How to Pick Lumber for Furniture

By Matt Kenney
MEKwoodworks.com

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Forget board feet. It’s all about the grain.

After you’ve designed a piece of furniture or box, the first thing you do is pick the specific board or boards you’ll use to make it. Unless you have a well-stocked lumber shed (uh…yes, I do), that means a trip to the lumber yard, which can be a tough place to maintain focus. There are so many boards to look through that it’s easy to forget exactly what you were looking for in the first place. So, it’s always best to formulate a plan before you go, and take a written list of what you need. What you absolutely do not need, and should not care about, is a tally of the total board feet. You are not a factory pumping out cheap, ugly furniture. You are a craftsperson making a single piece of custom furniture, and the beauty of the wood is far more important than how much wood you need (and, honestly, how much it will cost).

How do you plan for the lumberyard? Well, think about the various parts you’ll need to make. What shape are they? Rectangular? Curved along one edge? Turned legs? Take that information and compile a list of parts that includes their rough dimensions along with notes identifying which parts have curves, have notches or circles cut into them, etc. The farther a part strays from rectangular, the more thought you need to give when picking lumber for it.

That brings me to a second point. You are not going to the lumberyard to buy boards. You are going to find parts in rough lumber. And the key to finding good parts in rough boards is grain. Here’s my guiding principle when I am at the lumberyard looking for parts: the size and shape of the grain should compliment the size and shape of the part. A small, rectangular box side should have straight, tight grain. A table apron with a slight arc along it’s bottom edge should have grain that runs in a curve parallel (or as close as you can find) to the apron’s edge.

Work your way through the list of parts, checking off each one as you find the right grain for it. And set boards aside as you find them. I have a friend that goes so far as to mark the boards with chalk, identifying where each is located in the board. Does it take time to do this? Yes? Will you spend more money on lumber buying parts that board feet? Absolutely. Will your furniture be more attractive? You can bet your sweet bippy it will be.

In brief: Do not buy board feet. Do not by boards. Buy parts.


Now let’s consider the chopstick box I’m making (and sharing the build with you). If you missed the post where I discuss it’s dimensions and a few other design details, read it here. Take a look at the three drawings below. How does the grain in each one make you feel?

The grain struggles against the rectangular shape, and personally I find it disorienting.
This grain compliments the side’s shape better, but it is spread too far apart, and the downward slope is distracting.
This is it. The grain runs parallel to the long edges, emphasizing the side’s shape without overpowering it. The grain is tight, so it reads as proportionally correct for the box.

The goal with grain is that it enhances the box or piece of furniture. It should harmonize with the overall design, quietly giving strength to the lines and shapes of individual parts and the piece as a whole.

If you have trouble visualizing how grain will look when the board is cut into parts, try this trick. Cut the shape of the part from a piece of paper and place the paper over the board. Move it around until you find a section that works for the part.

Not bad, but not great either. The grain rises and falls as it moves along the box side, and it’s spaced too far apart.
Boom goes the dynamite. Isn’t that what people are saying these days?

The second picture shows the board I am using to make the chopstick box, along with the other boxes in the stacking set of kitchen storage boxes. (You can read about them in my post from Friday, March 14th.)

Well, that’s it for this week. Next Friday, I’ll jump into the construction process. Ask questions and share your thoughts in the comments. Also, please like and share this post. It’s free for all to read. Your feedback is important to me, because it helps me discover what’s landing and what’s missing. Finally, if you like the cut of my jib, please consider becoming a paid subscriber (if you are not one already). Thanks!

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