Which Wood Should You Use for a First Project?

Half the confusion in a woodworking plan is the wood it names. This is the plain-English answer to which board to buy, in the order most beginners need it.

Start with construction lumber

For your first projects — a workbench, a storage box, a simple shelf — SPF framing lumber (the studs you find at the big-box store) is cheap, forgiving and everywhere. It moves a little as it dries, so use it for shop furniture and outdoor projects, not fine furniture. Its great advantage is price: mistakes cost fifty cents, not fifty dollars.

Soft pine for furniture

When you are ready to build something that lives indoors, pine (often called white wood or clear pine) is the beginner's furniture wood. It cuts, drills and glues cleanly, and it takes paint well. It dents easily, so it is not the wood for a heavy-use countertop, but it is perfect for shelves and simple tables.

Hardwoods are a step up

Oak, maple and poplar are harder, more expensive and more stable — but they also punish mistakes and they dull blades faster. Wait until your joints are consistent before you spend hardwood money. Poplar is the gentlest introduction if you want to try one.

What about plywood?

Plywood is the workhorse for shelving and boxes. Good Baltic-birch plywood is flat, stable and beautiful; cheap 'project' plywood is fine for shop furniture. For almost any box or shelf, plywood with a plywood edge band or a simple face frame is easier to keep square than solid boards.

The rule

For a first project: construction lumber if it will live in the shop or outside, pine if it will live indoors, plywood if it is a box or shelf. Everything else can wait until you have made three or four things.