Wood Type for new bed

[leftybass209]

Originally Posted by skorpioskorpio

Rosewood huh? Hey you might as well go for ebony or ivory, real rosewood lumber is virtually non-existant. You'll be hard pressed to find it much thicker than a few sheets of paper or solids much bigger than enough to make a pen. Teak, walnut and mahogony are firewood in comparison.

I Don't know if you are making your remarks about illegal Brazilian rosewood but I just priced indian rosewood at 130-150 a plank, and my father-in-law orders it for furniture projects. I don't have an immense knowledge of wood but that's what I know is available and an option I'd use. It's just an opinion, much like yours and anyone elses.

[skorpioskorpio]

Originally Posted by leftybass209

I Don't know if you are making your remarks about illegal Brazilian rosewood but I just priced indian rosewood at 130-150 a plank, and my father-in-law orders it for furniture projects. I don't have an immense knowledge of wood but that's what I know is available and an option I'd use. It's just an opinion, much like yours and anyone elses.

*East* Indian Rosewood, Brazillian Rosewood, Madigascar Rosewood, Burmese Rosewood, basically all the species that were traditionally considered Rosewood by furniture makers are all endangered or vulnerable and most illegal to export from their native lands. These are the rosewoods that have the desireable deep colors, high contrasting grains that polish up like glass making them highly sought after for centuries for everything from furniture to trinkets. These trees take over a 100 years to mature. Sheesham (Indian Rosewood) on the other hand is fast growing and until recently was grown for firewood, not really the same thing.

[68c10airstream]

I've picked up black locust, it looks like ash and tough as nails. It's also known as ironwood if it was told to me correctly. Black locust is traditionally used for fence posts and exterior projects. After 60-80 years with no finish it is pulled from the ground and maybe 1" of rot and still useable. A fellow i met told me this, when the lumber is green you can nail it, but once dry you need to drill first. I visit my father in southern minnesota and found a dealer that had a complete pallet of ironwood so we selected more than enough to do the bed and a couple of Adirondack chair projects. The real beauty was all of the lumber came from the same tree (flitch) so i can bookmatch the boards during installation. Boards cost around $3.25 a board foot rough sawn 1" thick. Honey locust is a similar species but no where near the durability and didn't care for the pink hue.

[Econman]

Personally, I'd probably try hickory. The grain is amazing.

[davepl]

Oak. I also recommend semi-gloss as gloss really only looks good if you're going to color sand it.

Even the semi-gloss I sanded out to 1000 (or 1500) before final coat. Probably not required but this is the first woodworking I've ever done (well, the bottom side was technically first, that's where I practiced).

[davepl]

While I'm at it, if I had to do it over again I probably would have had my original bed strips chromed. While you can imagine I won't be hauling a ton of debris in there it's still going to be work to maintain stainless.

And I should have tubbed it and put in dualies :-)

Probably $500 bucks at least though. I forget what the stainless ones cost.

Another tip: the ends are where the boards will rot and fail. Don't be shy about putting extra coats on the ends.