Hard wood

[Scrit]

There's not much oak in the North West of England

The Lakes are a good 90 miles or so away for me so I haven't seen much of what you'd call quality English oak from that source here. I've got a couple of local suppliers (oak) who are rooting and sawing their own, but their quality makes it only suitable for flooring, beams and joinery - sadly they just don't seem to know how to grade for furniture. In south Lancashire and on the Wirral there isn't much oak growing or felled, either. I believe that Will Tyer(s?) (remember him?) used to work north of Lancaster in the main for oak, for the same reason. I'm always a bit wary of windblown because of the possiblity of thunder shakes. Most of the oak I used last year was French and extremely consistent (pronounced "bland"). But it worked well, was consistently dried - it "polished up" the way the customer wanted, too. I agree with what you say about American, though, even more "consistent" than the French. :lol: BTW for quality oak I find I cannot better John Boddy at Boroughbridge and they deliver anywhere

Scrit

 

[DomValente]

Totally agree Scrit

John Boddy do supply and deliver quality goods.

Yes please, may I have a 1000cubes of that £17.00 stock?????

Dom

 

[Philly]

Phil
To boil all this down for you-
If you are not yet comfortable with your skills or want to try new techniques without wasting expensive timber then locally available softwoods like pine from B+Q or Jewsons are perfect for getting stuck in.
Hardwoods are more expensive than pine (some are very expensive!!) and also you have to search to find a suitable timber merchants to supply it. My nearest is about 30 miles away.
But hardwoods are a pleasure to work and when you want a project to last forever its worth building it from hardwood. They are more expensive but you will be putting in a lot of time-no point skimping on materials if you spend 100 hours building it :lol:
You will also find hardwoods are a real pleasure to work with sharp tools-it becomes addictive :wink:
Hope this is of use (and you lot-slow down! :lol: )
Philly

 

[Steve Maskery]

The Tulipwood I know is called Dalbergia frutescens

Nice isn't it? There are, I believe, other trees also known as Tulipwood, as well as the American Poplar we get here (which I've always known as Canary Whitewood). This is why botanical names are so important. My dad always said that mahogany was made by Heinz, because there were 57 varieties.

BTW, sorry if if I came over a bit severe last night. It was late, and I'd already had two difficult conversations yesterday, requiring every ounce of tact I have. And given that I was at the end of the queue when God was giving out that particular commodity, there wasn't much left

Scrit,
I hadn't thought about the risk of shakes from windblown trees, I'll try to remember that.

Cheers
Steve

 

[filsgreen]

Thanks once again everyone, good solid advice which has clarified a lot of points for me. You've hit the nail on the head, sorry no pun intended, when you say that you have to pay the price if you want to progress. At the moment I'm making a scratch built adirondack style chair out of Pine and the material has cost about £30. If it looks good I will get some Tulip wood and make another, I like the idea of using Tulip wood because it isn't harsh on tools. As you have probably guessed from my work shop pics I am at the lower end of buying tools, having said that they have still cost me a few bob. At the end of the day, what is the point of spending a load of money on tools and then scrimp on the final product? I'll keep you posted with pics of WIP :wink:
Phil

 

[Alf]

locally available softwoods like pine from B+Q or Jewsons are perfect for getting stuck in.

Oh dear, I really didn't want to further confuse Phil, but are you sure you mean that, other Phil?

FWIW, my first serious quantity of hardwood was 100ft of Ash from British Hardwoods (they used to have a regular deal on ash and oak like that - wish they still did ) and it was an excellent introduction, IMO. Ash is a reasonably friendly timber that doesn't need staining or whathaveyou to make it acceptable, unlike poplar. Although I've left poplar unstained before now and it's really not that bad, just rather boring. Chris (waterhead37) has a nice finish for poplar IIRC, but he's off living it up downunder at the mo', lucky blighter...

Cheers, Alf

 

[gidon]

Hardwoods are definately worth the price - you'll get a lot more pleasure working with them, they generally look better and are, well, harder so your hard work will last longer - dig your thumbnail into your pine boards and then try the same with some Oak ... Although they are harder on your tools (ie your tools may need more regular sharpening) - hard woods like Ash, Beech, Oak (etc) are very easy to work with - a sharp chisel leaves a nice crisp cut.
Try making a smaller project with some hardwood like Ash or Oak (tends to be cheaper) - you'll be hooked. Wood for a small project needn't cost much and if you use a nice wood a simple oil finish is all you need and you're done.
If you have a woodworking evening class in your area the course tutor may be able to help you with your hardwood supplies.
And Tulipwood (or Yellow Poplar) does have a lot of variation but really isn't that bad - and I can get it almost as cheap as I can get softwood (~£13 / cf).
Cheers
Gidon

 

[dennyk]

Hi Scrit

Just a bit of info wanted

Where do you live? are you in the Liverpool area?

Could you send me a PM, as I would like to meet you

Thanks

 

[Bean]

filsgreen
I use a fair amout of reclaimed hardwood, you need to be careful as there may be hidded nails or screws. But it can be as cheap as simply asking for it. I recently picked up a very good oak table from a school, they didnt want it and a fiver got the table. the table frame went to make my bench and the top will be converted into some cabinets soon. If you keep your eye open it does not have to be expensive.

Bean

 

[Colin C]

As you have probably guessed from my work shop pics I am at the lower end of buying tools, having said that they have still cost me a few bob.
Phil

I wonder if that will change :-k

Steve, no probs. Just pointing out that I have used lots of other woods ( some I will not get much chance to use now I work for myself ), Satinwood being one of them ( I could it all day if I could aford to ).
It smeels just like the satinwood you put in oil burners, the grain is very wild but with a finnish its very nice.
To all who work fulll time with, may this year bring easy customers :wink:

 

[filsgreen]

Hi everyone

I've taken your advice and have decided to purchase some hard wood. I got in touch with McGraths and they were very helpful. the trouble was that it led to another conundrum :? Do I buy it planed or rough sawn, the difference in price is about 25%. If I did buy it RS I would then have to buy a planer/thicknesser. Having thought about the pro's and con's, would it be better to buy the timber RS and then take it down or should I buy it planed? You see if I bought it planed, any movement in the wood would have to amended and therefore lose more timber, where as if it was RS I could wait a couple of weeks for the wood to lose the moisture, let it do its own thing and then plane it. Furthermore, from your experience, is it cost effective to buy rough sawn taking into account the cost of tools, blades, blade sharpening etc. Reading through the post, it looks like I'm asking how long is a piece of string but any comments would be appreciated.

Phil

 

[Alf]

Sooner than repeat myself, you might find this thread helpful in deciding if it's worth buying a P/T or not.

Cheers, Alf

 

[gidon]

I think if you stick with woodwork eventually you'll succumb to purchasing a decent p/t'er - but for your first dabble with hardwoods I would get some PAR timber. It's hard to justify the costs of a p/t'er against the savings on being able to buy RS timber - it'd take some time to break even unless you purchase a lot of wood! BUT once you have one it would be almost impossible to do without ... it's easier to get hold of rough sawn timber; you will get a saving; you can machine to your own sizes; the planer is very handy for jointing ... the list goes on. Still I would try at least one project with PAR timber and see how you get on ...
Cheers
Gidon