Beginner woodworker. Which wood to use

Bicky

Hello,
I am interested in doing some woodwork in my spare time. I have access to a jigsaw, drill and a range of hand tools.
The question i have is relating to which type of wood to use as a beginner. I asked in the two builders providers in my town and all they had was white deal. I previously made some test pieces with white deal and it was obviously very soft and warped badly over time.
I know from reading on this site that McMahons builders providers in Portarlington offer a range of differrent woods but i am not sure what i am looking for.
I do not want to build anything special just yet, mostly useless boxes until i get the hang of it. I do not mind spending money but do not want to waste good wood on useless projects.
Is red deal what i am looking for?
Thanks,
jp

jack of all

Hi jp, for someone starting out I think it's best to stick to using pine (white deal), MDF and/ or plywood until you've reached a certain level of competence. Hardwoods are expensive and usually sold rough sawn (unplaned). Using inexpensive pine allows you to learn and master the basic principles of layout, marking out, cutting and making joints etc. Ironically working with pine is a better test of your tool edge's sharpness! Try making a floor standing book case out of something like 9x1 pine PAO (planed all over or planed all round), using housing joints (trenches) for the shelves. Red deal is superior to white deal but I don't think the better workability of this will justify the additional expense for a beginner. MDF and plywood are also great to work with and give great scope for making all types of pieces with less waste of material, just beware of the fine dust when working with MDf in particular.

SpitfireIV

jack of all wrote: »

Hi jp, for someone starting out I think it's best to stick to using pine (white deal), MDF and/ or plywood until you've reached a certain level of competence. Hardwoods are expensive and usually sold rough sawn (unplaned). Using inexpensive pine allows you to learn and master the basic principles of layout, marking out, cutting and making joints etc. Ironically working with pine is a better test of your tool edge's sharpness! Try making a floor standing book case out of something like 9x1 pine PAO (planed all over or planed all round), using housing joints (trenches) for the shelves. Red deal is superior to white deal but I don't think the better workability of this will justify the additional expense for a beginner. MDF and plywood are also great to work with and give great scope for making all types of pieces with less waste of material, just beware of the fine dust when working with MDf in particular.

Exactly, and if you think about it, its pine that they use in schools for teaching students basic woodwork skills (joints etc) and simple starter projects. To be honest I didnt really start using hardwood until a year or more back. When you start using hardwood you need a fair bit of equipment, with softwood you'll manage with a limited amount of tools.

MathsManiac

I'm not an expert by any means, so let the others contradict me if necessary!

I'm not far off being a beginner, and I often found it frustrating to have to cope with "cupping" in white or red deal. For an easier life when you're getting started, I think laminated pineboard is good. It's a bit dearer than just buying deal, but it it stays flat. You'll generally get it in the like of Woodies as well as in a proper builders' suppliers.

SpitfireIV

MathsManiac wrote: »

I'm not an expert by any means, so let the others contradict me if necessary!

I'm not far off being a beginner, and I often found it frustrating to have to cope with "cupping" in white or red deal. For an easier life when you're getting started, I think laminated pineboard is good. It's a bit dearer than just buying deal, but it it stays flat. You'll generally get it in the like of Woodies as well as in a proper builders' suppliers.

Actually, theres something you raised there, but, if at all possible avoid Woodies or any of those other large DIY stores like the plauge if you have to get timber!! I know they sell it in shorter lenghts/convinient sized boards but you'll pay through the nose for it!! If you know of any half decent timber supplier/yard that have a workshop on site they will more than likely have half, quarter or sheet off cuts that they'd let get for a few bob.

Bicky

Thanks for the replies.
I will get three or four lengths of 7" by 15' lengths of white deal from the local builders providers. I just plan on making a few boxes until i get the hang of things like the mortice and gluing up.
A length of this white deal is 9.50. Anyone have a rough idea of how much a similar length of red deal would cost?

SpitfireIV

Bicky wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
I will get three or four lengths of 7" by 15' lengths of white deal from the local builders providers. I just plan on making a few boxes until i get the hang of things like the mortice and gluing up.
A length of this white deal is 9.50. Anyone have a rough idea of how much a similar length of red deal would cost?

If you're making boxes then the perfect joint is a dovetail! That'll test your woodwork skills and get you right in at the deep end! Honesty though, if you take your time, mark out the joints correctly then there's no reason why you shouldnt be able to cut them and have a nice snug joint.

Bicky

That is the plan, however dovetails look quite difficult.
I have spent a lot of time watching the wood whisperer and similar videos. They make it look so easy
I am off work on Thursday and plan to get going then.

jack of all

The laminated pine board is useful but I've only ever seen it in 15mm (or thereabouts) thicknesses; this can be a limitation. +100 for advice on staying away from the "sheds" when buying timber. I've only ever done it once (I swear, when I was stuck for someting on a bank holiday weekend). I nearly wept when I paid more than a fiver for a length of 3x 1 PAO. I moaned about it for a few days, god help my poor wife! Good luck with the work on Thursday, but most of all ENJOY!

Fingalian

Hi Bicky,
During the boom years I had a somewhat symbiotic relationship with a kitchen cabinet maker:- he needed to get rid of his offcuts and had a skip full of them taken away every week.So I used to make more room in the skip for him by removing the bits of cherry and walnut and other choice exotics.Got loads for nice little boxes!Keep your eyes open, the amount of good wood that gets thrown out is shameful.

Hint: floods = floors getting ripped up, some great stuff going into skips.

Bicky

Fingalian wrote: »

Hi Bicky,
Hint: floods = floors getting ripped up, some great stuff going into skips.

I would need a planer/jointer for that Or as it seems these machines are the least one needs.
So today was my first day of woodwork. I drove to mcmahons builders providers and was surprised(in my naivety) to find that the only PAO boards available were white deal and red deal in 1"x4". I splashed out on a 14' length of the red deal and went home to start hacking away.
I learned a lot, especially that it looks a lot easier when watching it on you youtube
I have decided that my first project will be to build a workbench. The workmate i have just wont cut it.
I did not experiment too much, mostly i tried to get a feel for the tools and how they worked. I attempted a few mortice joints and they came out ok for a first attempt. I realised that the trick to clean joints is in the marking out. With this in mind my next purchase will include a mortice marking gauge, a better square and a marking knife(or maybe this joiners awl)
All said i had an enjoyable first day at it. I suffered one small hiccup. I had my largest chisel lying on the edge of the workmate when it slipped. It landed right on the chord of the jigsaw.(murphys law) There was a flash and the tripswitch went. The chord was completely severed and i had to take the jigsaw apart and rewire it, taking a good two feet off the chord in the process. The chisel is also fecked now, with a massive chip missing from it.
Did i say a small hiccup? The jigsaw is working fine but i do not know if there has been damage to the motor. I hope not because the thing was brand new.
Long post. I am sure you were all riveted.
Good luck and thanks for the help.

kadman

Looks like your next purchase will be a cheap aldi or lidl grinder, to bring your chisel back up to speed;)

kadman

SpitfireIV

Jaysus, the chisel must have been pretty sharp alright!! :eek: Nothing worse than knocking a chip out of a nice sharp blade, I did it recently with a plane.......:mad:

Pictures are a requirment also, we need more pics on this forum!! . You are correct though, marking out is essential, as my woodwork teacher used to say 'preperation is 90% of the work!', good clean marking out, common sense and some good sharp tools and you'll be fine!

I'm not sure what sort of bench you are thinking of making, but, there is one here I spotted recently, its made of softwood, but, thats not an issue, might be of interst to you:

http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38272