Which is cheaper?

[crokett]

I will be building a kitchen table this fall, or at least the legs and apron for an existing top. The legs need to match an existing island so will be roughly 3x3 square and paint grade. I can either use douglas fir 4x4s or make a box column. I need 4 posts roughly 3' high, so figure 12' total. The poplar will run about 60 bucks - the same as the price for clear pine at the big box store plus a couple more bucks for the aprons. Can I get the douglas fir posts cheaper? They'd be a whole lot less work.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I found the best price at big box stores on 4 x 4 Douglas Fir (Lowes was a tad cheaper in this case). Had to dig to find half nice boards.

You said paint grade, so I assume you are painting. If that is the case why not laminate cheaper pine material and square up with jointer and TS?

[crokett]

Jeffrey, for the same price as pine at the big box I can get poplar from a woodworking place near me. So I will use poplar unless the fir is signifigantly more expensive. I will call a couple lumber places tomorrow or next week. Just hoped somebody had quick answer. Also don't have a jointer.

[JimD]

If you are going to paint them, you could even use plywood. The miter joints are a bit tricky but the BT3100 should handle them.