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Second picture

As luck (or ill fate?) would have it, one of my kids knocked an ~16x8 inch picture frame off the wall. The frame disintegrated (it was cheap) but the glass and mat were unscathed. My wife re-bought the same frame (“That is how I fix things-I buy new ones,” I was told). That leaves me with everything I need to make my own frame.

I have read the above posts a few times. I would love a firm recommendation on wood. I don’t need something premium, but I recently finished a project with Lowe’s pine and it would have been easier to make and more attractive in the end if I had started with higher quality wood. Given the amount of time I spent on the project, doubling the costs of the materials was the least of my worries.

I would like wood that is easy to work with, attractive and not too hard to find (i.e. preferably not online order only).


I want to make a simple frame, having learned that complex projects are a pain and hard to accomplish. Plan:
1. Rout the edge with a beaded bit.
2. Dado cut the inside edge to create a recess for the mat.
3. Cut the miter joints free hand with the SS table saw (no fancy SS miter set yet unfortunately) -OR- should I cut this on my cheap miter saw instead?
4. Sand the joints as needed and the wood overall.
5. Finish the wood.
6. Glue together with a band clamp.

I welcome your comments. Many thanks.
Karl

kas20amc02 wrote: Sat Jul 19, 2025 10:37 pm I have read the above posts a few times. I would love a firm recommendation on wood. I don’t need something premium, but I recently finished a project with Lowe’s pine and it would have been easier to make and more attractive in the end if I had started with higher quality wood. Given the amount of time I spent on the project, doubling the costs of the materials was the least of my worries.

I would like wood that is easy to work with, attractive and not too hard to find (i.e. preferably not online order only).

Karl,

Looks like you are making good progress. Wood choice is tough because it is so personal. I didn't comment on this initially from your thread because it is exactly that, personal preference. However, you are asking for feedback so I will give mine. IF someone loves poplar, I intend no offense here. Honestly, poplar is best used in applications where it is painted. It often has kind of a green tint to it and its appearance is often non-uniform board to board, but also on the same board. I just have never liked poplar. Some poplar boards look better than others and I would say you got lucky with your project. What you posted above looks good and kind of mimics hickory in areas. Okay, I got it out of the way, but if someone on the forum loves poplar please tell me how/why I am wrong here. Where do you live? Is there a Woodworkers Source (https://www.woodworkerssource.com/) or something similar where you live? IF not that, then perhaps a Rockler (https://www.rockler.com/) store nearby? You really need to see with your own eyes other wood choices to get a sense for what you like and don't like. Nothing wrong with Home Depot, Lowes or any other big box store, but their selection is more limited. On the plus side, they have S4S (surfaced all 4 sides) lumber so often you just have to cut and assemble, i.e. no milling required in the best case. On the negative side, often you have to pick through what is in the store to find one good board that is mostly straight and free of knots or other blemishes. Assuming you are limited to Lowes locally, you typically will find pine, poplar, and red oak there. I think there might be other choices depending on where your Lowes is located, but these choices are kind of universally available at any big box store. Pine can be beautiful, but select grades, i.e. with fewer knots are more costly. In fact, good quality pine can be nearly as expensive as hardwoods. Once you have that perfect pine board selected, know that when you apply a finish (stain, dye, etc.) to it, it can look splotchy because pine is prone to having varying wood density and sap content across a board. You need to pre-condition, i.e. use wood sealer on pine before applying a finish. You can still get a good result, but you just have to be aware of this for pine. IF you like the natural look/color of pine, then you don't have to worry about my comments regarding pine being splotchy. Oak, white or red, is a beautiful wood. It is a porous wood with distinctive grain lines. Some like this, some do not. I started my woodworking journey on pine and red oak because that is what was most readily available to me from Lowes. In fact, my dining table and china cabinet that I built for my wife is red oak - done about 3 decades ago. It is still in our dining room and I chose to stain it a deep reddish brown mahogany. I love it, but I also see the imperfections in it from my early days of woodworking. Still it is functional and was a labor of love as I built it for my wife. When working with oak, you have to be aware of how porous it is when you apply finish. Some choose to highlight the pores and grain lines more in oak and some choose to minimize them by filling the pores. In comparison though, oak is known for having consistent grain and absorbing a finish like stain evenly so it is much, much better than pine in this regard. I went through a maple phase and I still love it also. There are varieties than can be quite hard, but some more moderate ones as well. I prefer it to pine myself because it can give a similar look to clear select pine, but has a harder surface that is more resistant to damage. Today, I have kind of fallen in love with cherry and I like working with it in recent years. For outdoor projects, I have used Redwood and love working with it as well. Difficult to find heartwood in Redwood at any big box store in my opinion, so just try to minimize how much sapwood you get. One thing you need to think about for your projects is what is the application? There are softwoods like pine, but also hardwoods like red oak or cherry. You should Google the Janka hardness chart and know how hard a wood is and when to use it. For example, in wood flooring, I can walk into a big box store and use my fingernail to visibily dent a piece of pine flooring sample. Not so easy to do that with oak. So, if you install a pine floor expect visible scratches and to have to refinish the floor more frequently than a hardwood floor. The upside to a softwood is it cuts like butter. Maybe you don't care about flooring, but this concern for hardness can apply to any project you take on. Maybe like me, you want to build a dining table or a desk. Unless you put an epoxy finish on top, or many coats of polyurethane, that wood underneath is going to get damaged if it is softwood, but hardwood will be more durable. Going too hard on the Janka hardness chart has challenges as well, e.g. exotic woods are really hard...so hard in fact that they can quickly dull sawblades, router bits, etc. Many are toxic to work with so be careful of sawdust. Well, I hope all of this has been helpful and given you some areas to think about. At the end of the day, as long as the wood color, texture, appearance look good to you and your family that is what is most important. There are lots of options in wood finishes available to you for altering the appearance of any wood, but also to help protect it. Also know that UV light, e.g. from sunlight can also change the appearance of wood and breakdown a wood finish over time.

