Hi everyone
I am seeking advice as to what wood to buy.
I am happy about buying plywood, MDF, vaneered plywood, and similar sheet stock.
But for some of my woodwork I plan to build frames which will have vaneered plywood attached on the outside. I am not sure what to build these frames out of.
Typically I will want the wood to be 2"x2" by various lengths or 1"x2" by various length. I want to minimise any shape change due to shrinkage/warpage after I have made the frames.
Do I want to have "kiln dried" wood ?
Should I look for a softwood or a hardwood? Does it matter ?
Is redwood or pine better ?
The sides of the boat have been lined by the builder using oak vaneered plywood. I want to keep this look for some of the doors of built in furniture. I plan to build the doors in shaker style. 4 short 2" wide "planks" of wood being 2 rails and 2 styles. These jointed together to form a square with a piece of vaneered plywood in the middle. Should I make the rails/styles out of real oak ? Or can I use other woods that I stain with "oak varnesh" ?
I have bought some rough sawn treated timber for the first frame I have made for the rear steps. I bought this because I thought that treated timber would be better incase of water getting in through the back hatch. However I now see that this timber really was not the best choice. It was suppossed to be 2"x2" x various lengths but infact each piece is slightly different in size leading to problems lining up. Some pieces have turned out to be very curved. I now see why I want to use "planed all round" wood as it will be much easier to work with.
However I dont know if I should throw away my work to date. It's practially done but I am concerned by the posibility of shrinkage once I heat the boat and also some of the pieces of wood have bright green flecks on them, especially round knots in the wood. I dont know if this is a side-effect of the treatment process or if there is something (lichen?) growing on my wood.
Any and all help gratefully received.
Thanks
Monito