Thread: What timber to use???

Hi,
I've done Blanket Boxes in Pine with sliding DTs, Jarrah with lock mitres and Spotted Gum with half bind dovetails. Really liked the way the Spotted Gum came out, though I think Red Gum would look good also.
Here's the Spotted Gum boxes.

Camphor Laurel is prized for blanket boxes due to its insect repellant qualities. Easy to work, great colour and you help the environment as well.

Camphor can also look really really good.
Regards
John

Camphor is used a lot and is great to work with and has anti insect properties.
Red cedar and rosewood are beautiful and not that heavy, hardwoods such as red gum or blackbutt or jarrah can be heavy to work with and to move around.
Pine is functional, cheap and easy to work but ordinary.
Tassie Timbers such as myrtle and blackwood are also great
greg

+ 1 for camphor laurel, especially if it's you haven't had a lot of experience. It's nice to work with, looks good, smells good and is pretty stable. Also, it's a pest, so you're making good use of one that's been removed.

My vote also goes for Camphor Laurel, especially if you can get pretty timber.

Here is a head and foot for a bed made with this timber (one before and one after lacquer). The legs are cedar.
IMAG0295[1].jpgIMAG0295[1].jpg

Thank you everyone for your replies. I suggested the camphor to the wife and she didn't seen too keen unfortunately. i like the rosewood and red cedar suggestion. do you think cedar would be too soft?

Thanks again, kind regards, Andrew.

Australian red cedar, although soft, was used for furniture almost from the time of white settlement, and most of it is still around. Looks good, and seems to harden up a bit when finished.

If you want any cedar or rosewood, I'll be coming back from the farm Friday and can bring some and meet you somewhere on the central coast.. pm me with a cutting list and I'll lt you know an approx cost.
REgards
Greg

Originally Posted by The Muss

Thank you everyone for your replies. I suggested the camphor to the wife and she didn't seen too keen unfortunately. i like the rosewood and red cedar suggestion. do you think cedar would be too soft?

Cedar is soft, but I have a bunch of it in my house. Only one piece was damaged by a grand-urchin who thought banging the top of poppy's coffee table with a ceramic drink coaster was a good idea. Apart from this type of treatment, which will damage most timbers, I have found it to be fine. I have found that three or four coats of poly protects it from most minor impacts, although most of my cedar is finished with NC lacquer.

Recently I have used a fair bit of NG Rosewood. It is a firm, easy to work timber that is very stable. If you can get the pretty stuff with the red streaks, it can be breathtakingly beautiful.

Originally Posted by Greg Ward

If you want any cedar or rosewood, I'll be coming back from the farm Friday and can bring some and meet you somewhere on the central coast.. pm me with a cutting list and I'll lt you know an approx cost.
REgards
Greg

Thank you Greg, I will let you know on the cutting list when it is ready. I spoke to you on the phone a couple of weeks ago. Just to help a little with the cutting list, could you let me know the widths of the cedar and if you have any 50mm boards or bigger that I could split to book match the box?

Kind Regards, Andrew.

Cedar: 50mm no problem. 75mm also OK, but you will need to resaw as they will be either rough cut or natural edge.
Inch boards are rough sawn to 27mm and then can be thicknessed to 19-22mm.
Widths, 150, 250, 275, 300mm some with natural edge.
I can thickness for you if you need

Rosewood: I am in the middle of getting some more rosewood boards with splits or shorts etc prepared for sale. Great quality and colour timber so these would be fine as well if you want, sister boards but not 50 or 75mm thick available. widths 150-250mm
Greg

Andrew, when you say "all dovetailed, even the base", do you mean you are going to dovetail the plinth? I first read it as meaning you are going to dovetail the bottom of the chest to the sides, which would not only be a logistical challenge, it could cause structural problems - two sides would have very weak cross-grain tails, & you might lose a few during assembly. Most plinths are mitred, & on many old pine chests the pieces are nailed to the sides of the box, which is an inelegant, but durable solution. A lot of makers dovetail the plinth corners, now, but I like to use hidden dovetails for this bit, so they look like they are mitred, but the joint is a bit stronger. Of course only you know how good your work is, when the d/ts are hidden....

Cedar is a good choice for a 'showpiece' item, it comes up very nicely under most finishes. But be aware it also has a fairly strong odour, though not as powerful or as long-lasting as Camphor. However, one word of warning if you are fairly new to dovetailing - cedar is not a chisel-friendly wood, it can crumble and leave great voids when you are cleaning out the waste between tails & pins. You can minimise this by using a very sharp chisel, ground at a low angle, & taking it very carefully, but some softer pieces will still give you grief. Practice chiselling a few offcuts before you get stuck into the real thing. Camphor is a much easier wood to work with in this respect, because it cuts crisply & cleanly.
Cheers,

Originally Posted by Greg Ward

Cedar: 50mm no problem. 75mm also OK, but you will need to resaw as they will be either rough cut or natural edge.
Inch boards are rough sawn to 27mm and then can be thicknessed to 19-22mm.
Widths, 150, 250, 275, 300mm some with natural edge.
I can thickness for you if you need

Rosewood: I am in the middle of getting some more rosewood boards with splits or shorts etc prepared for sale. Great quality and colour timber so these would be fine as well if you want, sister boards but not 50 or 75mm thick available. widths 150-250mm
Greg

Bugger!

Greg, why are you so far away? I am struggling to get the quality of cedar and rosewood I want. Want to make a rosewood desk for my son, but so far have not found timber I like enough. If you know of a supplier in Brisbane who will either select the timber I want or will let me do that, please let me know.