whats a good but cheap practise wood?

[Homerjh]

Was using stuff from b &q but as it is pine, works ok but thin cuts mean it is very brittle and even a small drop can crack and break down the grain.

Still practising (though not done anything for a few weeks) but wondering what others use?

 

[martinka]

Plywood? Buy some cheap stuff to practice with and save the Baltic Birch for 'specials'. For the first 12 months just about all I used was B&Q ply and stuff brought by pals from building sites. It's mostly what I still have, apart from some pine shelving that was warped, and I bought one sheet of 6mm BB plywood a couple of months back.

 

[ChrisR]

Most of the time I use (Baltic Birch Ply), this is not cheep, but you don’t get filler in the middle as you do with cheaper ply, very frustrating to spend time cutting an intricate piece/pattern only to have filler drop out and potentially ruin your careful work.

Martin beat me to the draw. :wink:

It is also worth researching your locality to see if there are any commercial timber suppliers around, I have one local to me were I purchase my Baltic ply, they also sell hard/softwood off cuts by the pallet load at fifty pounds per pallet, that may sound pricey. But it consists mainly of oak, utile, ash, elm, etc, (very little pine), in reasonably large pieces, I find it very good value.
I am sure other timber merchants must offer the same service, if they cut to order for their customers, they must have a mass of off cuts to dispose of. (hammer)


Take care.

Chris R.