Understanding the Key

Elements of Woodworking:

Learning the Basics of Lumber

Woodworking can be considered a fun and a learning experience. On the onset, if you have the passion to include woodworking as one of your hobbies, you need to learn first about the basic elements of this activity. The number one thing to consider is the lumber to be used. You may have seen people on lumberyards examining pieces of stocks by sighting down every detail of the lumber. What is it that they are looking for? The main question is which wood should be used; the hardwoods or the softwoods.

Hardwoods or Softwoods?

• Hardwoodsare basically the most preferred materials by woodworkers; especially those who are more focused on fine woodworking projects like furniture. But the term ‘hardwood’ can sometimes be deceiving because it has nothing to do with the hardness of materials but the species of the tree from which the lumber is harvested.

• Hardwoods actually come from those broad-leaved, deciduous trees that are harvested from evergreens. Generally, the species from hardwood are harder than softwoods, though there are some exceptions like balsa wood; which is very soft and very light and yet still considered as a hardwood. Most species from hardwood lose their leaves during winter and they are generally offered in wider variety of textures and colors, compared with softwoods.

Which Harwood should you choose?

• When you are preparing to build a woodworking project, the choice of the hardwood material you will be using can be quite a confusing question. To keep things easier, start by determining what type of finish you will want for your project. Are you going to use stain or do you just want to paint it?

• If you prefer to finish your woodworking project with paint, do not waste your money on woods that are known for their beauty and color when stained. Avoid colored species like oak, walnut, maple, or mahogany. The perfect choice would be poplar.

• If you want to clear-coat or stain your project, you have a number of choices to consider. Since your local manufacturer can only carry a couple of hardwood species, take time in finding the right supplier. They can help you in determining how each species will appear once done.

• In addition to the type of finish that you want for your woodworking projects, the location of the final installation is also something to consider, especially when you choose hardwood. While it will not have that much bearing on projects to be used indoors, you might still want to go for those species that are moisture resistant; like teak and cypress.

Hardwoods can really add something to your woodworking projects, provided that you know which variety is best. Should you have any inquiries about this, the best thing to do is to visit your woodworking suppliers because they are willing and able to help you with your decisions.

What are Softwoods?

• Softwoodsactually refer to a group of different tree species from which the woods are harvested. Generally, softwoods come from evergreen or coniferous trees, where hardwoods come from leafy and deciduous trees. This is quite confusing since the softest woods available, the balsa wood, is considered soft and lightweight, but still considered a hardwood.

• Softwoods forests are found mostly in the northern hemisphere. The most is in North America and Canada, though there are also concentrations in the southeastern part of the United States. These forests are fast growing and can be cultivated easily, and produce straight trunks that make both processing and harvesting less expensive. Conifers can also be used to manufacture paper and fiberboard.

Typical Softwood Finish

• SPF- SPF is actually an acronym that stands for spruce, pine, and fir. Lumbers that are marked with the SPC could be any of the three species mentioned. They are mostly light in color and their growth rings are widely spaced.

• Yellow Pine- As the name implies, yellow pines have a lot of yellow colors that can affect your choices of finish if you prefer to make us of this type of materials.

When do you use softwoods?

• Whichever types of woods you prefer to use in your woodworking projects, bear in mind that most of the softwoods are generally developed for construction uses, and not for making pieces of furniture. Consider always that softwoods need to be acclimated with the environment to which the finished project will reside before you actually start to do your woodworking projects. This is to avoid excessive movements once your projects are done.

• Softwoods can also be great choices for making utilitarian projects like cabinets, painted objects, doghouses, and a whole lot more. But it should be avoided when you want to finish them with stains.

Heartwood vs. Sapwood

• Understanding the difference between the two, you must first learn a little bit about how a tree grows. When you crosscut the trunk of a matured hardwood tree, then remove the bark as well as the outer cambium layer; you can clearly notice two distinctive sections of the trunk.

• The outer and the lighter colored wood is called the sapwood. This is the part of the tree that is considered as the working part. The sap and water will pass through the sapwoods similar with how blood pass through your arteries, your veins, and your capillaries. Though this part of the tree is very vital when the tree is still living, this does not make for the best stocks for your woodworking projects. This wood contains lots of moisture and can considerably shrink when dried. Furthermore, they are more susceptible and prone to fungus.

