Domestic freight from there is about half of that green becaise as a rule you can put twice as much on a truck. In addition you can expect to lose 10-20% in the cut up process, some of that % will end up in flooring and the like, the rest is just waste so we will use 10%.
So we have $1850.00/m Red Oak. When sorted S4S clear 4 face you could well double that, call it $3700/m, then freight to the store, $100.00/m so we are at $3800/m deliivered. Naturally the store has it's cost for handling etc but I wouldn't think it could be more than $50.00/m, so we are at $3850/m or $3.85/ft.
The last time I was in Lowe's I looked at their stock, just for the hell of it the calculation worked out to $6500.00/m, or $6.50/ft., $2650/m clear profit. Some very expensive lumber to experiment on, and for most beginners that is a large part of the learning curve.
Now- If you go way in the back of the lumber department you will find what they call "1X12X8 Pine utility shelving boards" These go for @$11.00/bdft. pretty cheap entertainment in this game. True enough some of it is real crap but alot of it is real nice stock, not as a piece but what you can cut out of it. I have found alot of the stuff that was downgraded for apperance only, defects that do not effect the structural, rather the things that consumers take as non-pleasing to the eye or rejected due to their lack of knowledge, Why we think a shelve should look like a raised panel door is best answered by a therapist. Those marks lend character to the wood in my eye. You will learn alot by working with it, certianly more than cutting clear face stock width Oak and won't cost you $6.50/ft when you screw up a cut.
Just one cavet; stay away from knots that are not well ingrown, spike knots and vertical grain. Knots that are not encased are likely to fall out, spike knots are just a bad deal all around not only for structural issues, but because they set up stress' in the surrounding wood, and vertical grain (those with narrow growth lines that deviate little from top to bottom) as they will go off in every imaginable direction when cut out and be hell on a tablesaw to rip. Spike knots and vertical grain often go hand in hand. You will know vertical grain the first time you pick one up, it will be alot heavier than the rest.
(Ok, so that was more than one)


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## nate22

to begin with you could use pine that way if you mess up you won't be wasting a lot of money. After you have made a few pieces of furniture and are getting better at it then switch to hardwoods. Thats what I did which I am glad I did because I messed up my first couple of projects. But thats what I would do if I was you.


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## NBeener

My thought would have been to look for answers exactly like *Anji12305* gave you: best woods to AVOID, as a beginner.

Some woods are easier than others to work with-plain and simple. Some have a lot of pitch, sap, or resin that can be very annoying. Some dull blades very quickly. Some splinter when you shape them (router work, for example).

Like 'em or hate 'em … your big box stores probably carry mostly woods that ARE pretty easy to work with. SPF (Spruce, Pine, and Fir) are your softwoods. Most others are considered hardwoods (it's really NOT soft vs. hard. It's more about the type of tree-evergreens are softwood).

I find oak and poplar easy to work with. Personally, I haven't had the same experience with walnut or *African* mahogany that *Anji* has. My experience with those (I'm pretty much a beginner) two species has been uniformly good-meaning … no surprises. For ME, that's a good experience.

African Mahogany, though, is said to be VERY different from the "true" mahoganies. On those, I couldn't agree more.

Another $0.02 worth …..

The big box stores tend to have a "Cull Bin" where they get rid of imperfect lumber. Between those pieces AND most plywood … you can LEARN a great deal about technique, for NOT a lot of money. You MAY not end up with something as elegant as you WANT, for furniture, but … then again …. you might. A big piece of downside, though, is that much of what winds up in the cull bin is 2x's (dimensional lumber). Those are likely to have more knots in them than more expensive wood. Knots … can be annoying, to say the least.

My point: learn the basics by working with something cheap. Lots of experienced woodworkers will STILL occasionally make a mock-up of a piece OUT OF something like pine, before they dig into the expensive stuff.

Good luck !!!!


