I am making a sofa table and 2 small coffee tables. I ws going to use maple, but am considering using Aspen. Half the price, but I don’t know if it is suitable for this use.
Is it a hardwood? I’m not sure if Aspen will work as well. Does it finish nicely with poly?
Thanks for the help. I’ve not tried to make furniture before, so I’d rather not make them out of Aspen only to find out that I shouldn’t have.
Glenn
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Replies
Aspen is sort of a weed wood, and not a good choice for your project when compared with maple.
Wikipedia says its common uses today are in matchsticks and when shredded, as animal bedding.
Go over to Knots and ask, also. You might get some differing opinions. Those folks over there are really into furniture-making.
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"A stripe is just as real as a goddamn flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Thanks, Gene.I'll do that.Glenn
It looks like pine to me. Used for paneling etc. I have seem some cabinets made from it. My neighbor makes paneling out of it and his house is full of it. Can't imagine it as furniture.
John
Tashler
Yes aspen does not have many of the traits desireable hardwoods have..
Where are you buying your wood from?
Wood has so many differant prices that simply buying from a differant source might get you a more desireable wood..
I learned a long time ago to go as close to the forest as you can to buy wood cheap..
For example If I buy wood at a lumberyard or a big box store like Home Depot Wood is 10 times more expensive than if you buy it from a small to medium sawmill.
For example I buy white oak for 80 cents a bd.ft. I can buy soft maple for 40 cents abd.ft. and hard maple for a little over a dollar a bd.ft.
Just so we are all on the same page an 8 foot long maple board 12 inches wide one inch thick will sell for $72.00 at a lumberyard while that same board will sell for around $8.00 at a sawmill.
The differance in price is all the middle men who handle it..
You're talkin' the hardest local hardwood, maple, to the softest local hardwood, aspen or popple as it's called here.
Some like aspen even for floors in a stocking footed bedroom.
It's nice to work with.
It's very white.
You can use aspen as the background wood where it doesn't show and maple where it shows. I could brag aspen up and I could run it down. The truth is it is not a replacement for maple.
Not sure what kind of aspen you have there, but our regional aspen (Montana) warps, planes fuzzy, and is pretty soft. If you were making rustic furniture, it would be acceptable, but not for anything very fine.
http://www.sustainabledreams.com/welcome.htm
http://moabcustomlogfurniture.com/
Edit: If you're looking for an inexpensive, light-colored, stable wood that is easy to machine and finish, try poplar. If you like your design, you can always repeat it in maple, after already having worked the bugs out. Maple is very hard and may present difficulties for a new woodworker to start on.
Edited 2/18/2008 3:16 am by splintergroupie