43 - Build Your Own Dovetail Jig, страница 30

LUMBERYARD

Buying Pine •

If you're building a project out of pine, knowing what to look for can save yon time and money.

You'd think it would be easy to walk into a lumberyard or home center and buy a pine board. But sometimes it gets confusing.

One way to simplify things is to keep in mind that most of the pine lumber you see can be divided into three main groups: white, southern yellow, and 'western yellow, see photos below.

white pine. As you'd expect, white pine is the lightest in color. It's also the most lightweight. One nice thing about white pine is it has a subtle grain pattern. And it machines well and takes a finish better than the other pines. That makes white pine ideal for making furniture.

southern yellow. You'll also find southern yellow pine at some lumberyards. Besides the fact it's considerably yellower than white pine, it's also quite a bit heavier. And it's hard

as nails. (Don't try to drive a screw into it without drilling a pilot hole.)

The striking thing about southern yellow pine is the alternating bands of light-colored earlywood and darker latewood. Run your- hand across the board and you can feel the difference in coarseness. This abrupt transition makes southern yellow pine more difficult to work and harder to finish.

western yellow It goes without saying that the pines in the western yellow group are yellow. But there's not as dramatic a contrast between earlywood and latewood.

A good deal of the lumber you find at home centers falls in the western yellow group. (We built the toolbox in this issue using ponderosa pine which is one type of western yellow.) It's also an excellent choice if you're building "country-style" knotty pine furniture.

grade stamps. Even when you know what to look for, it's still sometimes hard to tell one pine from another. So look at the grade stamp imprinted (or stapled) on the board. There's no doubt whatsoever if it's stamped "white pine." Some white pine will also be stamped 'IWP' which stands for Idaho White Pine. Another grade stamp that's not obvious at first is SPIB. (No, it's not a soft drink.) It stands for the Southern Pine

,_/rN -, ^-Inspection Bureau. So you'll know

KL) I 0 (7) right away you're dealing with southern yellow pine. Finally, you may see two back-to-back Ts\ That's ponderosa pine. Sometimes you'll see the Ts' combined with an 'LP' (for lodgepole pine). Either way, it's one of the western yellow pines.

EASTERN WHITE PINE

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SELECT & COMMON

▲ With its light color, white pine (top) is easy to distinguish from southern yellow pine (middle) and the western yellow pines (bottom).

Another thing to consider is the grade of the lumber. There are many different grades. But all you need to know is that they generally fall into two basic categories: select (or finish), and common.

As a rule, a board that's generally knot-free and consistent in color is assigned one of the "Select" or "Finish" grades. And if there are more knots (or the color is uneven) it's one of the "Common" grades.

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ShopNotes

No. 43