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## RobWoodCutter

When I started out thirty plus years ago, I picked up some pine from the local borg and stopped by a local cabinet making shop and picked up some small scraps at a discount (Mahogany,walnut,maple,oak). Unfortunately, the "special" wood sat and sat, gathering dust "waiting" for the "worthy" project. I was afraid to use it and mess up. I could cut/hack/butcher pine all day long and not think twice about making a mistake and grabbing another piece of wood and starting over.

So I would say, start out with wood you are not afraid to use and make mistakes on. If you stick with it, you will have plenty of time to venture into the hardwood world and the exotic wood world.

Rob


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## DaddyZ

Free Wood is out there if you look. Having a planer helps a lot.

Knowledge & Experience is what we are all after !!


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## BobTheFish

I am starting to feel like the man is asking for something other than pine, but doesn't want to break into the $20+ bdft. woods, and everyone is telling him to stick with pine as though that is the ONLY wood that a beginner should ever deign to touch. If not that, they're recommended poplar, which has poor strength, or the oak that I mentioned before.

I want to start out by saying there's nothing wrong with pine. Great wood for painting and general construction purpose. Has decent strength for a softwood, but it's not the greatest for a "nice" piece of furniture.

Poplar, by comparison is a bit weak, but still not a horrific wood to work with. Oak has some really open grain, but can be used to make some nicer furniture that's an improvement over pine. Plus the grain chips off easily enough for beginner turning practices (it's what I turned with when I tried out the lathe) and is enjoyable enough.

The maple that I mentioned is going to give him some more strength and resistance, has some more interesting grain variation if you're good at spotting it, paints well, takes stain well, and I consider a nice "upgrade".

Another one missed and used often in furniture making is Hickory. It's to furniture what Pine is to 2×4's. Just a nice general purpose wood that tends to get overlooked, and often is covered up.

Now truthfully, this whole "you should stick with pine!!!" ordeal is a bit much. Each type of wood reacts differently to ones tools, and it has its own purposes and traits. Hell, reading LJ topics sometimes gives you the impression that each board has its own characteristics, with its own project hidden inside, waiting to come out.

My point being, you're never going to get experience with those woods unless you actually sit down with a piece and work with it. In the end I would encourage him to go out, find some different woods on the cheap, and spend some time making things out of them till he figures out the way wood in question behaves. Doing a little research and seeing the properties listed in a wood guide can help help pick out the next wood to play with. Asking fellow LJers what's a fairly reason able wood he should be able to find, (and not give him too many troubles) is also going to help.

But sticking with pine is not.

So I'm posting again to encourage you, Original Poster, to go out and find the maples, the poplars, the cedars, the oaks, the hickories, and yes, even the walnuts that might be on sale, and play around with them! You should be able to find some interesting wood at a decent price (for your budget) if you look hard enough, and remember, we're all still beginners. There's always something else to learn, another experiment to try, another technique to find, another wood we have yet to encounter!

Best of luck!


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## DaddyZ

Bob the fish - Exactly my point also, I Personally have found at least 10-15 different species of wood in Pallets Alone. Pine, Ash, Oak (red & white), Cottonwood, Cedar, Poplar, Sycamore, Hickory, Maple, Beech, Mahogony & so many others, some of which I can't even guess Species.

Just get in there & Enjoy the ride


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## oblowme

The 'Evergreen=softwood' vs. 'Deciduous=hardwood' is true for the most part, but there are a number of crossovers that break the rules. Holly, Southeren Magnolia, Live Oak and others are evergreen hardwoods, Larch, Bald Cypress and others are softwoods that drop their foliage for the winter.
To muddy the waters a bit more Cypress is graded according to the rules established by the NHLA (National Hardwood Lumber Association) I worked as a Hardwood Lumber Inspector for many years and have never figured that one out.
The 'hard vs. soft' label is also somewhat of a misnomer; Ash that comes from the Gulf Coast area is very soft, under the heading 'SYP' fall a dozen or so species of pine all graded by the same rules but Long Leaf is hard enough to be used as flooring.


