Hi,
I would like to build a pine cabinet like the attached picture. I was wondering what is the best pine to buy for such a cabinet? I live on the East Coast and typically go up to Highland Hardwoods for my lumber. I’m also interested in hearing from anyone who typically builds furniture with pine because I haven’t. I typically use harder woods like ash, walnut, maple, and cherry. My wife likes the rustic look of pine and wants me to build the cabinet to keep napkins, table cloths, etc in our dining room. I would love to hear any suggestions, recommendations on building pine furniture.
Regards,
Buzzsaw
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Gil Bailie
Replies
I have not done any furniture in pine but I did do some custom cabinets in the last house I used to rent. I used the pine from Lowes. Only thing I did notice was the first one I did, I used a sanding sealer under the coat of paint I applied. The other two I got lazy and just painted them. Oil in from the knots appeared about 6 months later. So my lesson learned is if I use pine and am going to finish it. Use a sanding sealer / wood conditioner to seal the wood.
Even today's best pine will have some knots in it. Buy the best grade you can get. And this looks to be white pine, not southern yellow.
When you go to finish, apply a couple wash coats of shellac, otherwise those knots are going to bleed through.
Buzz
Just floating out an alternative to pine for you. Knotty Alder is a beautiful wood, is used often for rustic projects (I'm doing a large cabinet job in KA right now), and works and finishes beautifully. It's a hardwood, but relatively soft, being similar in hardness to poplar.
Just an option for consideration. It's natural color is almost exactly the same as the picture you just showed. A little BLO and a top finish of your choice, and you'll have a beautiful, rustic cabinet.
Jeff
That cabinet looks like # 2 common white pine, way cheaper than clear. Most local lumber yards will have a pretty good selection and let you pick out some boards with tight knots. Clear pine in a clear finish doesn't have much going on, and "rustic" sounds like a few knots would be OK.
White pine is readily available in NH. It is very soft and will dent if you stare at it too long, but nice to work with, IMO.
The last "clear pine" I bought had a fair share of knots in it. Maybe I got clipped. I just figured that the way it's graded had degraded like everything else.
39754.11 in reply to 39754.5
The last "clear pine" I bought had a fair share of knots in it. Maybe I got clipped. I just figured that the way it's graded had degraded like everything else.
Here in Maine we can get nice clear white pine, but it is very pricey. It is almost entirely knot free, with maybe one or two tiny knots per board. No. 2 common, if you carefully look through the pile, will often have just a few tight knots. I use it for drawer sides once in a while and work around any larger knots.
AFAIC, wood quality in general has gone in the toilet over the last ten years. Clear aint clear anymore. I simply accepted the knotty pine (that I ordered as clear) as the new norm.
Later.
Buzzsaw,
I made this out of Home Depot #2 pine. It is finished with garnet shellac and alkyd resin varnish. The wood seems to have an interior glow when finished like this, especially around the knots. Very nice looking and eye catching.
Rob
P.S. You guys try not to be too harsh on the door gaps, it was my first attempt at fitting doors.
I agree with the guys on standard grade white pine and what I call Ponderosa pine. Knots are not a problem with rustic and country. I cut my teeth on pine 36 years ago and still build a few things for donations to shelters, etc. out of it.
I have a chest of drawers that developed a slight split on the back side after 30 years, but otherwise keeps on keeping on.
Sarge..
Great job and thanks for your post...Regards,
Buzzsaw
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Eastern white pine would be good. I'd check out pine at your hardwood sources, you are more likely to find it dried to furniture moisture levels in the 8% range, not construction levels above 14% or more. The greater degree of kiln drying does a better job of "setting" the resins in pine. You should still seal the knots with shellac--much better for that job than "sanding sealer". If not available from those sources, then look for a real lumber yard. In Connecticut we have Rings End Lumber, for example. Wood from the big boxes--Home Depot and Lowes has more than its fair share of juvenile wood containing the pith which is weaker and quite prone to warping. It also tends to have drying defects--case hardening and honeycomb. Lots of waney boards, too.
Thanks everyone for your posts. They are very helpful..Regards,
Buzzsaw
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Actually I think to build this style you would want the knots as long as they are relatively small and tight. I would seal this material with a thinned tung oil, let this dry thoroughly and then spray a coat of garnet shellac, if you don't have spray equipment you could apply with a rag. This will give you a slight amber tint and possibly highlight some areas around the knots. Rub the shellac coat lightly with some scotchbrite and then you could glaze it with some medium brown or maybe a fruitwood colored stain. You need a coating over the glaze but whatever you do don't use gloss or even semi-gloss, in fact a flat finish would be best, or you could just put on another coat of shellac and wipe it down flat with some scotchbrite and then just clean it with something like Old English scratch cover for dark woods.
You may well want to stop after the first application of the shellac and just rub it down lightly at that point and clean it with the Old English product.
If you have jointer and planer you could buy rough furniture grade white pine from Wall Lumber. They typically deliver via Wilson trucking to my Georgia address in 2 days.
Ron
Here in Ohio the Willis Lumber co. sells a cabinet grade knotty white pine that does an excellent job. Knots are very tight and usually quite small. Only problem I have had with it is that sometimes when planing it you hit a pitch pocket and every thing get sticky like you got honey on it. You have to cut out the picth pockets as stain and varnish will not dry when applied to this area.
Take a look at fernald lumber in Nottingham, /Rt. 152, off of 125.
http://fernaldlumber.com/species.php - sawmill and lumber yard, specialize in pine.
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