Favorite Wood

I would like to talk about my favorite wood types. Actually of course it depends on the project so here is how it goods.....

Cherry is my favorite... I use it on almost any shaker type furniture I build. I have also used in bedroom furniture and in making boxes and treasure chest. It my favorite because I love the beauty of the wood. It is easy to work with the exception that it burns easily when routing or cutting on the table saw. It is fairly easy to get but not cheap. You must be careful when using cherry as it will darken and change color especially when exposed to sun light.

Next in line is chestnut.... to be exact 100 year old chestnut that has been reclaimed. It is easy to work and has such wonderful charm. I have only used in on a couple of projects, as it is not that easy to get. Most of what I have gotten has been from Ebay.

I use alot of Oak, since mission furniture is what of my favorite types of furniture to build. When I build in oak, I always stain the wood to get the honey color that I like. Oak is a very hard wood and very heavy. It is also good for outdoor projects, since it is somewhat rot resistant and insect resistant. White oak also works for steam bending. When making mission furniture I always select quarter sawn white, the flakes in the wood grain really pop and look great.

I have used some maple, but usually in smaller projects and I can get a nice pieces of Birds-eye.

I have used some walnut mostly on smaller projects such as boxes, clocks or pens.

I love to use maple or walnut burls when doing lathe turnings. They make nice pens and small bowls or plates.

I will use pine when making country furniture. Most of my projects in pine get painted with milk paint. Pine is very east to work and is somewhat cheaper than the other woods but it is very difficult to stain. So I almost always paint it.

I do use popular but mostly for drawer sides or frame parts. When I do an entire project from popular , again it gets a milk paint finish.