Wednesday

On Wednesday I drove down to Southern Tier Hardwoods with my Dad.  He helped teach me how to pick out the best wood.  You want to look for pieces without large knots or knots that are loose.  A small knot is okay as long as its tight and not in a place you might cut.  Sometimes knots can make things look better by giving them character and showing that they are homemade.  You also have to be sure there are no checks or cracks in the wood.  The most important thing is that you check to see if the wood is bowed or cupped.  All of these things can make it difficult to use the wood or make weaken whatever you build with it.

We bought two pieces of wood. Both 4/4 Red Oak  about 6" wide and 8' long.  One piece is for my frame and one is for another project my Dad is working on.  The wood was s4s meaning that all 4 sides of each board had been somewhat finished already. Here is the wood for the frame

Here it is close up so you can tell that its finished because its smooth, the edges are mostly square and there aren't splinters sticking out.

The wood for the bench I'm building had to be ordered because its 5/4 and had to be specially cut, so we went on Thursday and picked that up.  Its 52 bd ft of 5/4 red oak rough cut (meaning none of its finished yet).  I decided to go with the rough cut because we have the equipment at school to finish wood of that size and I want to get experience doing that as well.  Here is all the wood for the bench.

Here are some close up pictures to show how rough it is