I would like to make my columns out of Oak (most likely Red Oak). I've seen others here use stained Red Oak for columns, shelfs, etc. Do you remember how much you paid? Did you buy it in 1x's or plywood form?

I stopped by HD to pick some up, after being surprised how reasonably it was priced. It was only $3.88! Well...then I noticed it was actually $3.88 per linear foot for a 1x8, not for the whole board as I had originally thought. Some quick math told me that my 4 columns would hurt my already hurting budget a bunch. A lumber yard I was at did have oak plywood, but I didn't write down the prices. I plan to drop by there later this week, but I wanted to get your advice first.

Thanks,
Guy

I would check Oak veneer. Has to be cheaper than the solid oak you saw at HD.

sds

I like oak myself, that's what's in my bedroom. How 'bout you Jimmie, you an oak man?

Check a local lumber mill for rough sawn boards and run them through the planner. A little cheaper than the local lumber yard.

I would use the Oak faced plywood where ever your design will allow it.

Veneer works too, did you read the Sandman's thread? that's one great veneer job.

s*** ****o thats all you had to say.


I like oak myself, that's what's in my bedroom. How 'bout you Jimmie, you an oak man?

You can also get oak faced ply at Home Depot. They also carry an iron on oak veneer tape (also called edge banding) to finish off the edges. Looks really good and only a close inspection would reveal that it's not solid hardwood.

I've used a mixture 1"x and various thicknesses of Oak ply in my panelling and bar build. I ended up going to HD and yes it is pricey (I've not added up the cost :eek: ). IMO the solid Oak looks much better than the ply.

Main reason I used HD was I have 3 of them within 10mins driving.....so every Friday night I would take a trip and purchase that weekends lumber. Was able to look for not just the condition but the color and grain. If one didn't have enough I'd drive to the next.

As your building columns you can probably use 3/4" Oak ply and run a 45deg angle to join the corners so you don't see the edges. I did this in a number of areas with good success.

Cheers,
Mark

Cheers,
Mark

LOL! I was looking at the Oak at Lowes and was shocked by the boards being $12-20 each. I then went to HD and saw that they were only like
$2-4 each. I said to my wife, "how can HD be so much cheaper than lowes?" Well when I got to the checkout, I figured it out. The register lady took each of my boards over to a giant measuring stick to check the length of each piece. I heard the cash register ringing in the back of my brain as each board was held up to the measuring stick. Chhhaaaa-Chinngggg :mad:

Yep, they sell it by the linear foot. :( If you can find a hardwood supply around their prices would be better for oak. There are many different grades of oak veneer plywood as well. Some sliced long-ways like a regular board and others are rotary sliced. The later usually doesn't look as good but is cheaper. That's usually what you see at your local HD and Lowes. Check around.

Like scottjohnson said, the rough sawn stuff is much cheaper but you have to spend a bit of time cleaning it up. And be sure it is dried properly or you could nail it all up just to find it twist apart. Good luck!

sconner

If you can find a hardwood supply around their prices would be better for oak

Indeed. NOBODY that builds furniture or cabinets buys hardwood at big box stores. I paid $2.80/board foot for red oak at a local hardwood store and they let me select the pieces I wanted to insure I got decent ones (not warped, twisted, or heavily waned or cracked). A board foot is 12 " x 12 " x 1" thick. You can normally buy surfaced 3/4 inch or what is called "four quarters" which is typically 15/16 thick but not surfaced (needs to be run through a planer to surface it and thickness it). 10 foot legnths are the norm, but they may have 8 foot or longer as well. The above price was for 4/4. You can also buy heavier stuff like 6/4 or 8/4 but that is probably not what you need.

They also have a LOT of other choices - Oak veneer plywood and Oak veneer MDF and particle board - good two sides or just one (cheaper). As an example, I paid $47/ sheet for 3/4 (4 x 8 sheet) of good two side particle board core Oak veneer. These places also have lots of other hardwoods, most more expensive (oak is normally one of the cheaper hardwoods) but some cheaper. If you think oak is spendy, try teak ($250 for the same size veneer plywood <g>).

If you want nicely finished coulumns, you will need to have the required tools, probably at least a table saw and perhaps a planer, shaper and/or router.

:) Good Luck!

You can also get oak faced ply at Home Depot. They also carry an iron on oak veneer tape (also called edge banding) to finish off the edges. Looks really good and only a close inspection would reveal that it's not solid hardwood.

I'd disagree a bit here. It looks pretty good, but is easily distinguishable from real hardwood, IMO. Veneered plywood is much cheaper, however. I don't use oak, so I'm not terribly familiar with current prices, but $2.50-$3.00 per linear foot sounds about right for decent quality wood.

I'd disagree a bit here. It looks pretty good, but is easily distinguishable from real hardwood, IMO

That is true but veneer has it's uses in situations where solid does not work well. The biggest reason to use veneer (other than cost) is that it is much more stable and seldom warps or cracks. Solid can and does warp and crack occasionally, despite the numerous measures that one can take to prevent it.

