Lowes has some pretty wood.

[Tycer]

My Lowes has been getting bundles of 2x4x93" from Idaho that is kiln dried douglas fir! They have wax sealed ends, excellent milling standards, pretty red and gold colors and are nearly all knot free or tiny tight knots. $3.59 ea.

[FatJackDurham]

What would you use wood like that for? It's a soft wood, right? So, you probably couldnt use it for a gun stock or flooring. But, could you use it for furniture or something?

[pwl44m]

It's not a Soft Wood ! Thats what Hardwood floors are made with. I just recently found that out, I always thought they were made with Oak. Prolly not hard nuff for gun stocks.
Perry

[FatJackDurham]

Hunh. I thought all conifers were soft wood. Shows what I now.

That would be a pretty red for a gunstock.

I wonder what the characteristics are for a good gunstock. I know chestnut seems to be the default, which is very close to oak. Sometimes you see tiger maple, and maples can be hard like a sugar maple or soft like a silver maple.

Any wood experts out there that want to wax professorily about the subject?

[Tycer]

It is not hard enough for stocks. I'll use it for shelf facing, trim, boxes, cabinets and small parts. It is dimensionally stable, straight grained, and holds a finish well. Plus it's a pretty wood that does not need to be stained. Can be stained though. It used to be used often for doors and trim.

[FatJackDurham]

Nice. I'll remember that for the future.

[olyinaz]

Thanks for the heads up. I've bot a bench project that may be perfect for!

The lumber at Home Despot is sure spotty - lots of junk.

[pwl44m]

Tycer, is there any indication where that wood is coming from ? I'm sure growing seasons make a difference in sectional density. You might get a different wood than We get on the west coast.
Perry
Never MIND, it was in the OP

[Ji in Hawaii]

Hunh. I thought all conifers were soft wood. Shows what I now.

That would be a pretty red for a gunstock.

I wonder what the characteristics are for a good gunstock. I know chestnut seems to be the default, which is very close to oak. Sometimes you see tiger maple, and maples can be hard like a sugar maple or soft like a silver maple.

Any wood experts out there that want to wax professorily about the subject?

Douglas Fir is a softwood but not a "soft wood" just as balsa is a hardwood but not a "hard wood".
Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers (cones), as opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm (flowering) trees.
Allot of the old post WWII homes 1945-60 in my town have floors made from first growth Douglas Fir T&G boards, and they hold up very well unless the termites find them. I have a custom made 'ukulele with the top soundboard made from a solid piece (as opposed to laminate) Douglas Fir, and it sound amazing much better than many would expect from this wood.
I use affordable Douglas Fir closet rods for paddle and oar shafts, spars, spear shafts, etc. picking out close vertical grain pieces. Works very well.

[FatJackDurham]

Wow! that is pretty cool. I think my house may have been made from something similar even though its on the east coast. whenever I do some work inside the walls, the wood is all rough cut 2 x 4 that have a darker, redish color as compared to the moder 2 x 4s. My house was built in the 50s. Around here, though, I think they seek to timber Hemlock for housing studs.

[Ji in Hawaii]

Wow! that is pretty cool. I think my house may have been made from something similar even though its on the east coast. whenever I do some work inside the walls, the wood is all rough cut 2 x 4 that have a darker, redish color as compared to the moder 2 x 4s. My house was built in the 50s. Around here, though, I think they seek to timber Hemlock for housing studs.

I know back in the 50s & 60s while it was still plentiful and inexpensive first growth California Redwood was a very popular building material. The grain was rather plain but this wood with it's high tannic acid content was naturally termite resistant as was many species of cedar. My whole neighborhood tract homes built from the late 50s into the early 60s is all Redwood T&G board walls and termite free though some of the Douglas fir beams were not spared from termites (HATE termites the bane of Hawai'i homes). If your home has rough sawn red wood it may be Redwood.

[JohndeFresno]

I know back in the 50s & 60s while it was still plentiful and inexpensive first growth California Redwood was a very popular building material....high tannic acid content was naturally termite resistant...

Very informative, Ji, thank you.

Once again, I am amazed at the breadth and depth of expertise that is shared on this site.

I remember my youth in Los Angeles - 50's and 60's - and how redwood tables with their attached benches were the thing to have for family picnics. We had one. Now I know why that material was so frequently used.

