lumbar for trim

Mar 03, 2009 15 Replies

Greetings Woodworkers,



I am going to make some new wooden baseboards for my house and would like some recommendations regarding the best type of lumber to use.



Will pine be sufficiently durable to withstand years of wear and tear, or should I consider using a hardwood? What grade lumber should I look for? I intend to paint the boards, so knots should not present a problem unless it will make it too difficult to shape the boards with my router.



Thanks for any information you can provide.



Sincerely, JH


Normally one looks at the machine ability of the wood. and popular is often used. All wood hardens over time.

If you want oak to match something and stain it - use that.

If you plan on painting - use popular.

You want kiln dried.

Mart> Greetings Woodworkers,

Poplar is also popular

As others say, poplar is good...works well, holds paint well, relatively inexpensive, harder than pine so less subject to dings, etc. As far as grade goes, I'd use #1 common and fill any bad areas with auto body compound (Bondo). Sanded smooth after filling and with a coat of good primer and you are good to go for the top paint - which I sincerely hope will be an oil based one.

...works like a charm...and when you fill *it* with bondo the patch is more likely to remain invisible. I use it all the time, but *never* in any situation where water may be an issue. (It's wonderful for crown.) I do a lot of apartment remodels/move-out clean-ups and have benifit of seeing work spanning back 15-20 years in some cases...it holds up well. Much base gets hidden by furniture etc, and therefore not so prone to getting dinged.

All that said, if it's my house I'm probably going poplar...

cg

...year, that lower *lumbar* region...I feel your pain!

cg

Since you can buy baseboard cheaper than the material needed to make it and is already primed, why on earth would you want to make your own baseboard ?

Is this a very strange pattern possibly ?

Do you have shaper and power feeder ?

Primed MDF baseboard is your friend.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

If you are planning on using "standard" profiles, that plastic stuff they sell at Lowes and HD will last and last and takes paint well.

Once painted, only you would know if it was pine or oak.

Maple is papal, but ash will take a bash.

Redwood is lighter than that wood.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com says...>

Whatever kind of wood you use, you need to put your back into it.

s

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