Replies

1. 
   MikeHennessy | Mar 27, 2006 11:43pm | #1

   If you like "early American" or "rustic" stuff, pine is about as cheap and easy to work as anything. A lot of this furniture was painted, and you can't get any easier than that for finishing. Alternatively, for a hardwood that's (relatively) cheap around me, I'd say soft maple. If you want to go higher in the cost department, cherry is one of my favorite woods to work with, tho' some find it problematic to finish. (I like to oil it and then use a wipe-on poly applied with a 3M pad. I was never bothered by "blotchiness" that others seem to worry about.)

   Mike Hennessy
   Pittsburgh, PA

2. 
   SteveSchoene | Mar 29, 2006 03:50pm | #2

   I think any of the domestic hardwoods--maple, cherry, oak, walnut work fine for beginners.  (For certain styles, Honduran mahogany is also very nice, though it is pricy and not domestic.)  Until you feel ready, stay away from figured versions of any of the above since they present greater difficulties in finishing and shaping.  If you want a painted finish, poplar is very good.  Pine is OK, but soft enough that the design needs to be beefed up a bit in some stuctural areas.  It's also fairly challenging to finish with a clear top coat.  Paints OK, but poplar is better. Soft maple is also good for painted objects.   

   Mostly the choice of wood depends on the style of the furniture you are making.  For example, oak is great for Mission furniture, but inappropriate for Chippendale.  Mahogany looks great for Chippendale and Federal styles, but not for Shaker. 

3. 
   mufti | Mar 29, 2006 08:48pm | #3

             

            This is what I do. Go to a low end local auction and buy something old and unfashionable but quality. dark heavy table or old sideboard.Buy cheap. take it home and dismantle, clean up already thicknessed timber and find you have expensive oak. mahogany or the like. you cannot beat it!

4. 
   mufti | Mar 29, 2006 09:30pm | #4

              Apart from my lack of punctuation I forgot to mention that the advantage of dismantling old furniture is that you learn more about joints than you ever will from books.

5. 
   Lataxe | Mar 29, 2006 09:43pm | #5

   Claude,

   This is a throwaway world and what some throw out you can take in.  As well as cheap furniture made of good wood, as already suggested, consider obtaining timber for free by making friends with people in the building trade or other large consumers of timber.

   I have two builder friends who get me free timber that is ripped out of old buildings that are being refurbished or demolished.  This timber is usually destined for the landfill or bonfire, despite it sometimes being excellent stuff.  The builders do not have conservation as a priority, they are just rushing to finish the job to avoid the penalty clause. Old growth pitch pine beams; cherry, oak and ash architraves, skirting and so forth are common.

   It's also worth cultivating a friend or two in places that make wooden stuff on a big scale - kitchen-makers, furniture factories and so forth.  Their offcuts or leftovers are my planks, which they would otherwise cut up and feed into their heating boiler.  Even if they want money for it, they usually sell very cheap (its just firewood to them).

   Lataxe

6. 
   gb93433 | Mar 30, 2006 12:47am | #6

   I think soft maple is about as near fool proof as you can get.

1. 
   citrouille | Mar 30, 2006 01:42am | #7

   If soft maple had a different name I think it would be more widely used.
   First of all it is only soft if compared to hard maple, it is excellent to work with.
   I use it a lot, it can have the same figure (curly and birds eye) at a fraction of the price.C.

1. 
   gb93433 | Mar 30, 2006 04:14am | #8

   Most peope do not know the difference between it an hard maple. In fatc if one knows the difference it is often used in "maple" furniture. Depending on its origin will depend on how it looks. When I was at the NHLA Inspection school they passed around a piece of wood and asked us to identify it. It was soft maple. It was as hard as hard maple. The only difference was the look of the rays.