What kind of wood to use?

[MOE]

Hi everyone:

If you were completely new to woodworking - all your prior experience was installing chair rails in a den and building a workbench - what type of wood would you use to build sewing machine furniture? I'm planning to build something similar to a corner computer desk with side extensions to accommodate 3 sewing machines. Something like this:

tools I'll be using are a 7 1/4" electric circular saw, and another one

5 1/2" battery operated. Also a scroll saw, two drills, and a finishing sander. Of course I have all the other essentials, such as hammers, levels, and such.

Considering the tools that I have, and especially my very limited experience, I'm concerned about wasting good wood.

On the other hand, it could turn out to be pretty good and then I would be sorry not to have used better wood.

What would be a middle ground?

I would greatly appreciate some feedback.

[Kevin Singleton]

I would use mahogany. It's easy on the tools, easy to work with, readily available, relatively inexpensive, and rather pretty.

Kevin

[Toller]

I have made perfectly nice bookcases out of pine. If you want to go a step up, maybe ash or soft maple.

Poplar is cheap, but I would rather use pine.

You are going to have a heck of a time getting everything square with a just a circular saw; but it can be done if you are careful enough.

[Leon]

Unless he lives in the Houston area, then Mahogany tends to be a much more expensive wood that say, Walnut, Soft Maple, Oak, or Cherry.

[MOE]

What would be the appropriate tool, a table saw? Any recommendations on the brand?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Delta Unisaw or a General 350. Probably not in your budget though. How much do you plan to spend? Ed [e-mail]

[Richard Cline]

I am partial to oak. It can be obtained for reasonable costs and it does not demand high surface finish. Moreover, I would start with plywood with a good veneer finish rather than working with solid wood. Your major panels would be the plywood while solid pieces are used for trim etc.

Dick

[Toller]

Geez Ed, read the OP; he wants to spend as little as possible.

To get a real saw, you have to spend at least $400-$500. All the saws in that price range are more or less the same. If you feel lucky, you can buy a used $400 saw for about $200; however you should have someone knowledgable look at it unless you feel really lucky. Anything cheaper isn't going to give you the results you need; you might as well stick to a circular saw. Speaking of which, I use one, with a very secure cutting guide, for making crosscuts too big for the table saw. It is really slow, but works. Someday, maybe, I will build a sled.

[B a r r y]

Where do you live?

Here in CT, Mahogany is $3 more than walnut, and almost three times the price of oak, ash, birch, and maple.

Barry

[Kevin Singleton]

When I was in Dallas, it was the same price as maple, maybe slightly more, depending on width and thickness.

Kevin

[Kevin Singleton]

I'm in Pennsylvania, now, but I haven't had to buy any wood, yet. Anyone know a good supplier in western Pennsylvania?

Kevin

[Phisherman]

Wood prices vary so much, depending on demand and location. Look for a good deal on hardwoods like maple, ash, beech, walnut, oak, etc and us that wood. I doubt you'll find cherry at a good price (due to the current demand on this wood), but who knows? Popular is another wood to consider if you are going to paint, and this is a good secondary wood for parts that won't be seen. Not have a decent table saw/jointer means you'll spend more time to get straight even cuts. Don't you have a hand plane?

[Phisherman]

Gosh, I would not call mahogany inexpensive. Not my neck of the woods anyway. Cherry is not cheap, but a lot less expensive than mahogany. But if you can get it for $5 a board foot, go for it!

[bridger]

birch plywood

[Stephen M]

MOE,

This is not a slam, I'm just putting your request in context. I saw your workbench posting on ABPW. It's great start, simple and utilitarian (completely appririate for what it is).

This is a serious question: do you wish to build furniture, or a sewing tool, or both?

I suspect that you have a few projects in from of you before you're on to fine furniture. Wood species is more of an aesthetic choice than anything else.

Do NOT rule out sheet goods...Cabinet-grade plywood, MDF, melamine for laminate (formica) over particle board or MDF. Getting a large flat surface with solid wood can be a challenge for a newbie. Sheet goods can solve that problem to some degree.

Cheers,

Steve

[Fred the Red Shirt]

For a small budget I'd recommend a low-angle block plane to clean up the saw marks on your cuts. You can also straighten out slightly crooked cuts, bevel edges, block in pieces that are a tad oversized etc.

[John McCoy]

"MOE" wrote in news:ixWjc.86156$ [e-mail]:

something like that. Face the edges with strips of solid wood of the same or similar species (e.g. if you use oak ply, use oak for the edging, if you use birch or something similarly light colored ("blondewood" or "appleply") use maple or poplar). You may find oak tricky to get a good grain pattern on the edging.

John

[MOE]

Maybe $150 - $200.

[MOE]

No, I don't have a handplane. I guess I need more tools. This'l take a while, but I will do it - God willing.

[MOE]

Steve:

Not taken as a slam. You got the picture clearly. I appreciate your advice.

I began by wanting to build a piece of sewing furniture (sold in the market for about $2K). Then I figured the need for a workbench in order to do this safely and comfortably. Doing the workbench was so enjoyable that it looks like I found myself a hobby. Everywhere I look now I look to see how the furniture was built. In my house I see so much potential: a window seat, a cd storage cabinet, storage for the garage, bookcases, and on and on. It looks like I've caught a bug! Moe