Pine furniture, which pine?

[davin]

Hello all.

Have been asked to quote for some pine furniture, (to be waxed).
I use a lot of unsorted re from my timber supplier.
Which is fine for most things. I just wonder what people use for better quality Pine furniture.
Can you specify furniture grade?
Anyone know what the moisture content of unsorted red is?
Southern Yellow Pine? is it yellow?
Thanks in advance

Davin

 

[Jensmith]

I used Piranah Pine when I made a unit for my bedroom while at collage. It was nice to work with, a bit tougher than regular pine and a bit richer in colour. More expensive but I would say worth it.

 

[woodaxed]

i used Kara Sea pine its from russia and is very good for pine furniture

 

[Aled Dafis]

We buy in 8x4 sheets of edge laminated pine for school projects, it's not the best quality pine, but makes working with it dead simple and quick! It's also pre sanded to about 120grit and is a very consistent 18mm thick

Ours comes from Latham Timber but should be available from any good supplier. We pay about £38 + VAT for a sheet.

Cheers
Aled

 

[RogerBoyle]

I used Piranah Pine when I made a unit for my bedroom while at collage. It was nice to work with, a bit tougher than regular pine and a bit richer in colour. More expensive but I would say worth it.

The same as I Used 8 years ago for a run of 4 meters wardrobes for a client
The Smaller drawer unit that i made for myself out of the leftovers has matured to a lovely warm colour and it only had a 3 coat clear wax finish on it.
I would use it again but most of my work is done with hardwood and board materials these days

Roger

 

[Harbo]

This was made with Piraña Pine about 40yrs ago but I think it is very difficult to obtain nowadays?

 

[heimlaga]

I think our pine is called Norway Pine by timber merchants abroad. The same species is spread all over northern Europe but the furher north you go the better is the quality. In my area it was the wood of choice for good quality furniture.
For high quality work I prefere old pine trees with all branches in a dense crown with a rather flat top. Preferably from a northfacing hillslope or very dense forest. Minimum 5 kilometres from the sea. A straight tree that does not lean and har a rather smooth bark. Minimum 100 years old but the best ones are more than 150 years. Preferably the soil should be morraine or sand and rather dry. The longer you air dry the wood the better it becomes. At least during the first 200 years. For high class work I would air dry the wood for 3-5 years if possible but one year is an absolute minimum for furniture grade pine.

 

[beaver]

Hi Davin
Most run of the mill timber merchants such as travis perkins and the like will almost certainly not grade beyond unsorted, this being one grade up from Vs (fifths) sometimes refered to as standard joinery. But many years ago i worked for J ALSFORD who at the time graded a clear unsorted, ie unsorted without knots or very small and far beteen. could be worth a call as they are in east sussex (Rye Flimwell)

 

[Jacob]

All sorts of rubbish wood was used in the old days. Has to be good enough to make joints , particularly drawer DTs, so you'd select carefully to avoid knots in the ends of drawer sides. But other than that all defects can be concealed with filler, stain, paint, veneer, etc.
It's really instructive to look at old furniture and see how poor the timber can be in pieces which nevertheless are surviving 100 years on and still looking good.
In other words - use any old pine. If you buy a lot you can always sort it and set aside good bits for fronts, and vice versa.
PS Quebec yellow pine was used a lot as it is soft and unsuited for other things, but easy to work, stable once dried and available in wide boards. Yes - is yellowish.

 

[Argus]

Southern Yellow Pine? is it yellow?


Davin

Not particularly.... just a pale pine colour. I don't know where the name comes from. However it is available at a reasonable cost and quality in this country.

It is usually available in longer, clear straight lengths, few knots if any in the good stuff, but has pronounced annual growth rings, which are alternatively hard and soft to the tool, the softer grain tends to be crumbly. The finished article has a stripey appearance. It may not be suitable for fine detail because of this. But it planes and sands well.
I've used it for doors and small bits of furniture. You could, for example make a 'Welsh' dresser or chest quite well from this stuff.

Avoid the packaged firewood from the sheds at all costs.

You may also consider Tulip Wood if you want a clear, pale finish.

.

 

[davin]

Hello all.

Thanks for your responses.Lots of useful advice.
Am awaiting a price on laminate boards (2590x600).
And may well look at southern yellow.
To be fair some of the unsorted red I get is very clean, just dont know the moisture content.
Pirana pine, a customer I had ripped out an eighties staircase recently, all wide pirana pine boards, went up there chimney I'm afraid.
I have a feeling if I walked into my local Alsford timber and asked for some Kara Pine.... need I say more !
Heimlaga, I would love to see some proper Finnish slow grown pine here in the uk. The pine we get here was still growing in the forest 2 weeks ago! Now if you could send me some Birch I would be very happy...
Will let you know what I get.

Now for some machinery ..
Sold my trusty old scheppach ts4010 on the weekend, enabling me to buy this this morning.

Its a 2004 machine but has hardly done any work at all, looks brand new. Getting it tomorrow.

thanks again
Davin

 

[Aled Dafis]

Just for information, there are quite a few pictures of the projects my students made from the edge laminated pine in this thread that I posted about this time last year.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums...technology-work-2011-lots-of-pics-t52121.html

Cheers
Aled

 

[davin]

Thanks for that,
Some inspirational work, no doubt due to an inspirational teacher !
Have catalogued some of the lamps (stolen!) for future use.

Thanks

PS machine arrived ok
Apparently it is a rebadged Robland machine, seems fine ..

Davin

 

[Aled Dafis]

Thanks Davin, last year's group were pretty good, this year's has more of a range of abilities, some are very good and enthusiastic, ranging to the not so good/enthusiastic.

The project briefs that we were given by the exam board this year have driven us away from making wooden boxes (both good and bad, depending on how you look at it) so quite a few have gone down the bendy ply / bagpress route resulting in some really interesting projects. I'll post pics of this year's work in the projects section next week sometime.

Nice to hear that your saw arrived safely, looks to be a lovely bit of kit!

Cheers
Aled