I’ve been approached by a customer to make some furniture and furnishings from pine in kind of a southwest style (to yet be determined what that means to the customer). I’ve done most of my furniture building with quality hardwoods so I have some questions if
you’d care to comment.
If you’ve done both hardwood and softwood furniture building, are there any key differences you’d like to share with me?
Do you favor the softer fir/pine or the harder southern yellow pine? Major differences?
Is there significant resin build up on your tools working with softwoods?
How do you deal with the fact that the softwood are not dried to the extent that hardwood typically are?
Where do you get your furniture grade softwoods?
Any help would be appreciated – thanks!
Les
Replies
As a general matter softwood is fun to work, especially with hand tools.
It does get dinged up more easily.
Nice clear white pine of all sizes is generally available in my area (MD). It's dry and not terribly resinous.
In my opinion, eastern white pine (or fir/hemlock) is not suitable for building fine furniture except in certain cases - such as a secondary wood (drawer bottoms) or a primary wood in a piece that doesn't bear a lot of weight, like a wall cabinet. That said, there are few woods easier to work with hand tools so long as they're razor sharp.
The harder pines can be used for furniture, though they're not as durable as hardwoods in high-wear applications like table tops. The hard pines (like Southern Yellow) are generally fairly easy to work with power tools, not so easy with hand tools. The problem with hand tool work is the large change in hardness between the late wood (the dark stripes) and the early wood.
In my experience Southern yellow pine will leave a good deal of resin build-up on saw blades, planer/jointer knives and router bits. The resin is very soluble in laquer thinner, so clean up, while a pain, is easy.
If you use SYP, be aware that most of it is not very dry compared to common cabinet woods, so you may need to stack/sticker it for a while before using it. Finishing can be a challenge - application of a pigment stain or a dye to the bare wood can cause a really ugly, blotchy mess, so I favor tinted coats of a clear finish.
If I had a choice, I would use old-growth douglass fir or redwood if you can get it. Some very nice "cowboy" furniture has been built out of those materials.
I rarely work with soft woods except cedar.. Just stating this up front.
Your statement "I've been approached by a customer to make some furniture and furnishings from pine in kind of a southwest style"
Is your client IN the Southwest? If so use local woods!
If someplace else, and they have money, invite them to a trip to your local wood supplier.. For a 'look' at what they have available!
Does this make sense? You cannot fool local southwest folks with Northern pine!
EDIT: Get some local pine AND try to stain an inexpensive board... Show the Client what you came up with!
Edited 10/6/2008 9:35 pm by WillGeorge
The pine will take a stain different than the more common hardwoods like oak or birch that are frequently used. You may need to experiment with some pre-stain sealers or it may be hard to control and be blotchy or too dark.
Just a thought,
Screename56
Les,
Softwoods are easier to handplane but harder to cut the end grain cleanly.
The harder pines are still soft compared to most softwoods. They are harder (duh) but still easy to plane. If hard and soft pine are your two choices, all else being equal, go for the harder stuff.
Pines do tend to gum up blades more. Stay on top of it and your blades will stay sharp longer. While ripping Douglas fir for my bench, I cleaned my blade daily. It could have stood for more frequent cleaning too when I gave it a workout.
I never work woods without first acclimatising them to my shop's relative humidity. Let them mellow out in your shop for a few weeks (or longer). Make sure you sticker them to promote airflow.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Thanks for all the help - it will definitely shorten the learning curve.
Les
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