Thread: coffee table wood

I dont know if the pine you mention is a mistake or not but I would not use it.
It is a myth that all the furniture in a room or house needs to "match" in fact it is almost impossible to have to pieces of timber furniture clash badly. Just nonsense that gets spread around by these silly bloody lifestyle shows and magazines.
Why not give a good aussie timber like QLD Maple a go for your table.

Good point.
I'm thinking dark wood like Jarrah would deffinately look out of place in the room but any pale-ish type would be OK. cost is a major factor but so is availablility.
And the rules say no hardwoods allowed on their machines.
my wood buying experience doesnt go beyond Bunnings and Mitre 10.

No hardwoods on their machines? I'm thinking of doing one of those tafe courses. Thats a strange request, to ban balsawood!

I did one of those courses and it is very annoying when drill bits/ planes etc. are dulled by the guy next to you building a table out of ironbark or redgum... but as LineLefty is implying, some softwoods are "harder" than hardwoods.

If you are really serious about making a quality piece of furniture that will last for years then don't rule out going to a timber yard and having pieces dressed to size. It can be daunting to order timber without being able to see and choose it like you can at Bunnings, and you can't just duck down to pick up a replacement length if you drill a hole in the wrong side or sit the router down on it by accident, but you'll get the choice of many more types of beautiful timber and hopefully a more professional service. Victorian Ash is also a nice local wood, and if you want something a bit special try black-hearted sassafrass - a real conversation starter.

If you post what state/ city you are in then I'm sure people on this list will recommend a local and friendly timber yard.

FWIW I faced exactly the same problem when I was choosing timber for the course I did. My first preference was for Tasmanian Blackwood but I simply didn't have the confidence to order pieces from a Timber yard, and if you want to chose timber that's dressed and ready for furniture then you're basically limited to pine or Tassie Oak. I ended up choosing Jarrah because I wanted to be different, and it was the only other timber I could easily purchase already dressed.

I must make a correction,the rules say no Jarrah or used timber allowed so that doesnt restrict me so much.
Bunnings Maddington (thats in Perth) also has Aus.Oak its kind of pinkish grey. would that be better than pine? twice the price but I expect its still a cheap timber being at Bunnings.
Ive also found a small yard not far from me called Byford Timber. I spoke to a bloke in the yard, he showed me around and said the boss wasnt there but he can get most wood if I want to order something specific, but they had blackbut and karri and marri and a lot of slabs and burls. I didn't know which was which as he was just waving his arm around vaguely, is blackbutt a yellowy colour? and karri & marri red?
I think I'll have to go back for another look around.
Would blackbutt be suitable for what I am doing? will it be exspensive?
I think I'd better stop now I'm getting excited just typing about it.

That sounds like the strangest night course I've ever heard of where they say no hardwoods or recycled timber.

I also go to a night course which is run in a high school woodwork room and pretty much all the timber used is either hardwood or recycled. In fact the major reason many of the people in my course attend is to use the machinery to dress recycled timber.