[jazman]

Those Doug Fir sticks are probably used as studs, that is why they come in stud length, 93 inches, although they sound pretty spendy for studs.

[jeepnik]

I haven't seen even marginally decent wood at any of the "home improvement" stores. Heck, I dread trying to use it for framing it's so bent and split. But, fortunately there are a few true lumber yards still around (gotta drive to them but it's worth it).

[765x53]

It's not a Soft Wood ! Thats what Hardwood floors are made with. I just recently found that out, I always thought they were made with Oak. Prolly not hard nuff for gun stocks.
Perry

Most hard wood floors are oak.
The hard pine that is used for floors is Yellow Pine, aka, Arkansas Bull Pine.

[Ji in Hawaii]

What's interesting is the latest craze in flooring is bamboo which is very dense and durable as well as renewable ("green") due to it's extremely fast growth rate but it is technically neither hardwood nor softwood but is in fact a giant species of grass.

[jeepnik]

What's interesting is the latest craze in flooring is bamboo which is very dense and durable as well as renewable ("green") due to it's extremely fast growth rate but it is technically neither hardwood nor softwood but is in fact a giant species of grass.

It's all renewable, it's just a matter of how long it takes to "renew". But I have to admit I've seen some nice bamboo floors. I do wonder though, how fast is fast? It seems it would take a pretty good sized hunk of bamboo to make flooring pieces.

[Ji in Hawaii]

What's interesting is the latest craze in flooring is bamboo which is very dense and durable as well as renewable ("green") due to it's extremely fast growth rate but it is technically neither hardwood nor softwood but is in fact a giant species of grass.

It's all renewable, it's just a matter of how long it takes to "renew". But I have to admit I've seen some nice bamboo floors. I do wonder though, how fast is fast? It seems it would take a pretty good sized hunk of bamboo to make flooring pieces.

They can grow several inches overnight. One ancient Chinese method of torture was to tie someone up over a young bamboo shoot, and let it grow through them not too slowly.
Take a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDOMwFX5Hg

[Tycer]

Those Doug Fir sticks are probably used as studs, that is why they come in stud length, 93 inches, although they sound pretty spendy for studs.

I was wrong on the price. They are $2.94. Yes, they are studs. Just the cleanest I've ever seen.

[pwl44m]

Those Doug Fir sticks are probably used as studs, that is why they come in stud length, 93 inches, although they sound pretty spendy for studs.

I was wrong on the price. They are $2.94. Yes, they are studs. Just the cleanest I've ever seen.

So are they 93 inches or 92 1/4 ?
Perry

[BAGTIC]

All conifers are 'softwoods'. All broad leafed woods are 'hardwood. Regardless of actual hardness. Yes, balsa is a 'hardwood'.

I know it doesn't make sense. So what else is new?

[JohndeFresno]

I doubt that balsa is the most popular flooring choice.

[BAGTIC]

In the international lumber trade Douglas Fir (not really a fir) is known as 'Oregon Pine' though it is not really a pine either. Out west Ponderosa Pine is known as 'Bull Pine'. I once lived in an old house in California built in 1906. It was the former home of a local banker. It had yellow pine floors and they had held up very well over the years though we did refinish them when they were about 50 years old. I believe the tradition of oak floors that were once so popular came about because of the FHA standards. They were a requirement in order to get an FHA loan. When wall to wall carpets became popular it was ironic seeing beautiful oak floors being covered with carpeting. As a teenager one of my chores was keeping the oak floors waxed and polished.

[92&94]

If you have a Lowe's or two in the area, chances are there are some real lumber yards too

One of my favorites around here sells both hardwood and construction lumber (frequently called softwood). A lot of yards sell one or the other, not always both. The more specialized yards tend to be found in larger cities, in my admittedly limited experience.

At a guess, I would say that the hardwood-softwood terminology probably comes from the logging industry, based on properties when the wood is green rather than seasoned.

I wouldn't use doug fir for much past trim work in a house. The clear grades make very attractive trim when quarter or rift sawn. Wouldn't make much of a gunstock though, too much density variation across the annual rings - really hard and really soft in each ring, detail work is pretty much impossible.

[SteveR]

2x4x93"

That is an odd length, must be used for framing, making the difference up on the top and bottom 2x4?

Steve