How Strong Is Cedar Wood?
Most of us are familiar with cedar wood and its various uses. Perhaps we use aromatic red cedar to build a clothes closet or put a cedar block or a bag of cedar chips in the closet both for its …
Blog Topic: Wood Selection & Properties
How Long Does Cedar Wood Repel Bugs? (Indoors & Outdoors)
Cedar wood is known for its bug-repelling properties, and several varieties are commonly used in woodworking projects where this benefit is desired. Each of these cedar wood types has unique qualities, but they all share the natural ability to repel …
Pros and Cons Of Aspen Wood
We’ve written about aspen wood in a past article when we determined whether aspen was a hardwood or a softwood. It was in that article that we first used the word “dendrologist,” which at that time was a new word for …
Does Cedar Stain Well?
We recently wrote an article about painting cedar wood white. While we wonder why anyone would want to since cedar is a beautiful wood on its own, we had been asked, and so we answered. Everyone walks their own woodworking …
Does Poplar Stain Well?
A while back, we wrote a piece about poplar wood and asked whether poplar is stronger than pine. We will not repeat our answer here, but we did provide some helpful information about poplar in the woodworking shop. That piece …
How Long Does Wet Wood Take To Dry?
It may seem like such an obvious statement that you should only work with dry wood when making furniture. Yet, wood can feel dry to the touch while still being wet inside, and your sense of touch will be affected …
What Does Vinegar Do To Wood?
When I was a coffee drinker, I remember using white vinegar to clean the coffee maker every couple of weeks. It worked well and was the only reason I bought it, as I do not consider it a good vinegar …
Does Pine Stain Well?
While we have moved away somewhat from default staining our woodworking projects, turning instead to wood oils or products like Rubio Monocoat, we still will occasionally use a wood stain as part of finishing the project. Stains come in a …
Can You Stain Mango Wood?
We’re so lucky to have so many different kinds of woods available to us to work within our shop. Supply chains have recovered somewhat from the disarray caused by the COVID pandemic, and lumber yards and specialty wood shops both …
Can You Stain MDF?
Everything today has an acronym, and they have become a part of the English lexicon in everyday use now. You probably use some of them, too, at the least when you are using a messaging app on your phone. LOL, …
Is Maple A Hardwood Or A Softwood?
I know a little bit about maple trees. I live in the mountains of western Massachusetts, the northern Berkshires, and my property is surrounded by a lot of swamp maple, which is a dense wood. One of the trees is …
How To Tell The Direction of Wood Grain
I hate shaving. Fortunately, I do not need to be clean-shaven every day, especially if I am working in the shop or the garden. Still, even shaving 3 days a week is an annoyance. But, when I do shave, I …
Is Cypress Wood a Hardwood Or Softwood?
Cypress is valued for a number of reasons by woodworkers, carpenters, and home DIY enthusiasts for a number of reasons. The trees are slow-growing and can be somewhat expensive because it takes time to accumulate a meaningful amount of cypress …
Southern Yellow Pine Vs. Douglas Fir: A Woodworkers Comparison
Having worked with both Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir, I’ve learned a lot about what makes each of these woods unique from a woodworking perspective. In this article, I will share my experiences with these two types of wood. …
Does Plywood Need To Acclimate?
The human body becomes acclimatized to the environment in which we spend most of our time. We often hear about blood “thickening” in colder climates, and we get used to the colder temperatures; we hear, too, about those in the …
Is Douglas Fir a Hardwood Or A Softwood?
In a previous article, we asked the question of whether something that was hard can also be soft. In this article, we ask in the reverse: can something that is soft also be hard? We’re talking wood here, and we …
Is Elm a Hardwood Or A Softwood?
Deciphering Elm wood’s true nature: is it a hardwood or a softwood? This common question perplexes many woodworkers. Whether you’re selecting materials for a new project or deepening your woodworking knowledge, let’s explore Elm’s unique characteristics together, bridging the gap …
Is Hickory Good For Cutting Boards?
The cutting boards in our kitchen get a lot of work. That’s boards, plural. There’s one for poultry, another for red and white meats, and a third for vegetables. The one thing in common among the three, though, is the …