All the woodworkers online say to avoid pine for furniture... but I built a dining table out of it 2 years ago and it's still going strong.

I get it, pine is soft and dents easy. But I live in a small apartment in Austin and didn't want to spend $600 on oak. Grabbed some clear pine boards from Home Depot for like $80 total, built a basic trestle table with pocket holes. Has a few scratches from keys and plates but honestly it gives it character. My buddy spent triple on a walnut table and he's scared to use it without a coaster. Anyone else have good luck with cheap materials that the pros look down on?

2 comments

2 Comments

patp7917d ago

Yeah, pine gets a bad rap but it's perfect for people who actually use their furniture instead of just looking at it. Polyurethane with a couple extra coats (like 4 or 5) makes a huge difference on the durability side. The dents and scratches just add that lived-in look over time anyway.

haydenj9016d ago

And honestly @patp79 is totally right about the polyurethane thing, I did three coats on mine and it's held up WAY better than I expected. It's like that thing with cheap tools too, everyone says buy once cry once but my $20 circular saw from a pawn shop has been building stuff for five years now. There's this weird gatekeeping vibe in hobby communities where if you didn't spend a RENT payment on it, it's automatically trash. But real life doesn't care about that, you know? A scratched up pine table that gets used every day is more valuable than some museum piece nobody wants to touch.