Cheap ? Hard wood

Try to find someone selling #1 or #2 common oak or maple. It will have knots and other defects in it, but it's less expensive. If it's for the shop, it shouldn't matter.

I don't know if poplar is considered a hardwood, but that's also less expensive.

Call the Woodmizer people and see if there's someone near your area selling wood.

"Poplar" is probably the cheapest in most locales, but it is not readily/easily stainable unless you jump through some hoops, or know the pitfalls of staining with sap wood and heart wood in the same board. Poplar works nicely and is an excellent choice for paint grade wood, or for dark gel stains where blotching will be less of a problem.

Red Oak is probably the most ubiquitous of the relatively cheaper hardwoods in most places in the US, it stains nicely and is even generally available at the BORGS, as is poplar.

Ash and maple can also be relatively less expensive in some places, but you may not find either accept at lumber yards/hardwood dealers.

Do you have a jointer/planer? If so, look into buying green wood direct from a sawmill. You will have to let the wood sit for about a year, but you can save considerable money.

About 6 months ago I got about 375 bf. of ash for something like $140 from an Amish mill. By the spring time it will be ready to go.

Mike

As others have said, poplar is inexpensive, but really more suited if you plan to paint it, not sure how the green pigmented parts of poplar would look stained.

Ash is another good choice, right now, at least where I am, it is cheaper than poplar and, IMHO, looks way nicer.

Soft maple is probably the next price point that still falls under "cheap, sort of".

The green portions turn brown over time. Fairly rapidly. On the order of months.

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Don't give much hint on actual use/sizes, but poplar sounds likely to be softer than you'd like for such purposes, at least for tool boxes (unless they're like inserts or drawers, maybe).

Soft maple is relatively inexpensive and finishes better than poplar (other than painting, for which poplar is marginally better imo) and is also harder and mills well. Red oak is probably next of common NA hardwoods...I'd expect cost/availability to vary by area although here everything has to come from afar, so that tends to minimize "cheap" simply by shipping costs.

The answer will vary by region. Here in Northern NY, I can get low grade maple for as cheap as poplar and it's much harder.

You need to ask at your local hardwood supplier what they have.

-Steve

And it still looks bad. Around here ash is almost as cheap, but oh so much nicer.

How cheap is cheap? Cherry is about $6.50, Oak around $4.50, but I can get rough pine for 50¢ I have some very serviceable boxes and cabinets from pine.

You don't say where you are--Capetown, Buenos Aires, Sydney, and New York will have very different answers.

How cheap is cheap and how long can you wait and what tools do you have? Locally one can get 8/4 green red oak for $1.20 a board foot--if you can wait a year and then joint and plane it that's pretty reasonable. Locally KD ash, aspen, and poplar are under $3/board foot.

I don't know where you are, but around here (Pacific Northwest) I can often find birch cheaper than any other hardwood.

I guess this is why poplar tends to be painted.

That's it. Soft maple isn't widely used as cabinet wood, so it tends to be relatively cheap around here. Mainly just pallets and some flooring. If you really want cheap, and aren't embarrassed by dents, get bass. Almost doesn't pay to saw that stuff. makes great insides, unders, and in a shop, frames.

Be aware that "tulip-poplar" or "yellow poplar" isn't the same as real poplar, called "popple" around here.

If you check with a hardwood dealer they often have "economy" labeled stock which was culled for that sold as FAS. It might have a few defects but is usually good for smaller projects. Right now my supplier lists "economy red oak" and "economy hard maple" at $1.50/bd. ft..

Need more info. Where are you located? Hardwood prices are very regional. For example I live in Wichita, Kansas and an area hardwood dealer gets as much as $7/bd ft for premium Walnut. $3+ for FAS1F Red Oak. I can (and occasionally do) drive 200 miles east to SW Mo and get the Walnut for around $3.10 and oak in the $2 range. In fact I recently bought some nice random, select Oak for $1.65.

Stay away from the big-box stores and look in your local yellow pages for "hardwoods", "lumber mills", "hardwood dealers", etc. There are some internet hardwood search sites but they seem to favor larger, commercial mills and dealers. In SW Mo you can drive certain highways and see hardwood signs every few miles.

RonB

Have you tried calling local hardwood mills and/or dealers? Better than asking such an open question, at least that way you would get an answer that is based upon products that are available in your area, and pricing for your area too.

What you need to do is order a big woodworking machine. It'll come on a nice beat to hell pallet. That's prime crappy hardwood full of nails for FREE! Sure it won't last very long, but there's always more tools to buy.

-Leuf