P.S. As far as workability, keep in mind hardwoods are generally better for a project, if you can afford them, but they need sharp tools, e.g. sawblades, chisels, planes, etc. Hardwoods can also be prone to burning when cutting so this has to be mitigated. Hardwoods are also heavier than softwoods so don't build your next kit airplane out of hardwoods. Hardwoods are prone to cracking when nailing or using screws, so you must wax screws before driving them and you must drill pilot holes first. I am sure there is more that I forgot to share, but hopefully others will chime in. Good luck.

P.P.S. I love the look of walnut and hickory. I have NOT been fortunate enough to work with them in the past, but I hope to sometime in the future.

I like ash, walnut, and cherry for wood projects but have also used willow, oak (red and white) and hard maple for some projects. Look around your area for local lumber mills that sell boards. I know of about a dozen within a couple of hours drive of me that do that. I prefer kiln dried instead of air dried as the heat kills any bugs living in the wood. Some advertise on Craig's List and others on Facebook Marketplace but a google search should come up with any in your area. If you know what species of wood you want, a regular lumber yard could get it for you or point you in the right direction but you may not get to pick which boards you want. The local mills will have other woods that are not normally milled due to the amount of logs available. The mill about 10 minutes from me usually has boards available in oak, ash, walnut, cherry, maple, pine, hackberry, cedar, butternut and bass wood with other species available occasionally.

The poplar box looks great

No suggestions on wood species from me...im on a fixed budget and using scraps where i find them !

b

Thanks for the advice.

There are two local wood stores in town. I went by one already and although small, they have everything from ash to zebra wood. More importantly, a lot of woodworkers hang out there and they invited me to come to their monthly meetings. My wife was less than enthused about a group of people twice our age but I can go alone!

The big box stores here have pine, cedar, oak, poplar and plywood with ship-to-store options for a wider variety of hardwoods (nearly universal bad reviews of these premium options). But between the local stores and the in stock wood at the big box stores, have options.

Regarding pine, I found a great video on finishing pine and after my first “ugly tiger” pine project, I switched to tong oil followed by Rudy’s finish (a mix of more tong oil and a touch of polyurethane). It is beautiful in my opinion and easy to apply. Picture below.


