which wood?

[durango dude]

I have choices for my Morris Chair (estimated 50 bf)

Alder - straightlined and sanded ----- $3.50/bf
Red Oak - straightlined and sanded ----- $3.50/bf
White Oak - straightlined and sanded ----- $4.00/bf
Quarter sawn white oak - straightlined and sanded ----- $5.00/bf

Thinking I'll go with the red oak this time. The Quarter sawn looks great - IF you follow the harder plans in fine woodworking (laminating, etc) --- but that also increases the required bf --- as well as the steps involved in making a chair.

[JR]

I've worked with alder. It machines nicely, takes stain well, but the grain is too bland for my taste.

I'm not a fan of red oak. I might use it as flooring, but that's about it.

Obviously, QS white oak is the appropriate stuff for a morris chair. You might think about using the rift sawn white oak and buying some nice qs veneer for the really noticeable places, such as the legs and stretchers.

[cabinetman]

I like Red Oak...it has character. Of course QSRO or QSWO would be interesting too.

.

[BadeMillsap]

I've built a number of fairly large pieces with QSWO, QSRO and Rift sawn white oak ... the red oak seems to me to be a little easier to work BUT IMHO it is much harder to get a quality finish on red oak than white oak.

It could just be my own deficient techniques but the red oak seems to want to raise grain much more than the white.

Just my 2 cents.

[JimD]

I've built two bedroom sets of red oak + a kitchen table and 8 chairs. I've also built a coffee table, several end tables, and an entertainment center out of it. I've used it more than other hardwoods. I do not believe it is hard to finish but I nearly always clear finish hardwood. If I want a different color I switch the hardwood. Oil based poly makes a great clear finish for red oak.

With any oak there is significant variation in the wood. When I can, I pick out really red red oak, especially where it will show. I do not find the whiteish, greyish, color of some oak nearly as attractive. My much more limited experience with white oak is that it tends to this less attractive color. If you plan to stain, then that would not matter. But if you want to clear finish, I think red oak is preferrable. Quarter sawn is mostly an appearance thing but can also be more stable and perhaps stronger. I usually don't bother.

The only things that are a little worse about working with red oak is the tendency to split, it is hard, and sometimes it smells bad. You have to be more careful planning oak because of the tendency to split fairly easily. The hardness is great in the finished project but will make sanding take a bit longer. The smell probably has to do with where the tree grew. I don't remember any hardwood smelling really good (like southern yellow pine does, for instance).

Jim

[Stytooner]

My vote is QSWO.
That is always my choice. I love to see the rays pop when done. Spectacular, no matter what you make with it.

[Black wallnut]

I would use red oak. I like the look and cost. QSWO is a better choice but do you really want to spend that much more?

[durango dude]

Thanks guys ---- I ordered the red oak.

Will be starting the Morris Chair project around March 1 ----

Wish me luck!

[durango dude]

well ---- the guy who sold me the wood came by with 50 bf of 6/4 red oak.

[LCHIEN]

doesn't red oak have a real open pore grain structure?
I think I've seen demos where they cut a thin section of red oak and held it up to the light and you could see the light through it.

No making barrels for wine and spirits with it - would leak like a sieve - gotta use white oak.

Not sure how the porosity affects finishing.

Here this article discusses the porosity character of red oak vs white oak:
http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...rom-white-oak/

[ironhat]

Why 6/4? Isn't that paying for a lot of waste? Or, do the plans call for full 1" material?
On the topic of finishing, has anyone finished red oak using a grain filler? What are your opinons of the appearance? Does it greatly alter the strong effect of the open grain? Is evyone aware that this post is comprised solely of questions?

[durango dude]

Why red oak?

$3.50/bf

Why 6/4? He didn't charge me for the extra wood. It's what he had .

[cwsmith]

Plus 1 on not using RED oak. If you cut a piece of oak down to a smaller size, you can actually blow bubbles through it, with one end stuck in some water.

I think the only way to finish red oak, because it is so porous, is to actually use a filler or some kind. Several years ago when I redid the kitchen at this old house, I took all the wainscote off the walls and resanded it. I was hoping to make it a darker oak and buy matching kitchen cabinets. However applying an oil stain to an example was a disaster... that stain simply bled back for weeks.

I ended up going with just a natural finish of three coats of oil poly and bought the cabinets to match.

CWS