Which wood for the poor woodworker?
Hi guys,
After dithering about reading lots of books, watching lots of videos, and building a couple of furniture pieces in classes, I am finally plucking up the courage to build some furniture pieces on my own. After the confidence issue, my next challenge is my lack of funds for tools and more importantly materials.
As much as I would love a tablesaw and a thicknesser/jointer, at the moment (and for the foreseeable future) my workshop is pretty limited when it comes to preparing stock. Really all I have for that is a mitre saw, circular saw (used with a guide for cutting sheet goods to size), a random orbital sander, and a few restored handplanes. This has limited me to working with pre-dressed and dimensioned stock, or building with 2x4s for workshop furniture (just about finished a fairly embarrassing Roubo-like bench out of 90x45s and built in vises using cheap cast iron hardware).
My next projects will be a bunk bed for my son (something similar to this http://www.betta.com.au/media/catalo...PN410338.a.JPG), an Arts & Craft style bookcase for my wife, and a Shaker inspired coffee table.
I was initially going to build the bunk out of untreated framing pine, however the stock at the local hardware store has been particularly nasty lately (even by framing pine standards) and I've been thinking it would be nice to use some clear (or near clear) stock. For everything else I was going to use dressed pine and premium plywood (for use as panels in frame and panel construction, and for shelves in the bookcase which I'd nose edge with solid strips).
While these are the materials I've planned to use in my head, the truth is, I don't really know what my options are. First priority is price. I'm happy to use pine with these being my first major solo projects, but if there are better options for minimally more money I'd look at them. The next requirement is that the timber be dimensioned and dressed, or require only minimal dressing (e.g. removing machine marks, or laser grading marks). The third requirement is availability. I'm in North East Victoria, about half an hour from Wangaratta and an hour from Albury/Wodonga. I do have a local Mitre 10, but they pretty much only stock structural timber.
Could anyone please offer some advice? Does such a thing exist as select or clear grade pine in framing type dimensions (90x35 etc, thinking primarily about the bunk bed here).
TL;DR
Newbie woodworker with minimal tools and no machinery looking for cheap timber options to build a bunk bed, frame & panel bookcase, and a coffee table. Located in rural NE Victoria. Pine is fine, as is ply for panels.