Question about pine

[Karl Card]

Hope this is the right area for this question, if not let me know.

Anyway I am looking at buying about 200 to 300 board ft of wood. I am looking at sassafrass that I can get, kiln dried for 1.00 a board foot. I personally like the looks of sassafrass but am wondering how it is to work with in building items like shelving and smaller tables. I am also wanting to look at some pine but I have to admit that I do not know my pines at all. I see white pine, southern pine, yellow pine and etc. What is the best pine to work with? Believe me id love to have cherry and walnut but my wallet says no way.

Gratefull for any information.

[Dave Gaul]

Karl, I know nothing about working sassafrass, but I'll share what I know about pine. White pine is very light, it is super easy to work, almost too easy, but it also take a ding/dent/scratch easily. I recently made LOML a fish tank stand out of white pine, it is plently strong due to good joinery, but it will dent & scratch easily. Many people love to work with Southern Yellow Pine (SYP), it is fairly dense and strong for pine. I have used SYP a little and it works great. I've also worked with Hemlock, which I liked very much for the cost and workability. One of the biggest downsides to pine is the amount of pitch it produces which sticks to your blades like glue!

If you like the look of the sassafrass, I say buy a small amount and give it a try and see what happens!

[David Weaver]

Check Sassafrass on a wood toxicity chart. I don't know what the exposure levels are for relative experience, but the warning is that it is linked to nasopharyngeal cancer. Probably a lot more woods than are known are at different levels, but the fact that it's been linked already isn't a great sign.

White pine will be too soft for tables. I have seen commercial furniture made out of it, it's stained to death to kind of hide what it is, but it's really soft. SYP is a lot stronger, but it's very utility looking. Like dave says, none of them are a real prize to work with due to their denting and pitch. Every time I've made something out of white pine or radiata pine, it's dented before I even get finished with it - you have to be really religious about not laying the piece down on any dust, etc.

$1 a board foot is hard to compete with, but maybe there is a possibility that you might be able to find soft maple for an acceptable cost. It has a nice uniform look and works a lot more like cherry or a little harder, but it's not hard enough to be unpleasant to work with. It would be nicer for tables.

[scott spencer]

I've used sassafras once, and remember it having a pleasant smell and being nice to work with. It's light, stable, not as strong as some woods, and is a bit prone to splitting, but isn't particularly difficult to cut, and didn't seem to have any notable issues for wwing. The price is right.

[Karl Card]

Thanks for the info guys. Very good point on the toxicity chart. I am going to get one and hang it in either my office or shop. Most wood I buy is either a board or two of imported stuff from Africa. I have about 100 bdft of good smelling cedar but am wanting to get a descent amount of other woods on hand for different projects. I am finding that one or two boards of nice stuff just does not go along way...

[greg Forster]

Sassafrass is also used as a substitute for American Chestnut - similar grain pattern

[Thomas Bank]

Sassafrass is also used as a substitute for American Chestnut - similar grain pattern

Yep! Love the grain!

I just picked up about 450 b.f. of rough cut, air dried sassafrass for 45¢ a b.f. Couldn't pass it up.

Here is a wood toxicity chart (http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/) that I found in the past. They do list sassafras as "sensitizer, nausea, respiratory, direct toxin, NPC (rare)," but list the potency as "one star" on their chart. For reference, oak is listed as "irritant, sensitizer, asthma, NPC (rare)" with two stars.

He also has more information on wood dust safety (http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-dust-safety/) here. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a whole lot of details. Some further searching lists sassafras oil as a liver toxin and a possible source of liver cancer.

[Mike Wilkins]

You may also want to consider Poplar for furniture construction. It is usually reasonable in cost, considered a hardwood, takes paint really well & takes stain really well also to resemble other woods. Pine is not hard wo work, but as other have stated, there are things to look out for. Use a gel stain to get the color you want; there are also some furniture finishing books that give hints and tips on working with pine.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Pine is a soft wood, my friend glued up a top and it expanded so much from the environment it practically grew 1/4" overnight.

So his solution was to resaw pine slats to laminate to an MDF substrate, the dimensions of the table top stayed uniform however after years the thin pine slats began to split.

I guess I learned that pine has a lot of movement. At least the yellow pine from home depot. :)