How can I be cost effective when practicing techniques on wood materials?

[M.C. Escher's]

Hi. Just wanted to have your kind opinion on my little problem. I’m starting to love woodworking and thinking about how to be good at it without wasting good quality materials, but not using old and rusty one that can damage my hand tools and power tools.

I usually work with joinery (dovetails, mortise and tenon), chisel, planing, some wood carvings if possible. I wanted to experience different kinds of wood in different kinds of tasks – to feel the wood before committing on it in an actual project and to lessen my mistakes as a newbie.

Do you guys have any recommendations? I would accept any critics, suggestions, and listen to your similar stories to gain more knowledge in this niche. What’s a good buy? Preferred woods for easy tasks? Best woods for practice? Thank you in advance!

 

[Shado]

If you’re looking for soft, inexpensive, and ez to deal with, then go with PINE wood! Great for practice, especially joinery. The bad thing about pine is its grain – prone to tear-out, but once you mastered this wood, you’ll be able to handle any kind of wood in the future!

 

[Unsightly]

I go with poplar, pretty mid compared to any wood, and it won’t damage any of your hand or power tools. If you made a mistake on this wood, you’ll learn pretty quickly, plus, this wood is very cheap so it is good for practice.

 

[Proud Peccary]

If you’re looking for soft, inexpensive, and ez to deal with, then go with PINE wood! Great for practice, especially joinery. The bad thing about pine is its grain – prone to tear-out, but once you mastered this wood, you’ll be able to handle any kind of wood in the future!

Pine is not that great, for me. It usually fights back and not to mention its grains are all over the freaking place! But, if you had no choice, I think its good for getting started, just don’t overdo it – you might end up giving up on woodcraft instead of loving it more lol!

 

[Darkest]

Try scraps on your local lumberyard or even in cabinet shops, ask for offcuts. If you really wanted to learn about woodcraft, this place will help you a lot, not to mentions the pros in here! Oh man, getting free wood and advice? What more could you ask for?

 

[Apa]

For joinery, get construction-grade 2x4s. Very good for beginners, dirt cheap, and can be cut down to decent sizes and portions perfect for practices.

Basswood is your bet when it comes to carving, very easy to deal with and very soft, perfect again for beginners. After basswood, try intermediate woods like maple or cherry – to master the art of woodcraft.

Another great tip, check online! There’s plenty of people who sells wood in the internet for very low prices. Sometimes they just wanted to clean out and dispose their woods giving them for free.

 

[M.C. Escher's]

Basswood is your bet when it comes to carving, very easy to deal with and very soft, perfect again for beginners. After basswood, try intermediate woods like maple or cherry – to master the art of woodcraft.

Wow, basswood? Really? I gotta try this one, thank you so much for this tip!

 

[Enchanting Elk]

For routing practices, I suggest MDF or even plywood. Everything will work great, just don’t try chiseling it.

 

[Mic]

For routing practices, I suggest MDF or even plywood. Everything will work great, just don’t try chiseling it.

Ugh, MDF! Wear a mask when dealing with this!

 

[Esca]

Try cherry or soft maple, these two is pretty great when it comes to practicing fine joinery. Even though these two is a bit expensive than poplar and pine, these woods will be very forgiving when using hand tools.

After mastering these two types of woods, it will give you a better sense on how furniture wood behaves. It will be pretty satisfying and worth it in the long run.

 

[Unsightly]

Try cherry or soft maple, these two is pretty great when it comes to practicing fine joinery. Even though these two is a bit expensive than poplar and pine, these woods will be very forgiving when using hand tools.

After mastering these two types of woods, it will give you a better sense on how furniture wood behaves. It will be pretty satisfying and worth it in the long run.

Cherry wood is pretty underrated, I don’t know why? I also prefer cherry because they’re easy to work with, smells really good, gives clean and best results, and worth trying for beginners. I think it’s its price, but worth trying!

 

[Misty Mandrill]

I suggest pallets! HAHAHA! This is the cheapest of them all, just be prepared to deal with nails, splits, all its dirty grains and stuff. Basically, it’s free wood for practice! HAHAHA!