Hi all.

I’m a big Norm fan.  Yes, I read that long thread a while back, so I understand there are shortcomings – but I’m still in beginner phase.  The question I have arises from things I’ve seen on Norm that don’t quite make sense to me, and I was hoping for some clarity.

In 2 outside projects, a mailbox post and an outside workshed, he used MDF.  On the mailbox the MDF was painted, but I don’t think it was on the workshed (this is the shed w/ the trellis up one side and over the top).

I may have the details wrong, but the question remains – MDF wouldn’t be a wood of choice for outside, would it?  I would think even using it as a shelf inside the shed would be bad due to the limited exposure to the elements.  Perhaps painting it, as was done w/ the mailbox, would work – but I’d be interested in any comments on this, and…..

If you’re not going to use treated wood, for an outside project such as those above or perhaps a bench swing, would you be limited to cedar, teak, redwood?  Again, any input would be appreciated.

Another thought for FWW.  I think it would be interesting to have a separate Norm category to have discussions about the different episodes – that would be a big help to us newbies, unless that isn’t what this forum is really about.  This morning, he cut a dado (I guess, technically, a groove) and then showed how to put a filler strip in it so that he could freehand a router to chamfer the edges.  Why didn’t he chamfer first?  The filler would be a great recovery idea, but it shouldn’t have been needed.  The project was a bench w/ storage underneath.

Thanks to all in advance.