Which wood to buy?

[Coffee]

I'm a real newbie to wood working, and know nothing about which are the best timbers to use.

I have the opportunity to buy some freshly felled iron bark, tallow wood, grey gum, and or black butt. I know the source and all would be high quality.

I don't have a particular project in mind, is just an opportunity to put some timber down for future use.

Most likely uses would be dining table, coffee table, side table or similar.

My question is which if any are best suited to furniture making - by a novice?

Are some more difficult to work with than others? Any more difficult to dry than others? Any harder on tools and machines? More difficult to finish?

Thanks in advance for your valued advice.

cheers Coffee :confused:

[Bodgy]

Coffe, or may I call you Java?

Buy them all. All are great and much sought after. I, personally, love Tallowwood. Others will have their own preferences. Any of these timbers people would kill to posess.

How did you get this opportunity?

[Ianab]

I dont know those species myself, but have heard good things about them. But you do want to brush up on air-drying timber, you need dry fillets to stack the wood on, something to endcoat the boards, and someplace airy but out of the rain / sun to stash it for 12 months drying.

Be a shame to get nice wood like that and have it warp or split on you :o

Cheers

Ian

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Ian gave good advice; it's all lovely wood but if it's not dried properly at best it'd be a headache for a newby, although it'd offer some interesting lessons! :D

...and at worst will become expensive firewood.

[Wongo]

...but but iron bark is pretty tough to work with. Irregular grain and extremely hard.