B&Q FAIL! Dovetail Disaster

[MMUK]

That'll teach me to use softwood from B&Q :roll: but it was a pile of offcuts, I didn't want to spend any money and I hate throwing away useful lengths :roll:

The quality is ****! The grain is so far apart it's a nightmare. All was well when I rough cut and pared out the waste. The problem came when I tried to trim to shape with sharper than sharp chisels (hand pressure only). The stuff just started splitting :evil:

So, anything other than 1st fix use, don't buy softwood from B&Q :mrgreen:

Think I'll have to cut up some old pre-war floorboards to make my shelf frame & gallows brackets (hammer)

 

[AndyT]

Don't worry, you are not the first, and definitely not the only one to find that quick-grown softwood can be much more difficult to work than more expensive woods.

Jeff Gorman's excellent site has some tips on the avoiding the problem of the soft fibres bursting out by making sure that your paring is supported well - here: http://www.amgron.clara.net/whereyoustart27.html

I found I got better results by paring horizontally in an add-on 'Moxon' vice - as shown here - but this was on nicer wood and your mileage may vary!

 

[Lee J]

ahhhh the old Bent & Quirky wood, specially selected from the banana tree. Great for going around corners too!

 

[MMUK]

ahhhh the old Bent & Quirky wood, specially selected from the banana tree. Great for going around corners too!

The biggest problem I have with it is twisting. It looks straight in the banded pack but does the hokey-kokey as soon as it's released. For general studwork it's not a major issue but occasionally I have to de-twist it with some big 20kg weights.

 

[Tony Spear]

It's always amazed me that a jobbing first (or even second) fitter can go into Bee and Poo, Wickes and even Jewson's and buy a load of "softwood", take it to the site, and expect to work with it the very next day!

I like making "rustic" chests and blanket boxes and I've come to the conclusion that my best solution is to buy the widest stuff available, rip out the central few inches, turn over and glue what's left against the curvature and then plane the resultant boards with a jack followed with a smoother.

It might sound dreary and not very economical but it works for me.

Aldel has a partial WIP of one I made on his website

 

[Hivenhoe]

ahhhh the old Bent & Quirky wood, specially selected from the banana tree. Great for going around corners too!

Not just them, most of the BM's sell either banana or from Ken Dodd's back garden!

 

[twothumbs]

Surely it is better to go to a trade merchants in the area. They all sell to non trade if you are such and their turnover is quick, and you may be able to select your pieces. The DIY sheds are best avoided. Best wsihes.

 

[RossJarvis]

Interestingly enough, it seems that people have been complaining about the quality of cheap(ish) pine for hundreds of years, whilst always commenting about how good old pine is. What we need to do is buy very old, cheap, quick grown pine, which someone was complaining about fifty years ago, we'll then find that it has got a lot better over the years!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It would be good to buy pine. What we get now is usually spruce or sometimes fir.