Picking wood for a bookcase

[Dave Malen]

I've promised SWSBO that I would build her a book case for Mother's day. Little does she know it will probably be finished by next mother's day
I saw an article in FWW No 133 where Phil Lowe builds three book cases. I'm building the one with the ogee feet and dovetails. Anyway It looks like Phil built his out of Mahoghany. The book case I'll build is 6 feet tall and about 45 inches wide. (BTW I'm building two) I want to end up with a brown amber finish, I don't want spend a fortune and I want a species that is easy to finish. Not asking much . I do have spray equipment. So what wood species would you reccomment?

Thanks
Dave

[Jim Becker]

So many choices....what else is in the room the project will live in, what is/are they made of and do you want to match or contrast? I guess I'm saying that more information will be useful for folks to help you out.

Personally...I love cherry...but you knew that!

[Gary Herrmann]

Dave, I'm about 2/3 of the way done with a Mahogany bookcase. Similar dimensions - 67" x 37". If you go to a hardwood store, you may find that Mahogany is cheaper than Cherry - it is here. That said, I've recently discovered a new source - LumberLogs, that I plan to try very soon. Go to woodfinder.com, and you may find someone in your area with good prices.

[Dave Malen]

Jim,Gary,
Thanks for your replies. I would love to make this out of Mahaghany. It is a great wood to work with. However I do want to at least match the color of this piece that I'm posting a pic of. I'll probably go with cherry, but if anyone can think of an acceptable cheaper alternative I'm all ears. If I use cherry, I'm thinking of spraying a pound cut of dewaxed shellac to stop blotching then spray transtint to match color of hutch desk. then spray a few more coats of shellac. Might try targets new waterbased shellac. So what do you think?

Dave

[Jim Becker]

Ya, know, strange as it sounds, that's not much different in color from the armoire I recently made...of poplar colored with a magical mixture of a bunch of different water based dyes. I used the same mixture to "quickly age" the cherry mantle topper, too...which broke my longstanding "rule" of letting cherry be cherry, but that piece would never benefit from more than stray reflections of any UV because of the room. If you visit Simmie over in Lambertville, you could source cherry pretty reasonably if you want to work with it. (cash only) Otherwise, soft maple, alder or poplar will work very well.

BTW, I tried the Target WB shellac product and although it was "OK" when sprayed, I'll not likely buy it again. It just doesn't have the natural color that "real" shellac from flakes does, IMHO. Not a bad product, just not to my liking.

[John Hart]

I may be off, but that picture looks like a combination of pecan and mahogany stains. My first thought was phillippine mahogany would be a good match with it's natural golden brown...Or if you were willing to go with a stained poplar, you could match it perfectly with a couple of stains. (in my most humble opinion)

[Tom Pritchard]

I've promised SWSBO that I would build her a book case for Mother's day. Little does she know it will probably be finished by next mother's day
I saw an article in FWW No 133 where Phil Lowe builds three book cases. I'm building the one with the ogee feet and dovetails. Anyway It looks like Phil built his out of Mahoghany. The book case I'll build is 6 feet tall and about 45 inches wide. (BTW I'm building two) I want to end up with a brown amber finish, I don't want spend a fortune and I want a species that is easy to finish. Not asking much . I do have spray equipment. So what wood species would you reccomment?

Thanks
Dave

Dave, just a thought, you could try using Lyptus. Here is a string that I posted with a picture of the wood, and some comments by people who have used it. I found it at a local Woodcraft store, and it is reasonably priced. Here's the string:

Lyptus string

[Dave Malen]

Jim, John,
Poplar sounds tempting because it's cheap. Nice to know you can cook up a stain to make it look like cherry. I would assume that selecting pieces with no green (is that heart or sapwood?) would be important for a good look. Phillipine mahogany sounds like a good choice too.
Jim,
When you used the WB shellac did you try to warm it up with some transtint honey amber like they advise when using PSL or USL?
Regards
Dave

[Jim Becker]

Dave, the "green" in the poplar heartwood only exists when it's fresh cut. It turns brown as it oxidizes and gets UV exposure. (I'm not talking about the heavy and dark mineral staining that is sometimes found in poplar...and those boards would not be appropriate other than for secondary wood for a natural finish) I never worry about the heartwood when choosing my color, but do test on either sap or "aged" surfaces.

I used the "garnet" variety of the TC WB shellac and did not alter it's color. It was also over a darker dye mixture so changing the color of the shellac product would not have materially affected the final result. IMHO, but I could be wrong.

[Dave Malen]

Thanks to everybody who responded,
This is a great forum. So many helpful hands. I have a nice poplar board sitting in my basement that I'm going to experiment with. Let you know how it turns out (with pics of course)

Dave