Timber Selection - for beginers

[Damienol]

Hi WWF,

For the last couple of years i have been making furniture bits here and there and building out my mancave as the project requires. Pretty much everything I build is from Bunnings Framing Pine (90x35's, 90x45's), laminated/jointed/thicknessed as required.


I know nothing about timber however I am thinking my skill levels (and mancave tools) have now reached a level where I would like to work with some nicer timbers.


I am looking for advice on some cost effective timber solutions that arent too hard for a beginner to work with.

* I live in Brisbane so am looking for timber readily available in the area.
* I have not enjoyed my past experiences of working with very hard timber
* the wife is not overly keen on highly figured grains
* i love the glass like finish you can get with some timbers using my ROS

[Damienol]

Anyone else care to provide some input?

[Kuffy]

I would suggest Tassie Oak/Vic Ash. It usually has straight grain with little figure, often used for F17 structual beams. It is possible to find highly figured boards, depends on the tree. It is a hardwood, but really its quite soft. Vic Ash vs Fingernail = the fingernail wins easily. Cuts well, planes well, chisels easily.

No idea how readily available it is up north, always seems to me that the victorians only have Vic ash and blackwood, whereas all the awesome timbers come from tassie, QLD or WA!

oh yeah, blackwood is good too, slightly harder than tassie oak, darker in colour, still easy to work. DONT use titebond II or titebond III with it, turns the glue green!

[Glenn.Visca]

IMHO .. pine is horrible stuff. Framing pine is green as buggery, full of sap, and will cup, bow, twist 3 different ways in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.

Even though its soft, its a bugger to work with confidence.

If you want to take the next step, perhaps something like tas oak or Vic ash might be ok ?

Being Aussie .. there are different grades available to match your budget.

Limited figure .. but can be splintery.

Sounds like you can dress boards yourself, so rough sawn / skip planed would be more economical than DAR from bunnings, which all tends to be building timber rather than furniture timber.

[Chief Tiff]

How about cypress pine? It's harder to than radiata pine although a bit knotty. It machines, sands and polishes beautifully.

Tassie Oak is good to work with but is boring to look at.

Any timber merchant will be able to get merbau, it's not too hard and has a reddish brown colour, but like Tassie Oak is very boring most of the time. Saying that, I found a glorious piece of decking in Bunnies made from merbau with swirly grain, just managed to squeeze it into my girlfriend's Astra. Dunno what I'll do with it yet but maybe a nice box to store my Veritas router plane would be a good idea.

[Damienol]

Thanks for the tips around Tassie Oak and Vic Ash.

I will add them to the list to seek out and see what I (SWMBO) think

[LGS]

Take a trip to your local Timber Merchant and look at what they have. When find something you like, ask the yardsman about it's characteristics and workability. The info will be invaluable.

[jaksam]

My local Masters had some red oak in stock. Might be a simple alternative to pine. Red oak has a fairly plain grain.

[LGS]

I was thinking more of places like Matthews timber and Britton Timbers. These are true furniture timber operations and carry things like Jarrah, Red Gum, Tassie Blackwood et al.

Regards,

Rob

[double.d]

Damien, I would have to ask what you want to make and what would you want to pay for the timber. If your wife doesn't like figured grain then.............................. lose the wife :D. I don't like working with hardwood either but if your tools are sharp and you keep them that way you can get a better finish from hardwood than your average framing pine. I believe the price of anything except Pine is way to high and I just don't see the value. Some years ago I found Enrights Sawmill at Beaudesert who always have a yard full of Flooded Gum logs which they sell as Green sawn and dried DAR material and I now have a house full of furniture made from the dried variant. It think it is a beautiful timber of many shades and it comes up very well with a fine sand either stained or raw.http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j322/doubled86_20061/5EC65529-8A1F-4A9F-86A6-E8E56CB2DCE5-23046-00002E9E4A1AC95D_zpsd7h2i8zj.jpg (http://s1080.photobucket.com/user/doubled86_20061/media/5EC65529-8A1F-4A9F-86A6-E8E56CB2DCE5-23046-00002E9E4A1AC95D_zpsd7h2i8zj.jpg.html)

[dai sensei]

Not sure what you want to make but you could always take a run up to Mapleman's place and check out what he has. Certainly a heap of Mango, Maple and Blackwood

[MAPLEMAN]

Not sure what you want to make but you could always take a run up to Mapleman's place and check out what he has. Certainly a heap of Mango, Maple and BlackwoodNot milling any more Neil and hope to be re-located in the next few weeks
Time to get my health issues sorted
Hope you find the appropriate timber for your projects...MM:2tsup:

[Damienol]

Not sure what you want to make but you could always take a run up to Mapleman's place and check out what he has. Certainly a heap of Mango, Maple and Blackwood
Everything and anything (except turning)

[Damienol]

Not milling any more Neil and hope to be re-located in the next few weeks
Time to get my health issues sorted
Hope you find the appropriate timber for your projects...MM:2tsup:


Bummer . Was hopng to drop in around mid November

[MAPLEMAN]

Bummer . Was hopng to drop in around mid NovemberSincere apologies Damienol but wont be here then :no:
In fact not sure where i'll be at this stage :?...the moon looks promising :)...MM

[fishflog]

New Guinea Rosewood is beautiful and relatively cheap. Watts wood at Salisbury usually have a reasonable selection of timber and are very helpful with species & advice. No affiliation just a satisfied customer.

Brian B