I found a listing for a good quantity of Douglas Fir locally on craigslist. It’s a reputable lumberyard who says they have trouble selling the weathered stuff to contractors. I’ve seen it, and it seems to be in decent shape – not a lot of splitting or crowns. My use for it would be to plane it and produce relatively simple furniture, casework and shelving in our house. Up until now I’ve been using old pine from joists and rafters, and been happy.
My question – is weathered Doug Fir a generally attractive wood once planed and stained? Or is it best used only for structural situations and hidden? Here’s the original ad:
————————–
Spring Cleaning!!
Bundles of weathered lumber. Our loss is your gain!
Bundle #1 7-2×6-24′ douglas fir
10-2×12-22′ douglas fir
8-2×10 24′ douglas fir $325
Bundle#2 15-2×12 20′ douglas fir
6-2×8 22′ douglas fir $295
Thanks for any tips.
My kingdom for more tools
Replies
Certainly is cheap enough, about 35 cents a bf (I think bundle #1 is a little better of a deal, unless you need more 12" stuff) I'm assuming this long of lengths would have to be #1?
I don't have much experience with doug fir, we don't see much of it maine. (nor 24' lumber for that matter, anything over 16' is hard to find.) But I've put in some fir doors that were beautiful. As long as the lumber looks decent any graying would probably be mostly on the surface and would plane off easily.
I see you are from Central IL.
Just my opinion, by all means buy the fir but save it for structural uses.
DW and self grew up in Spfld and Decatur, but have lived in Seattle area for over 40 years and have some forest land near St. Helens with many MBF of standing fir.
That said, having come from your area, and being ultra familiar with D. Fir (and alder) here, cannot conceive of your wanting to make furniture out of D.Fir vs. Central IL local walnut, oak, maple, cherry, pear, or even ash or hickory. There should still be a local sawmill around where you could get rough green oak (even red better) or walnut for the price of the retail fir? I've shipped s2s walnut from Spfld to here for furniture even though I virtually have an unlimited supply of 'free' clear fir.
You did not mention another local tree of the northwest, which is the junk tree alder, a weed, good, IMO, for only pulp and firewood or smoking fish, and have been flaberghasted to first see alder touted for cabinets !
IMO, Your time and effort spent to produce a fine piece of furniture should use something more appealing than fir. If you have a need to use something other than local, try cocobolo, purplewood, apitong or teak.
The fir should clean up to 4/4 or better in a planer and amber nicely with age but structural wood doesn't have nearly the same grain as nice CVG fir.
I've used a lot of clear vertical grain Fir around my house and it looks great but I have never been happy with the knots and open grain when I've had to use a piece obtained from structural grade wood.
That being said, if that look works for you, the price is pretty good.
If you've been satisfied with old pine from joists and rafters, then the doug fir will probably suit your purposes. Once planed, the color will probably be yellower or more orange than most pine species and the growth rings will be quite apparent.
People who use doug fir for trim or furniture usually spend extra dollars for VG grade. The vertical grain stuff is very stable, usually, and very free of knots. It's expensive because they use only the least knotty logs and there is a lot of waste at the mill, similar to the situation with quarter-sawn oak.
When you guys said 'CVG Fir' (head bowed), you're supposed to bow your head or genuflect. I'm tellin' Jim Blodgett about this gross transgression. Non-believers! Blasphemers!
If it was stickered while weathering it should be OK. If not, watch for rot/mold between pieces.
I've bought lots of rough sawn, weathered DF for various projects. It cleans up nicely with no more than 1/32" planed off, but it was stickered.
Scott.
Just ship that stuff here to Austin. I'd happily use it in it's grey coat and show these Austinites what "real" framing lumber is. I haven't seen a stick of it since I left MI and I sorely miss it.
Blue,
what are they framing with down there?
stephen
They use yellow pine here. I don't know what the studs are though. I think they feed crapola to weeping willow trees. The primed "real wood" trim is too thin for my tastes. It's straight though...because it's all finger jointed.
I really miss the MI lumber.
It is difficult to work with. And the grain is very apparent. But I must admit I do like doug fir.
Will Rogers
Good quality Doug fir is a beautiful wood. I have made a dining table and two chairs from it. The table is 5' dia. and has two 1' leaves. I keep the leaves in a closet when not in use. The table has darkened allot since I made but the leaves have not. Must be the sun that causes the color change. If that wood was anywhere near by I would take it. Jim