Again, any firm advice on wood choice for the frame would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Karl

Keep in mind some small stores that sell various wood species are rather expensive. That is why I was suggesting Woodworkers Source (more reasonable prices) or as Brenda suggested find a local lumber yard/sawmill. Definitely shop around. It might help if you give us more information about what you are trying to build. I am familiar with Mahjong, but not once have I seen a set where the rails are inside of a frame. So, difficult to give advice on what to use without know the context, i.e. you have the vision in your head. What do you want it to look like? IF you are going with a more natural wood finish, you can either stay with pine or perhaps give a contrast with a darker wood? Is the frame larger, so you are switching to plywood for it? The finish you describe is what some call a wiping varnish. Actually very few products on the market labeled as Tung Oil are actually Tung oil, but instead a particular blend of a wiping varnish. True Tung Oil is actually quite expensive and rarely found in the finish section of many woodworking stores, despite what the marketing on the can would have you to believe. Yeah, woodworking clubs can be great and an excellent resource. It just depends on the club. My local one here was kind of snobbish and looked down on anyone using Shopsmith equipment unfortunately so I stopped going. Most in there were 20-30 years older than me at the time. Hope you have a better experience with your local woodworking club.

P.S. Another newbie thing you should learn about woodworking finishes is that some can self combust. Many a shop has been burned down because of this. Generally speaking, any of the "drying oils" have potential to self combust. This is because of the chemical reaction that happens when they dry gives off heat. Two examples of oils that do this are Linseed Oil and Tung Oil, but there could be others I am not aware of. Whether a can is labeled Tung Oil is actually Tung Oil or not, I still treat it like Tung Oil. Bunched up rags or rags layed on top of one another that have been soaked in these oils can heat up enough to self combust. I lay mine out flat outside in a relatively safe area and let them dry fully before disposing of them. Various ways to handle this, but be careful if you are using any drying oils as a wood finish.

Duly noted on the tung oil. I had heard that as well. I think the cheap Minwax product I get from Lowe’s is not truly tung oil but I still put the used equipment in my fire pit and don’t leave it in the garage.

Regarding lumber options: The prices may be more expensive locally but I get expertise and can see what I am buying. If there is a large price difference or I end up needing a lot of lumber, I will certainly remember your other suggestions.

My apologies for being unclear. I am looking for advice on my NEXT project, a picture frame.

Lastly, I understand what you mean about snobbish club members. My astronomy club has some “interesting” people in it but there are some real nice, helpful individuals as well. I hope to find some of those people in this group.

Thanks,
Karl

kas20amc02 wrote: Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:58 am My apologies for being unclear. I am looking for advice on my NEXT project, a picture frame.

Sorry, I assumed you were referring to the Mahjong set since the picture was there, but I guess you showed it again to share how that wood finish turned on. You can't go wrong with an oak picture frame. Pine can be beautiful as well. Traditional wood picture frames tend to be a darker color. The natural pine frame bainin showed on this thread goes really well with that painting, but just pointing out that often a picture frame is a medium to dark brown or red, but can be any color. In my mind, it really comes down to whether you want to see grain lines or not between those two choices. If you are going to color it then select a stain, dye, etc. that gives you the color you want on that wood. That is how I would approach it. Of course, if the project has an intended recipient, like a family member, etc. you have to find out what they want! I am just using the wood choices you mention are available at a big box nearby to keep cost down. Of course, you could make a more rustic looking picture frame out of cedar as well. My FIL sold cedar picture frames at craft fairs along with other products in the past. He got a really deal on cedar from a sawmill so everything he was building for several years was cedar. IF cost is no option, then anything is possible that you can source for wood. I personally love cherry frames in my home, but that is just my preference. Even have some beautiful textured wood frames that are dyed blue that go really well with some Japanese fish prints we had done from a fishing charter where we landed some sport fish. Sometimes a frame can really complement what is inside the frame, e.g. the blue frames nicely complement the blues in the fish print. Not sure my post is helpful, but maybe I gave you some ideas to think about?