Thread: What's your favourite timber?

hard quesiton...

heres my go at answering it :

for sheer ease of working, beauty, simplicity, finish - houn pine, hands down

for durability - eg: propping up a car whilst stealing the wheels; any old timber laying around

Density :eg mallet heads or hitting people : ironbark (red or otherwise), spotted gum, blue gum,

white timber : beech, ash

medular ray effect ; anything that displays it (I currently have some lovely blue gum with fantastic rays all up and down it....!!!)

radial patterning : zebrano and (dont laugh) douglas fir

variated timber patterning : she oak (also very dense and stable)

left of centre : blackheart sassefras (or any spalted timber for that matter)

prized timber : macassar ebony. love it.

hate : Radiata pine

Hi Zenwood,
Will the door be exposed to the weather? If there is the chance it will get wet, I'd be going for quality WRC and good sized m&t joinery. It seems to handle the weather OK, and is light enough for the job. I don't reckon you want anything too heavy for this application. Downside is it can get marred and knocked around by moving furniture, dogs scratching...sorry knocking at the door etc, and I've noticed around here at work that hinge screws can get pulled from WRC. Another option is Aust red cedar with I've seen used before, but maybe that's just plain OTT
Will it be a trad pattern, with scrollwork and corner braces?

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Zed

hard quesiton...


for durability - eg: propping up a car whilst stealing the wheels; any old timber laying around

half doz fence pickets are the go

Nicest timber to use american walnut

worst timber. vic ash (cant play cricket or footy and cant grow decent timber )

Messmate
Blackwood
(Yes it growns in Vic, it actually grows in NSW and Qld too - despite what the taswegian forestry tells us)
Tas Oak
Monterey Cypress is very nice if you can get it.
Redgum

American White Oak is the best I've ever worked with. Otherwise, whatever I can get my hands on cheap/free is best for me

I am fond of a few. Must be a tart mustn't I.

Blue Gum is great and easier to machine than jarrah

Black Wood likewise

Cypress Pine works easily but does split and is brittle so must be machined with some caution

Got some good results turning Tallowood with Ian the other week. It is pretty heavy but.

Think there are others that are really good but I am not sure what is in the stack that e.mac sent us, could be Bolly Gum and Bunya Pine. One I am pretty sure I identified correctly is Antarctic Beech which I liked a lot though you do need the grain going the right way to get a really sweet finish on it otherwise it shows that spotty grainy look like Meranti.

It's all good

Studley

Huon Pine hands down.
Myrtle

Tas Oak is a misnomer. There is no such thing. Tas Oak is a generic name encompassing myriad species of Eucalypt. Which is why some is total cr*p and some is beautiful to work with.

You could make your screen door out of King Billy Pine (if you can get it - and I have some aclimatising in my shed as we speak ). Used extensively in boatbuilding, is stable, easily worked and fairly weatherproof.

my threepence worth.

Cheers

There are only 2 timbers. Red cedar and rosewood (OK three, I'll accept Huon)

The rest are just wood.
Greg

Kauri Pine is pretty good too.

OK. Four. Let me know when you want some.
Regards
greg

Hairy/Flame/She oak. I just love the grain and colour
Huon and Kauri, of course
camphor laurel
rosewood/silky oak/ anything else I've worked with

As you can see there's loads of woods I haven't tried yet, so no doubt my favourite will change as I experience them.

Most hated wood - Red Cedar only because of how the dust affects me.

cheers
RR

Monterey Cypress is very nice if you can get it.

I've got about 3 cube of it to fall and mill over the summer, and thats just the first tree in the line thats coming down

And I agree, it's very nice. A bit soft and tends to split easily, but very nice when it's finished.

Ian

I was aiming this thread at people's favourite woods in general, some great feedback so far.

Andy Mac:
My door will be fairly light, and rustic, situated under a veranda, so not much exposure to weather. (But I'll be using urethane glue and finish in any case.) Since most of the stress will be in the plane of the door, I've made the members about 60mm wide, and only about 12 mm thick to keep the weight down. At the moment I'm working out how to do the groove for the rubber tubing that holds the mesh: I don't want to rout a goove because I feel that would make it very weak.

Just so I don't hijack my own thread, I think macassar ebony would have to be one of my favourites so far. Works beautifully, straight grain, finishes well, and looks magnificent. Jarrah is not too shabby either, but makes lots of dust when worked, and can get direction changes (and tearout) in the grain.

Hate radiata mainly because the engrain crumbles when worked. Oregon suffers from the same problem, to a lesser extent. Tassie myrtle looks promising but I've yet to use it on a project.

Originally Posted by Greg Ward

There are only 2 timbers. Red cedar and rosewood

Is there such a thing as 'rosewood'? I thought it was one of those generic terms applied to a wide diversity of species.