Simple Woodworking Projects - Selecting the Right Kind of Wood

Selecting the right kind of wood is probably the most important part of starting simple woodworking projects. Simple woodworking projects are great for beginners as they allow them to grasp the basics of woodworking quickly and easily.

Although woodworking is incredible fun you must remember that you are going to be working with very sharp tools and hence you need to be careful. Also it must be kept in mind that the right kind of wood for the project has to be sought and selected by you. When you are looking for lumber, you basically want to look for a stock without many defects in it. Defects can come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. Typically, these defects are easy to spot because they do not look right. Next time when you are scanning some lumber for your simple woodworking projects look on all six sides of it for any bumps, burns, knots, fungus, or any holes left from previous nails.

This is not to say that defects are entirely bad or not useful. Many defects are seen to add character to the final assembly and it is entirely at the discretion of the woodworker decide what kind of defects he wants in his particular project.

Typically, errors and effects come in the following formats:

Twists: these are twisting down the length of the stock. They are also the most difficult to deal with and lumber with twists should be avoided for this reason.

Bow: a stock is set to have a bow when one side of it is disproportionately warping against the other side. You can look for about by pulling out a stock and looking down the spine from one end. If you find that two ends of the stock are not (more or less) the same then you can conclude that the stock has a bow.

Cupping: A cupping is a dent along the width of the board and generally speaking pretty hard to find. Cupping is very common in boards over 1 inch in thickness.

Cracks: cracks can come in all shapes and sizes and are extremely common in lumber. You might either want your stock to be completely free from cracks or you may tolerate a few small ones.

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