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## HarleySoftailDeuce

Is Poplar a hardwood ?? I thought it was a soft wood. It's great as the secondary wood for furniture; drawer sides, bottoms & backs….but NOT as a primary wood for the case of a piece of furniture…or a drawer front. I'd recommend either Maple or Oak. I like quarter-sawn white oak. Hard maple or if your budget allows curly maple (has a very distinctive figuring… and looks beatuiful when finished. I also would recommend Waterlox for a finish coat after any staining.


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## Ocelot

Hey since you are in Alabama, you're a neighbor.

I have not been to enterprise as far as I recall, but isn't that where the statue to boll weevil is located?

Anyway, search craigslist for rough lumber and you will find plenty at good prices - if you have access to a planer. If you were closer I'd plane some for you just for fun.

Check out Hobby Hardwood in New Market, AL .

Oh, that's probably nearly 250 mile drive for you. I see that Enterprise is down south.

In addition to very nice kiln-dried poplar for $3 they also have bass wood for the same price.

-Paul


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## Ocelot

Harley,

Poplar is a "soft" wood, but it is a hardwood. That is, the term "hardwood" pretty much means that it is a deciduous tree, and not a conifer. It doesn't necessarily mean the wood is actually "hard".

-Paul


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## dillonca

I agree on the poplar at Lowe's!


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## AlaskaGuy

It seem to me there should/might be some saw mills down in your part of the country


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## BLarge

Poplar and Ash. Poplar for learning, Ash for a hardwood that is usually inexpensive, 3/bd. ft- Ash is very pretty, gives you some experiencing picking out grain that looks good on a project.

Unlike many on this thread, I find most pine frustrating to work on. breathe on it wrong and get dented or marked-up, the fibers compress and tear easily. Its very inexpensive, but for a negligible difference in price id buy poplar to practice/ learn on.


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## BurlyBob

I've made several smaller projects in the last year using beech. It's harder than pine or poplar and I find it a very forgiving wood. It machines and sands really well. The biggest down side is a very bland lack of any character. I understand that it takes pain quite well, but I haven't found need to try that. Where I live the cost is comparable to poplar.


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## Enyalius

I know this is an older thread, but I wanted to answer in case someone else comes along and finds it.

I started in woodworking by taking a class through a local community college. The class was held in a local high school shop and we had access to equipment that would blow your mind, including a CNC router that could hold two full sheets of plywood.

The instructor had a few simple beginning project suggestions like an Adirondack chair or side tables that he usually had high school students work on. I completed these with white pine. With proper finishing they looked superb, or at least enough so for my use and taste.

I later made a bed out of red oak. As your confidence and skills grow, your interest in more difficult projects and other hardwoods will grow as well.

I'd recommend this route to those who are just getting started and never took a shop class in high school. You'll be introduced to all the equipment you might need in a workshop (table saw, radial arm saw, miter saw, band saw, shaper, drill press, plainer, jointer, etc.), and the instructor will usually be a knowledgeable woodworker who will be on hand to answer questions and provide guidance. You'll also receive a very worthwhile safety briefing.

As far as what wood to choose, I love pine, especially if you have a local wood source that has higher quality offerings. By the by, I preferred 1 x pine from Lowes to the offerings at Home Depot, but that was just my opinion. I did an outdoor project with cedar and I loved working with it, and the smell, and it looked beautiful to my eye with just some boiled linseed oil for finish.

I liked red oak with a darker stain (not the omnipresent honey stain from the 80s) though other people don't care for it. It's an extraordinarily sturdy, and affordable hardwood, and with a little knowledge of its quirks it's easy enough to work with.

You can always do what craftsmen have done for decades and use costlier hardwoods for faces/tops/exterior surfaces, and poplar, baltic birch ply, or other affordable woods for the interior members.

Also, there seems to be no end of uses for the ubiquitous baltic birch plywood. I've seen literally everything made out of it, and it looks fairly decent too for most projects.


