COST-CUTTING CARPENTRY
Furniture built from lumber
I’m always surprised and pleased to see how some ordinary people still like to build furniture from wood just for the fun of it. With so many digital distractions in the world these days, I worry that hands-on creativity might die. The fact that it hasn’t is a good thing, but there’s something even better for us Canadians. We have access to great wood, and one overlooked option is even economically priced. The crazy thing is, not even experienced woodworkers always recognize this particular source of cheap fine furniture wood.
Next time you go to a lumberyard, take a close look at the wide planks meant for framing houses. The piles of 2x8s, 2x10s and 2x12s include some wonderful boards — wood that deserves more than just being hidden inside a house somewhere. The best planks must have come from huge, old trees because the growth rings are tight, the grain is interesting and some 16-foot planks have hardly a knot in them.
I first noticed this kind of amazing lumber in the late 1980s, so I started asking more experienced woodworkers why no one builds fine furniture from framing lumber.
“That kind of wood doesn’t take a nice finish,” some warned. “Framing lumber warps too much,” others would tell me. “It’s ugly,” they’d say, surprised that anyone would even consider using spruce, pine or fir construction lumber for fine woodworking projects. The opinions were always forceful, but never entirely convincing to me.
After decades of experience, I can now say for sure that none of the prejudice against building fine furniture from framing lumber is true. If you select boards carefully, then joint and plane the wood the same way you’d work with any kind of expensive, rough hardwood lumber, you can get terrific results. But still, it’s surprising how people hang on to misconceptions. I was reminded of this fact earlier this year because of a YouTube video I made back in 2010.
When I made this video, my cameraman followed me to a lumberyard where I went through the steps I use to select framing lumber for fine furniture projects. For some reason this video didn’t get a lot of views until earlier this year when it took off. At the moment it’s my most popular video with about 75,000 views per month, but with this traffic came skeptical comments. They reminded me of the words of warning I got when I first began asking experienced woodworkers about using framing lumber for fine furniture. It’s one of those situations when opinion deviates significantly from fact.
So what are the facts? Framing lumber can be given an inviting, glass-smooth finish. It doesn’t twist or warp if it’s chosen well and worked properly. Framing lumber costs a fraction of what furniture-grade hardwoods sell for, too.
If you’d like to try fine woodworking using inexpensive framing lumber, check out a detailed post I wrote on this subject. It addresses all the unfounded fears that YouTube video reminded me of, and includes information and photos on selecting individual boards, dealing with moisture, and milling framing lumber for refined projects.
The post also includes free downloadable plans for a bunkbed project I built using framing lumber that was published in Canadian Home Workshop magazine. See the post for free at www.baileylineroad.com/ cheap-lumber-makes-finefurniture/
Leonard Lee, the founder of Lee Valley Tools, once told me that he figured Canada has the highest concentration of skilled woodworkers in the world. I agree. And the fact that the softwood lumber industry still thinks of itself as a bulk producer of low-value commodity wood means that Canadian woodworkers also have access to some very nice lumber available at attractive prices. All we need is eyes to see it. Steve Maxwell is often covered in sawdust in his workshop on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Sign up for his free Saturday morning newsletter at BaileyLineRoad.com