# Selecting Lumber



## reds_21 (Dec 24, 2004)

I Am In The Process Of Starting My First Project And Have No Clue Where To Go For The Wood. I Am Looking For Cherry Or Pine (which Ever Is Cheaper. Or Atleast Nicer. The Only Place That I Could Think Of Going Would Be A Home Depot Or Lowes Or Even Rockler. I Live In The Cincinnati Area And Was Wondering If Anyone Could Give Me Some Sense Of Direction For A Lumber Yard That Would Also Cut The Boards To Size And Plane Them Down To The Correct Thickness.

Any Help??

Shawn
Reds_21


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## ChevyNomad (Sep 24, 2004)

Shawn,
I found my place to buy hardwood by looking in the phone book yellow pages under hardwoods. Maybe I lucked out on the first try but I've been buying wood there now for over ten years and still can't beat thier price. They will plane one side, two sides and or cut one straight edge. After you get going you'll want to get your own thickness planer and jointer.
Good luck


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Shawn, you are going through the hardest part of the project right now, coming up with the right wood. In our part of the country pine is by far the cheapest, unless you are looking for clear pine with no knots. Clear pine is priced about the same as red oak for us. Let me suggest for your first project go with pine. Both Lowes and HD carry what they call laminated pine which is 1"x3"'s that have been commercially edge glued together. You can buy these in 12"-24" widths, 4'-6' in length. They are available in thickness's 3/4" and 1-1/8". The boards are fairly accurate on the thickness, minor sanding is all you will need to do. Buy yourself a 1"x3" of poplar, an inexpensive hardwood to use as a straight edge. By clamping this across your work you will have a guide you can follow using your router to cut the pieces to size. Make life easy on yourself and choose a project you can build with 3/4" lumber. This will be the least expensive way to get started. See if there is a cabinet shop near you. Many will be happy to size your boards for a small fee or some time spent pushing a broom. Visit your Rockler and Woodcraft stores. This is a good way to meet others in your area who may be willing to have you work with them on home projects, people who will likely already have the jointers and planers that make our lives much easier! Woodcraft & Rockler have store sales flyers you will want to sign up for. Woodcraft features a different wood each month for a reduced price. That sure doesnt hurt! And when the weather warms up perhaps you can toss your router into the car and head up I-75 to Detroit and we will make some sawdust. Good luck.


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## reds_21 (Dec 24, 2004)

aniceone2hold

well the project that i have drawn up/created i have calling out for 1/2" thick wood. is it easier to have 3/4" thick???? i'll see what hd has along with lowes.....but i was hoping to find 1/2" thick easily!!! thanks for the information!!!!!

shawn


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Shawn, HD and Lowes carry 1/2" wood. I'm not sure what flavors it come in. Seems to me they have oak, red oak, maple, etc. I believe, if my old memory serves me right, the largest width is 5", and the longest is 8' long. It will be in a aisle next to the dimensional lumber, usually closer to the front of the store. At least here in Dayton it is. Good luck on your hunt.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Dr Zook, have you checked lately? My HD has discontinued those handy sized pieces of maple & poplar, in fact they dropped maple all together. They still have a limited selection of red oak. My store now carries a large selection of rough sawn cedar, so I guess its not a total loss.


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Mike, am I bad. I went to HD and sure enough they don't carry 1/2" or smaller lumber. I stopped at Lowes to see what they had. They carry 1/2" in Aspen, Oak, and Poplar. Guess I need to check out my facts before I post. Maybe Shawn can use one of them.
Oh yes, it is in the third aisle near the front. My bad!


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## reds_21 (Dec 24, 2004)

alright guys, this is shawn (reds21). i have a question about the lumber again. i was just at home depot and i found some pine. the confusion i had was that they had white pine and some others. i found a peice of laminated pine which was the exact size and all that i needed but is there anything wrong with laminated pine?? compared to a "normal" pine? when i looked at it closely it looked as if there were a bunch of strips of pine all glued together to make the 24 x 48 peice of lumber. can anyone give me any information on this wood wether it is good or not?

thanks
shawn


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## x372sailor (Dec 24, 2004)

reds_21 said:


> alright guys, this is shawn (reds21). i have a question about the lumber again. i was just at home depot and i found some pine. the confusion i had was that they had white pine and some others. i found a peice of laminated pine which was the exact size and all that i needed but is there anything wrong with laminated pine?? compared to a "normal" pine? when i looked at it closely it looked as if there were a bunch of strips of pine all glued together to make the 24 x 48 peice of lumber. can anyone give me any information on this wood wether it is good or not?
> 
> thanks
> shawn


Nothing wrong with that pine. I used it in the library centre I built (photo attached). The nice thing about that product is that you can buy it in widths to suit your project requirements and if you don't have jointing capability, wide clamps and patience to join boards into wider panels (my situation 4 years ago when I built this) it allows you to continue. If you can do all of the foregoing then buy the cheaper, narrower pine boards and have at it.

Now that I have a jointer, planer and a number of Bessey clamps, I would buy it rough and do the board preparation (unless I was in a rush and the client was paying for the materials and I was donating my time, as in this case).


