Good wood for painting...Good wood for staining

[Ringus]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some cost-effective advice regarding two different types of finishes.

My project is a coat stand roughly speaking four legs about 6 foot high. before I buy the wood, I'm considering what finished to use and the cost.

What wood is good for painting over, googling it always gives the American advice of Tulip wood but that doesn't seem to be readily available in the UK? what would be a cost effective alternative which shows very little wood grain pattern after painting?

The second thing I was considering was staining, but my worries is using something like pine would give me a cheap looking finish? Or am I worrying too much?


Many thanks

 

[marcros]

tulip shouldn't be too difficult to get hold of, but I dont know your area to recommend a supplier.

 

[TomW]

From my limited experience so far with staining pine, it depends how severe you're expecting to alter the base colour. Try to make pine dark like walnut and you're going to be chasing getting the finish even but if it's just a few notches darker it can look quite nice.
Painting wise I'd say you might as well use pine and by the time you've sanded between a few coats with decent paint the grain will be near gone.

 

[Ringus]

Oxfordshire

 

[Fidget]

I'm in South Oxfordshire.

I use Chilworth timber, near J8 M40. They usually have Poplar (tulip) wood. They also have some nice pine if you can mill your own bits.

Can't comment on staining

 

[thetyreman]

pine can look good as well but the knots can be a problem with resin leaking through, especially on white paint, so sealing the knots is a must and obviously more work, poplar would be a good choice.

 

[JobandKnock]

Poplar - which can be stained to resemble cherry (at least commercially). In terms of "pine" type timbers, alder is probably the least knotty timber and polishes, stains and paints well. It was used by a couple of the better quality "pine" furniture manufacturers back in the day

 

[sirocosm]

I have found that most softwoods look nasty if you stain them, and as mentioned the darker you try to stain them, the worse they look (although I have not tried alder).

However, you can add color and make softwood look very nice with orange shellac. It is also possible to tint it with aniline dies to make almost any color you want. If you go that route, don't buy pre-mixed shellac, buy flakes and mix it yourself.

 

[Snailman]

As mentioned staining softwood isn't always good, I tend to mix stains in with the topcoat, Finishing oils or hard wax oils like Treatex or Osmo, It takes the edge right off the orange phase pine goes through as it mellows.

 

[recipio]

Tulip wood is sometimes called Tulip Poplar or Yellow Poplar is readily available in the UK. Its the ideal wood when painted as it has no grain to repel the paint. Not to be confused with Brazilian tulipwood - not so readily available !
You might consider buying a sheet of 18 mm Baltic ply and laminating them for 36 mm stock. It will take paint nicely.