so… long story short, I have been working on some drawers… 3/4″ walnut fronts, blind dovetails .
My secondary wood was beech. Beautiful straight grain and color, but the dovetails were like the hunger games… may the grain be always in you favour… Unfortunately that was not always the case and the Beech is hard as sh*it!
That story told, what secondary wood for drawers and boxes do folks find friendly?
I’m doing drawers and boxes with 5/16″ – 3/8 walls… 12″ square ia the largest I typically do. I’m looking for a secondary wood that is straight and pretty white (poplar is too green). My primary wood is typically Walnut or Cherry.
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Replies
Soft Maple is usually my wood of choice for drawer boxes, but it can depend on your region as well.
Maple. And a water-based finish to keep it from yellowing.
Would you use hard or soft maple? Does it matter? I have access only to the hard stuff here...
Nothing wrong with using hard maple it just costs more in my area about $1 b.f. more. You can use any straight grained white wood common to your region that is affordable.
I use eastern white pine almost exclusively for drawers. It moves very little and dovetails like a dream. Around here it's readily available and pretty cheap too.
On drawer sides as thin as yours I always use drawer slips.
Whenever I make a lumber run I take a quick look at the poplar pile, looking for nice white boards and grabbing the when I find them. They may sit in storage for a while but nice to have on hand when the time comes. Last 2 trips came up empty. Second choice would be maple.
I use poplar from the big box store since its already dimensioned and saves time. Maple is fine too, and hard or soft are just names, not significant.
Birch or hickory. Both hard as hell but plain.
I use poplar. Inexpensive and you can just about cut it with a butter knife.
Like I said, I find poplar generally too green.
I see that white pine is pretty traditional.
Any thoughts on basswood or beech?
Before powered tools, secondary woods were predominantly softwood. And they were whatever was common and cheap in the area. Furniture historians can place where a piece was made by looking at secondary woods. Primary woods were often imported, but secondary woods were local.
Machinery made hardwoods more common for secondary woods. Dovetailing drawer sides in pine is a lot faster, and more enjoyable, than maple or beech would be. But if you're using a router jig or other powered joinery, it doesn't matter.
I used fir a few years ago for drawer sides,mostly because I had a bunch that was perfectly quartersawn. But the differences in hardness between the early and late wood made it a pain.
You can find very light poplar if you sort through the stack. I've used it, and it's fine. But poplar is almost always destined for paint in my projects. I've used hardwoods when I want a particular look, or when the style calls for it. But I can get clear eastern white pine at a local mill pretty cheap. It looks great, and makes dovetailing a dream.
hoover, have you read what _MJ_ and John said - you can find white poplar you have to look through the stack.
IME poplar chisels easy and planes nicely. Maple can be harder to chisel and more prone to tear out so choose boards carefully.
Eastern white is fine if you can get it. Around here we use Radiata pine.
I've used basswood, you need 20° ground chisels b/c its very soft.
I don't use a hard wood like beech unless its a design imperative or for a carcase. One greatly reminiscent exercise was a white oak hanging tool cab with dovetails and thru tenons. Pekovitch makes it look easy. Maybe I need those japanese chisels?
I typically use poplar and white pine; these seem to be what were traditionally use din the pieces I build. They are readily available at the big boxes; although the problem is usually finding the best pieces. Poplar has a tendency to twist, so watch for it as even a little twist is a major problem.
I frequently look through their stacks for really nice pieces and grab one even if I don't need it. Likewise with their 'whitewood' as occasionally, they screw up and actually get a piece that is straight and knot free.
The BBs prices are substantially higher, but I don't have to haul pieces very far atop the SUV and don't have to plane them - which is a big issue for me these days as the wife screams louder than the planer.
You should buy a nice set of wife-cancelling headphones.
I think they are called "Boss Noise Canceling Headsets".
you can find them at SWMBO.com ;)
Or one of those new fangled, high tech, super duper silent hand planes.
Ash can be a good choice for such things.
I definitely agree with "Ash". I had the opportunity to use ash after reading an article in FWW.
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