Eastern white premium pine vs southern yellow pine for a TV table?

[dennis thompson]

I am building a table for my TV in the basement. I plan to use pine, would eastern premium white pine or southern yellow pine be better, they are both the same price & I plan to stain them.
Thanks

[lowell holmes]

syp is a structural grade wood and is normally milled in construction sizes. It will have knots and defects in it.

White pine is normally cleaner and straighter grain. I would assume the premium designation means the wood will be straighter and cleaner in appearance.

To stain either specie, a spit coat of shellac applied prior to the stain will help prevent splotchy appearance.

Google two items, "Pumpkin Pine recipe" and "staining white pine"

My choice would be the white pine.

[Jim Becker]

I would also choose the white pine...

Avoid using a "stain" however...use dye. Typical pigment stains look horrible on woods like pine...very muddy.

[George Bokros]

White pine X3

[Jay Jolliffe]

White pine is softer than syp....

[Tony Joyce]

"syp is a structural grade wood and is normally milled in construction sizes. It will have knots and defects in it."

Here on the east coast SYPine is also cut in cabinet and furniture grades(C&Btr, D&Btr) which are basically clear. It is commonly used for interior/exterior trim, but is also used for furniture.

The white pine is a little easier to work, but can splotch when staining.

SYPine is cut to dimensional sizes, while white pine is random W/L

Tony

[lowell holmes]

+1 for the dye.

[C Scott McDonald]

Test/Practice on some cuts off for sure. Make sure to sand the cut offs the same so it takes the stain the same as the piece. Might want to consider a conditioner of some sorts so it doesn't get super blotchy.

[bill tindall]

Neither. Use poplar or soft maple for staining. Either will stain more predictably. The early wood/late wood striping on yellow pine will result in a striped stain result. White pine makes vulnerable furniture. It is too soft in my opinion. It is so soft that it is harder to work and not ding up doing so.

[Lee Schierer]

Years ago, I made two table lamps and a floor lamp out of white pine. You can see one of the lamps in this photo.
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It was very easy to work. I stained the pieces with a walnut stain that turned out okay. However, after several years I noticed that there were numerous dings from normal use due to the softness of the wood. I also noted that I had a raised grain effect in the finish due to seasonal moisture changes.

I made this pantry cabinet for my son and his wife out of curly white pine and so far (10 years) it has held up well to daily use. (Note, the blotchiness in the photo is due to the curly wood, not blotchy staining)
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So you can use pine for furniture and stain it. However, I would not recommend white pine for use as a table top.

[Danny Hamsley]

Beautiful pantry, Lee.

SYP has such a strong grain. The grain is white pine is not as strong. It depends on the look that you want. The SYP will definitely be harder and more durable as has been pointed out.

[dennis thompson]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go with the white pine. While it will be a table it wouldn't be subject to a lot of abuse as we'll just put the TV on it.

[Jerry Olexa]

Of two, white pine a better choice..esp for staining.

[Jacob Reverb]

Never had any trouble with Minwax oil based stains on WP here...