Main > Woodworking
Advice on which type of wood to use?
Hockeyboy:
Looking to build a cabinet from a template and don't want to use MDF - I want to use a furniture-grade wood, or at least something that doesn't scream POS.
A woodworking friend at work suggested birch plywood or possibly maple plywood. I can't seem to find maple plywood (I can find the 1/8" panels) at the local home builder but I can find the birch plywood. The thing is, when I stain this, I want it to have more of a golden honey look so I am leaning more towards the maple. Should I look around more at possibly a wood specialty shop or just get regular plywood and glue the maple panels to the regular plywood? The control panel is also a consideration -- do I make it out of the same type of wood or do I go with more of a black box?
Advice? Opinions?
acevedor2:
Are you painting ,staining, or paneling the cab? I am assuming you are staining because if you are painting or laminatng, then it would be a waste of time AND money to use the Birch. They carry Birch here at the local Home Cheapo.
ScottS:
I, personally, think that wood-grain cabinets look like crap. All of the arcade games I played in my youth were in painted cabinets. My cabinet will be made from MDO (medium-density overlay) and painted black.
If you want your cabinet to look like wood, you need to find a real lumber yard. Home Depot and Lowe's are not your friend! If you can't find a shop with a decent selection of plywood, call a custom cabinet builder in your area and ask where they'd go to get cabinet-grade maple, walnut, or mahogany plywood. The place I buy from has everything under the sun: maple, walnut, mahogany, cherry, red oak, white oak, ash, bamboo, alder, and several dozen others. Be prepared for sticker shock, however: in my area furniture-grade hardwood plywood starts at $80 sheet for 3/4" and goes up to $120+/sheet! If you're going to spend that kind of money, make sure you buy the right stuff! For a cabinet, I'd suggest an A4 grade and veneer that's been plain-sliced (a.k.a. plain-sawn) rather than rotary cut.
Having worked with maple a bit, I'll say that I find it fairly difficult to color. Maple has very tight pores, which means that the stains you're likely to buy at Home Depot or Lowe's don't work as well. Dyes (e.g. TransTint) are supposed to be the way to go... but I've never had much luck with them. Maybe I just haven't spent enough time experimenting with them. The best thing I've come up with is to use an oil-based varnish or oil-based polyurethane. The oil does lend an amber hue to the wood... but it's still not quite the honey maple color I want. Of course that was a couple of years ago. Now that I have quite a bit more finishing experience under my belt, I should probably give maple another go...
clockwork:
This is the cabinet that has inspired me: http://netbox.home.mindspring.com/arcade/
He says he used oak plywood and solid oak. I don't know how expensive that is, but I love the look. It looks like it belongs in a living room, which is where mine will be. :)
Hockeyboy:
I do NOT want to paint or laminate this cabinet. What I want to do is build one from cabinet-grade wood, most likely a several-ply maple or birch. I could go with oak, but I'd want a light/honey oak because I'd like the cabinet to be stained (or simply varnished/lacquered) with a golden honey color.
There is a wood specialty store here in town - they have lots of stuff in stock or can get it quite easily on special order at no extra cost. I guess what I should have asked before is what your thoughts are going on wood if I'm here in Colorado where the humidity level can easily drop into single digits, especially in winter.
I do like the idea of using an oil-based stain on some maple, plus it would have the added benefit of adding moisture to the cabinet and helping to preserve the wood. Do I have to continue to add oil to keep the wood from drying/splitting/cracking though - I don't think I've used too much oil-based stain before, mostly regular stain.
I went to that site and looked - I do like that color and style of wood. I guess I'm looking for more opinions or someone to convince me that going with an oak plywood or maple plywood would be okay.