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Shawn, the laminated wood will actually have less tendancy to warp than a straight cut piece of wood. This is because the smaller pieces have the growth rings reversed when they are glued together. If you look at the edge you will see every other board the rings curve up, the alternating ones curve down. Wood tends to warp in the direction of the curve. With smaller curves, and the curves alternating up and down the wood stays straighter. This will work very well for your project. Remember when you are ready to put finish on your project that pine tends to look blotchy unless you use a sealer before applying the stain. Most companies sell a product called pre-stain, wood conditioner or sanding sealer. A light coat of one of these products before applying stain will give you a much more even finish. Choose one manufacturer for all your finishing products and follow their directions. This will give you the best end results. Buy only enough finish for the project you are working on. Yes, you save money by buying the finish in larger containers, but you have to store them. Your next project might require a different finish, and this can turn into a big storage problem before you know it. Furniture will often have a glossy finish. Items like jewelry or keepsake boxes, shelves, candle holders will usually have a semi gloss finish. You can buy spray polyurethane in either finish and it's easy to get great results with the aerosol cans. Yes, it costs a bit more but there is less clean up, and it goes on right every time. One more thing, be sure to seal your project inside and out. If moisture can escape from one side of the wood faster than the other it will cause it to warp.


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## reds_21 (Dec 24, 2004)

Thank You Aniceone And X372sailor!!!!!!

Awesome Advice That Has Set My Mind At Ease Now That I Can Buy That Wood And Not Have To Worry About It Falling Apart!!!! Plus Till I Find A Store That Will Plane All My Wood For Me , This Works Just Fine!!!!!!

Thanks Again!!! Also X372 Sailor, That Bookcase Is Nice!!!!!!! That Was All Out Of Pine Huh????

Thnks Guys
Shawn


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Reds 21,

I ditto your comments.... Excellent posts and thread.


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## cfm (Nov 4, 2004)

reds_21 said:


> alright guys, this is shawn (reds21). i have a question about the lumber again. i was just at home depot and i found some pine. the confusion i had was that they had white pine and some others. i found a peice of laminated pine which was the exact size and all that i needed but is there anything wrong with laminated pine?? compared to a "normal" pine? when i looked at it closely it looked as if there were a bunch of strips of pine all glued together to make the 24 x 48 peice of lumber. can anyone give me any information on this wood wether it is good or not?
> 
> thanks
> shawn


Suggestion: I purchased Laminated pine from HD and found that the measurements on the label did not jive. 24x48 nominal was listed, but the material was smaller than that. The material was imported from Europe - perhaps Metric? FWIW, bring a tape measure to be sure. Measure twice - buy once.
All the best
cfm


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## reds_21 (Dec 24, 2004)

Cfm

Can You Explain Why Wood Is A Thickness Of 21/32". Why Wouldn't It Just Be Taken To 5/8"?? If I Wanna Make My Project Using The Laminated Pine And I Wanted It To Be 1/2" Thick, What Are My Options If I Don't Have A Planer......?


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Shawn, as long as you know what the actual measurements are you can adjust your cuts so everything fits. 21/32" is plywood that should be 3/4". It carries almost the same load so they undersize it and save a layer or 2 of the wood for each sheet. That adds up to $$$ over a production run. If your wood is undersized dont panic. They make what they call plywood router bits that are undersized to match, Rockler sells them. You dont have to spend the money for an extra bit, just use a smaller bit and make a pass then adjsut it to make up the difference in width and make another pass.
By the way, what is your project? We might be able to make other suggestions if we knew what you were working on.


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## x372sailor (Dec 24, 2004)

Not quite all out of pine.

We found a nice piece of laminated fir which we used for the tabletop surface. We reasoned that this is a yacht club "outstation" which is not highly supervised and people don't necessarily treat it as home. The kids are bound to climb on the unit so we decided the fir would stand up to abuse better than the pine. All the vertical pieces and shelves are pine.

Brian


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## cfm (Nov 4, 2004)

reds_21 said:


> Cfm
> 
> Can You Explain Why Wood Is A Thickness Of 21/32". Why Wouldn't It Just Be Taken To 5/8"?? If I Wanna Make My Project Using The Laminated Pine And I Wanted It To Be 1/2" Thick, What Are My Options If I Don't Have A Planer......?



Not a clue. Maybe it is before milling? Commercial wood I've purchased in various stores labeled 3/4" as 1". However, the width & length dimensions are usually dead on or close to it. Not the case as earlier stated - the width of the entire material (and the stack it came from) was not the dimension stated on the label - short by nearly an inch. The label aslo stated these were 'nominal' dimensions and the wood was imported from Germany.

So I figure HD either got a great deal on mislabeled goods or they were metric.

So, go figure. Don't forget to bring the tape measure.  

cfm


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## Julie (Sep 11, 2004)

Sailor Brian

Lovely bookcase!!

~Julie~


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## x372sailor (Dec 24, 2004)

Julie;

Wow! Thanks. When I delivered the cases to the boat for delivery to the yacht club outstation the (volunteer) outstation overseer "flipped out" when I told him we had more than $500 (CDN) in the pieces (wood, hinges, etc.). Course the labour was dotated, but he flipped regardless. Said he could have made it for $125.

My response was "Why didn't you?". Needless to say we are not on talking terms still (3-1/2 yrs later).

Probably more info. than you wanted to know! :'( 

Brian


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