• The inner and the darker section of the trunk is call the heartwood. This is form from retired, old sapwood, and eventually becomes the strong spine of the tree itself. This is mostly preferred for woodworking, because this is less prone to fungus and does not contain moisture as much as the sapwood does. Heartwood shrinks less when they are dried. A lot of woodworkers remove the sapwood and prefer to use the heartwood instead, for their furniture projects.

• Once some of the sapwood of the tree turns into heartwood, the sap then stops to flow through the part of the wood and then essentially dies. As part of the conversion process, the pores then start to plug up with the organic matter that causes the walls of the cell to change in color because of the presence of chemicals that are called extractives. The extractives are the one that are responsible for the character and colors that are found in heartwoods.

Sapwoods: Should you discard them?

• Just because you might end up with a lot of excess sapwoods after you trim them from the hardwood during your furniture projects, doesn’t necessarily mean that the sapwoods are junk. Though the sapwoods can never be as strong, or as beautiful and rich with the heartwood, it still has a lot of practical and beneficial uses. You can use them in projects where little movements will not cause problems and they can be sealed thoroughly with either polyurethane or paint when done. Just make sure that the sapwood is dried thoroughly.

Wood Defects

Having the best types of woods do not guarantee you that they are free from wood defects. Since they are natural products, they are more likely susceptible to certain wood defects that may become eventually harmful to your woodworking projects. Here is a list of some of the most common wood defects, together with tips on how you can deal with them.

• Blue Stain- This is a bluish gray discoloration on the surface of the wood. This is mostly found in wood like Holly, Pine, and Sycamore. When you encounter this, you can just cut off the part of the wood that has this defect and place it out of sight, or conceal them with a dark stain instead.

• Bows- These are curves that are along the face of the boards and they usually run from both end to end. You can try cutting them into smaller pieces, even out on a jointer or nails, if ever you have this defect.

• Checks or Splits- These are breaks found at the end of the board, and they run along the grain. They are usually restricted at the end of the board. The best way to solve this is just to simply cut off the part that is damaged.

• Crooks- They are warping along the edges of one end to another. They are most commonly seen on woods that were cut from the center of the tree, near the pith. You can use table saws or jointers like a special jig to cut away the spots that are affected.

• Cups-These are also warping along the faces of the boards from edge to edge. They are most common on plain-sawn lumber. To handle this, allow the board to dry first at the same moisture content under the pressure, then rip them into smaller pieces by using a table saw, before carefully removing the high spots.

• Ring Check- This is a break in the wood that are found along the annual growth rings. They have to be cut around, placed out, or better yet glued down.

• Tight Knot- This is a know that is tightly integrated with its surrounding wood. This can be removed mostly for appearance purposes. Some known ones are the Knotty pines, highly priced for their features.

• Twists- These are warping in lumbers when the ends twist on two opposite directions. They can be cut into relatively shorter boards. The high spots can also be removed with the use of a jointer.

• Wormholes- These ones are basically those small holes you can find on the wood. Cut around the holes and use them for decorative purposes. Just make sure that the insects inside the holes are dead.

What are reaction woods?

• They are woods that are abnormally formed in a leaning tree. In softwood trees, these woods are formed on the lower side of the lean and are called compression wood.

• Compression woods are often very dense, very hard and very brittle. In hardwood trees, reaction woods form on the upper side of the lean and are called tension woods.

• Wolly surfaces as well as excessive longitudinal shrinkage are the most common symptoms of tension wood.

Why should reaction woods be avoided?

• The dense hardwood is likely to accept an equal stain, when compared with the parts of your project.

• They are more prone to fail under a great load and can crack and often split easily when screwed or nailed.

• Shaping and carving can be difficult as well, and dimensional changes with erratic moisture levels are most likely to happen.

The most common problem is how to identify reaction woods. Surprisingly, even the most skilled woodworkers can have a hard time picking out reaction woods. Here are some hints on how to identify a board that may contain a reaction wood.

• A sweep in the log or the crookedness of the board is a sign of a reaction wood.

• Small fuzzy fibers on surfaced hardwood can also be a sign of reaction wood.

• Cracks and splits that pull away from the boards are also indications of reaction woods.

Choosing the right type of wood and lumber is the most important thing to consider for your woodworking projects. It is but a necessity for you then to learn more and read more about them. After all, the best way to achieve the best woodworking projects starts from the types of woods that you prefer.