hard wood
- Thread starter QChawks
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Go ask your mom for what I gave her last night.
haha
needs to cutable with standard blade. I typically just use the quality pine or oak for projects but thinking maybe I should upgrade since I want it too last.
I don't see weeping willow on the list.
Building a desk for my son, which wood should I use?
As usual on topics like this, I will be the only one to respond seriously. As for my bona fides, I’m not a Ron Swanson level crafter yet but starting in law school rather than buying crappy mass produced furniture I would go to goodwill and get stuff that looked beat up and rough in the finish and grooves/dents and would strip them, fix any issues and refinish. Then I switched to buying unfinished new furniture from Wood You in Tally while it was open and bought a lot of pine, oak, alder and Parawood bookshelves and storage cabinets and finished them myself. Then when Wood You went out in its Tallahassee location I started making my own simple furniture including a desk with hutch.
So my personal preference for making stuff is Parawood/rubber wood/“Malaysian Oak”. It’s great because it has the hardness of a typical hardwood but is not only a softwood that grows a whole tree in 3 years AND is lightweight, lighter than pine. And it grows pretty straight so very few knots but is fine grained like an oak. It also takes stain well. Literally the only downside to Parawood is that it allegedly rots quickly if left in a humid area so it’s NOT for use in outdoor areas or transitional areas like a Florida room/sun room or a glassed in porch. But it’s strong despite being lightweight, takes stain wonderfully, is fine grained and grows so quickly that they just chop down the tree leaving the roots and then come back in three years and top it off again so it’s GREAT for the environment.
Here’s a pic of the fine grain of the Parawood in an unfinished state
And this is what it looks like finished
If you think you’re an above average woodsmith, then I do really like how gum (sweet gum or black gum) turns out. But sweet gum is hard and knotty so it’s a pain to deal with. You could probably do 5 Parawood desks in the time it would take you to do one in sweet gum. But it IS unique and cool looking.
As usual on topics like this, I will be the only one to respond seriously. As for my bona fides, I’m not a Ron Swanson level crafter yet but starting in law school rather than buying crappy mass produced furniture I would go to goodwill and get stuff that looked beat up and rough in the finish and grooves/dents and would strip them, fix any issues and refinish. Then I switched to buying unfinished new furniture from Wood You in Tally while it was open and bought a lot of pine, oak, alder and Parawood bookshelves and storage cabinets and finished them myself. Then when Wood You went out in its Tallahassee location I started making my own simple furniture including a desk with hutch.
So my personal preference for making stuff is Parawood/rubber wood/“Malaysian Oak”. It’s great because it has the hardness of a typical hardwood but is not only a softwood that grows a whole tree in 3 years AND is lightweight, lighter than pine. And it grows pretty straight so very few knots but is fine grained like an oak. It also takes stain well. Literally the only downside to Parawood is that it allegedly rots quickly if left in a humid area so it’s NOT for use in outdoor areas or transitional areas like a Florida room/sun room or a glassed in porch. But it’s strong despite being lightweight, takes stain wonderfully, is fine grained and grows so quickly that they just chop down the tree leaving the roots and then come back in three years and top it off again so it’s GREAT for the environment.
Here’s a pic of the fine grain of the Parawood in an unfinished state
And this is what it looks like finished
If you think you’re an above average woodsmith, then I do really like how gum (sweet gum or black gum) turns out. But sweet gum is hard and knotty so it’s a pain to deal with. You could probably do 5 Parawood desks in the time it would take you to do one in sweet gum. But it IS unique and cool looking.
thank you Mr Swanson
now you pervs can take this thread over
It's not as much fun to be pervy when you have permission to be pervythank you Mr Swanson
now you pervs can take this thread over
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