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## wormil

FYI, 6 year old thread. If he hasn't figured it out by now, he never will.


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## HTown

You might try asking a hardwood lumber yard what they have that is a good substitute for nicer hardwoods. I picked up some Virola that way. Easy to work, cheap and nice when I got done. Good luck with it.


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## alittleoff

I really like poplar to work with. I started a while back using it and still do.. Look around at Lowe's an sometimes you'll see a board that's dirty, curved a little, bowed or has a scratch in it, if you ask they will really cut the price on it. I check the oak and poplar every time I go there. Saved a lot of money and they were glad to get rid of a scratched board. 
Gerald


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## WoodenDreams

Pine is a nice inexpensive wood for furniture. Most of our living room furniture is made with pine, the end tables, entertainment center, record & DVD cabinet, magazine rack, shelving units, coffee table and toy box. You can stain the furniture to the color you like… I don't use plywood but many do.


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## MSquared

An old thread, yes. To a noob like me, it's extremely helpful. I, for one, think it should be revived. A lot of great info has already been shared. Maybe direct it toward sourcing a variety of 'better' woods on a budget. The posts on the characteristics of certain species in regard to handling and finishing are invaluable. IMO


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## MPython

JDJ, I live in South Carolina. We're both in the heart of Southern yellow pine country. You have been given a lot of recommendations for pine for beginning woodworking. There are lots of pine varieties and they have different working characteristics. Southern yellow pine is probably my least favorite wood to work. If you buy construction grade SYP, it is not kiln dried and will have a moisture content of from 15% to 18%. When it dries it shrinks and is prone to warping. Carefully crafted joints will loosen and often fail. Satisfactory furniture grade lumber should have a moisture content below 10%, preferably from 6% to 8%. SYP's abrupt transition from hard early wood and softer late wood makes it difficult to work with hand tools. Aggressive sanding will eat away the softer late wood leaving the hard early wood proud, producing an uneven surface. It is pitchy and will clog sandpaper and leave pitch on your edged tools. You may be able to find kiln dried SYP. If you chose to use SYP for your projects, by all means, chose the kiln dried variety. Kiln drying stabilizes it, meaning it won't shrink and warp like construction grade lumber, and it hardens the pitch so it's friendlier to your tools and abrasives. Eastern white pine is much softer than SYP and it can be pitchy as well; but the grain is more consistent than SYP so it is easier to work, especially with sharp hand tools. It is frequently used as a furniture wood, more often that not, as a secondary wood - I.E., for parts that are not visible on the finished piece. 
My $.02, from someone who grew up trying to build stuff from SYP.

EDIT: Oops! Didn't notice the original post is dated 2011. Nevertheless, I hope my comments will help any new woodworkers -or old ones, for that matter - who are considering working with SYP.


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## BlueRidgeDog

I would bring up craigslist or facebook marketplace and search for lumber…that is the lumber you use. All of the lumber I have used in the past few years has come from local people.


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## WoodenDreams

The pine I use is Ponderosa pine. We have seven saw mills in Black Hills area of South Dakota. The closest one is five miles from me, and another one I drive past twice a week. A hardwood supplier, Wood Stock Supply, also three miles from me, carries hardwoods from the USA and the exotics woods. They also carry the Aromatic Red Cedar I use, from the New England area. The woods I use is aromatic red cedar, Red oak, hickory, mahogany, poplar, and pine. The barrel coffee table I'm making now is out of red wood per customer request.


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## WoodenDreams

This thread is from a old post, but I think many newbies think you need to build everything out of hardwoods.


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## anmark989

Does anyone have any experience using an impact driver for hardwood projects? Curious if a particular brand is the best or highly recommended. I have also read that sometimes an impact wrench can be confused with the impact driver so I definitely don't want to do that. Appreciate the help. Thanks.


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## MrRon

Cypress is a great wood to work with and is inexpensive. It should be readily available in the south-east. Another fantastic wood to work with is bass wood, but it is too soft for anything more than small boxes and decorative items.


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