I have been going through the various magazines to come up with storage for my garage shop and there are some interesting designs out there to use. What I am wondering is what kind of woods will work well in an uninsullated garage. In some of the designs they use a combination of plywoods and hardwoods, I can get birch plywood that looks ok at the local home centers, but what would you use for the hardwood that is required for the other structural components given that there are going to be shifts in both temperature and humidity?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.
-t
Replies
Pretty broad question. My thought would be that the choice of materials depends on what you want the garage storage cabinets (?) to look like, combined with what you want to pay. Oh, and do you want to paint them, or stain and varnish? The details of the design should, of course, allow for seasonal expansion of the materials selected.
There are various calculators on the following site that may be helpful (note the Sagulator and Shrinkulator, in particular):
http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/index.htm
I like OSB for hanging cabinets (cheap) but anything works.
I like MDF for base cabinets and melamine for work surfaces. Again, cheap.
If the project will need to be mobile, I would go with shop-grade baltic birch plywood.
Lastly, make a few pretty skill-building projects, for fun.
t - I recently built a set of storage cabinets for my garage, used birch plywood from Lowe's (picked through the pile pretty carefully to find pieces with minimal voids) and 2x framing material. For trim, I ripped down pieces of the plywood and it looks just fine. My thinking was that plywood would be the most stable and not affected (much) by temperature and moisture shifts. I live in a dry climate, but one with lots of temperature swings. I've had no problems at all...
Why not use birch for face frames, drawer faces? If you want a contrast you could use a darker wood too, I used red oak for frames around baltic birch router & outfeed tables. Also used a solid core birch door for a benchtop and birch cabinets. Easy to work and the wood is light to keep the woodshop bright.
As for appearance I'd guess the furnishings are kinda down and dirty, nothin fancy about 'em.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
I tend to stay away from MDF for cabinets in this case. My fear is that moisture will (over time) swell the MDF. I made a cabinet for our basement laundry room and I am seeing the swelling. Your garge may not see that much humidity.
Other than that, I have had no problem using any type of plywood. I also use 2 x 6 lumber from the lumber yard. I just make sure that I let it dry a few weeks or longer before I start machining it. Make sure you check all surfaces for staples, nails, dirt, sand.....
Good luck,
Bill
Your mileage my differ but I use and store a variety of hardwoods in little shop. Most hung from the rafters or set on edge on a hunk of 3/4 inch ply set on the cement floor.
My shop has air conditioning IF I open the shop doors and heat in the winter IF I close the shop doors. ;>)
I see very little problems with warping etc.
Although I rarely go into my shop in the dead of winter and cut wood. I HATE the cold.. Even as a child...
The wood that I had problems with always seemed to be reaction wood anyway and I just bite my tongue and cut it up for the good parts.
Mostly I use Jatoba, Ash, Hickory, Purpleheart, Lacewood, Poplar, Sapele, White and Red Oak, Mahogany (rarely 'true'# and on occasion Cherry and Maple. Other woods also but only on rare projects.
I for one, see little difference in what I buy and store then cut at a future date. Maybe I'm just lucky? In fact I see less change than I would expect.
But then again I am not making projects I expect to end up in a Museum. Just good quality at prices I can afford.
Was it last year? Or the year before? I forget.. I did buy some expensive Jatoba Plywood #4X8# and it warped! I cut it up and used for shelves to store some of my wood.. BUMMER! And I got it at my local supplier which I usually get good product from.. One of those things I guess...
EDIT:
I guess I got off track as usual.. I thought for some reason you were asking about wood storage NOT about wood FOR storage cabinest Etc.
Sorry!
Edited 6/19/2009 11:16 am by WillGeorge
Thanks for your comments, I have appreciated hearing the different perspectives, now to dial it in a little more. I have found two examples of projects that I could see myself making for my shop...
http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/101/extras/air-tool-station/
in the Air Tool Station they are using Maple as the hardwood, what other options would give similar results with performance I am not so concerned about appearance so staining or painting really isn't an issue.
another project could be based on something like:
http://www.shopnotes.com/issues/097/extras/before-and-after-shop-upgrade/
in this they are ripping 2Xs down for much of it but for the drawers they are just showing 1X, could that be just pine or should something else be used?
Thanks again for your time in talking through your experiences. I too hate it when plywood warps, but have yet to get some of the really good stuff. I am looking forward to going down to NC to look at some of the suppliers after payday ;)
-t
And it's made from inexpensive, easy-to-find construction lumber, MDF, and plywood.
Some folks in here thing you are lower than a Slug if you use MDF.. I would say.. I differ on that opinion.. I have mine and they are welcome to theirs!
I agree with you. $65 to $150 a sheet ply should not be used in the shop - unless your are using scrap.
I'm not bragging... but...
My wife and I have high-paying jobs and no children. I have lots of money to spend on my hobbies and I still buy construction grade materials for shop furniture.
Just use your brain. If it is going to be your sharpening station... use materials that won't fall apart when they get wet.
If you are going to move something around a million times, use something that can survive a few bumps.
If it hangs on the wall, use whatever you want to.
I have a 16 foot table that I store limber in and my SCMS on top of. The whole thing is made of 2x4's, OSB and hardboard... and it stores about 600 BF of lumber and cost less than $100 to make.
My work bench is maple, my tool/storage bench has a pine frame and MDF surface.
Well, one thing to remember here is that temperature and humidity control are very modern aspects of daily living. Even 50 years ago, air conditioners weren't universal.
And there is a huge amount of surviving furniture, cabinets, and other wooden items that were made of solid wood well before the advent of humidity control. So long as correct design principles are followed that allow for wood movement across the grain, having the objects remain functional through humidity and temperature extremes is usually no problem.
In my opinion, the same cannot be said of MDF and OSB. I'm aware that there have been huge inprovements to the water resistance of OSB glues over the last 20 years, but I've seen enough disasters where MDF and OSB were exposed to liquid water that I wouldn't use them. They're also fairly weak, which is a consideration for tool storage cabinets that might have a high weight load in drawers.
Regarding what hardwood to use, most domestic species are pretty close in stability, so I select what I want to use based on price, availability and appearance. In the South, that generally means poplar for painted or darkly stained pieces, and "utility maple" or red oak for items that are to be lightly stained or finished clear. Both are quite inexpensive - red oak is generally available for less than $4 a board foot when bought from a lumber yard (not a home center), and utility maple for about $5. And those are convenience retail prices - they're often considerably cheaper when purchased in larger quantities and wholesale yards.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled