material sugestions?

[originalself]

My mame cab is actually gonna be a coffee table replacement. I need to select a wood that looks natural and will fit in with regular furniture. I cant use fiber board because of this and im not sure as to what kind of wood would work best. Im pretty much just gonna sand it, and stain it. So if anyone has a suggestion of wood type and general thickness for the construction i would really aprechiate it.

[MameFan]

Go with OAK laminated MDF.

3/4"  thick sheets (4' x 8') are often on sale for around $33 at the midwest home improvement store called Menards.  If you only have Home Depot/Lowes, I dont think they stock it normally, but you can have them special order it... expect to pay around $40+ at those places

It works just like MDF, but has 2 sides that have been laminated with real oak laminate.   I just built 2 eight foot long bookcases out of this, and it stains and poly's just like real oak (because the last 1/32"  *IS* pure oak.)

I dont think they make 1 sided versions of this (since you don't need oak on the inside) but it's a LOT less expensive than solid wood!

And on the edges that you don't want to use T-Molding on, you can simply iron on 3/4" oak laminate yourself  and trim with a utility knife.  8' of that is only 99 cents most of the time.

The oak is usually red oak, and stains the 100+ shades of stain you can buy.

Alternately, if you don't like the richer/darker color and grain of red oak, you can also get at Menards, Birch laminated MDF for about the same price (+/- $1 a sheet).  It is lighter and whiter, but stains well, a LOT better than solid pine would.

And by the way, the laminate is NOT plastic/vinyl and NOT formica. We're talking about a lathe cut spiral of oak from a tree and then hot glued directly to the side of the MDF at the factory. Once stained and polyed, you CANNOT tell it from a solid piece of wood, other than by weight (MDF is heavy)

Good luck!