I use quite a bit of veneer, along with soild, around here - we have humidity that varies widely from as much as 100% in winter to close to 10% in summer. Trust me, you really don't want big panels of solid in those conditions.....

For columns, either would probably work well if used correctly.

BTW, be aware that even with veneer, some solid is required for such projects to handle corners and trim detail and such..

Thanks for everyone's replies. I stopped by a local specialty wood store and they had pretty much everything I might want. It looks like the solid oak like I saw at HD is very expensive, but the oak plywood is more reasonable.

So I think I have two reasonable options: MDF columns with an oak veneer, or oak plywood columns.

I don't think they had MDF with an oak veneer already attached, but they did have sheets of MDF and seperate thin sheets of an oak veneer.

Any recommendations on which option would be better? I have a table saw, but don't have a planer or any other fancy tools, so I'd like something I could build with the tools I have.

How should I attach the oak pieces to each other? I don't have a biscuit joiner. I have tons of construction adhesive left over, can I use that or should I use wood glue?

I may put moulding around the edges to enhance the look and cover up an rough corners.


Thanks,
Guy

Thanks for everyone's replies. I stopped by a local specialty wood store and they had pretty much everything I might want. It looks like the solid oak like I saw at HD is very expensive, but the oak plywood is more reasonable.

So I think I have two reasonable options: MDF columns with an oak veneer, or oak plywood columns.

I don't think they had MDF with an oak veneer already attached, but they did have sheets of MDF and seperate thin sheets of an oak veneer.

Any recommendations on which option would be better? I have a table saw, but don't have a planer or any other fancy tools, so I'd like something I could build with the tools I have.

How should I attach the oak pieces to each other? I don't have a biscuit joiner. I have tons of construction adhesive left over, can I use that or should I use wood glue?

I may put moulding around the edges to enhance the look and cover up an rough corners.

I would use the plywwod based material - probably not less than 1/2 inch. Be sure to select flat sheets - plywood based is stronger than MDF or Particle Board core but harder to find that is really flat.

If they are hollow columns, the simplest way is to block the inside corners with cheap KD (Kiln Dried) fir or KD pine blocking (entire legnth) and clamp and glue the corners together using wood glue and the blocks. Do this so as the inside corners of the plywood come together at a point - leaving a square void outside the corner to fill with solid oak trim (or even a contrasting solid wood trim like walnut) and thereby hide the plywood edge. Use only wood glue - contruction adhesive is too thick and very hard to clean up whereas regular wood glue (Titebond or similar) will clean up easily with a wet sponge while wet. Do clean it up while wet - if you wait for it to dry it will be very tough to make it look OK.

Once the block joints are really dry (24 hours), you install the ouside corner's solid trim. It can be cut from solid material or purchased ready made if that is available (hardwood places normally can get this also if you wish). It is also glued and clamped in place with wood glue.

One note - if you are trying to sand the trim flush with the veneer once the trim is on, be VERY careful - it is really easy to sand thru the veneer - it is very thin. It might be nicer and easier to make the outside box corner trim stand out a bit and it saves the above issue.

Hope this helps

I would agree, use wood glue and oak veneer plywood. If your covering the corners with trim I would just use wood glue on all the edges, finish nails (or brads depending on the thickness of plywood) every 6 inches or so and let it dry. Then put your trim on over the edges/nails. If you want added strength, do like CCDAstro said and use blocks in the inside corners for reinforcment.

sconner

If your covering the corners with trim I would just use wood glue on all the edges,

That would work, but the advantage to blocks, aside from strength, is that the corner trim becomes symmetrical on the corner - showing two sides equally. It depends, ultimately, on what look you are going for, of course.

Just a note - you might want to box the back in with cheaper material so you have an easy place to attach to the wall. To attach to the wall, you can use that leftover construction adhesive.

Since a picture is worth 1000, attached is a diagram.

I have shown trim profile as square for simplity, it could be and profile that would fit.

Something else to consider is that we're building, in essence, cabinetry, not fine furniture. Yes, solid oak will look better than the oak veneered ply but it's usually not worth the expense (around here solid oak runs about $9.00 a board foot, that's one square foot of material, 1" [3/4" finished] thick. 3/4" oak ply workes out to less than $2.00 a board foot including the dger banding). Plus it's much more difficult to work with solid oak than veneered ply. An old woodworker once told me "You know, this oak would make a good metal if it wasn't a wood!" Why do you think the British use to build ships out of it?

Besides, once the lights are out we're going to be looking at the screen anyway!

Cheers,

Dave

It's not fine furniture

Maybe, maybe not, it depends on the builder and his standards.

solid oak runs about $9.00 a board foot

I assume you mean for red oak (the most commmonly used). Where the heck are you buying it?! If it is red oak, that is totally outrageous, it should never be over $3 a bdft. The last I bought, a few weeks ago, was $2.80/bdft. The price was the same for 15/16 unsurfaced (4/4) or 3/4 surfaced. This is in Oregon at Hardwood Industries (http://www.hardwood-ind.com/)

IMHO, the main reason to use veneer ply, mdf, or pb is not cost, but the fact that it is already in sheets. That makes building columns easier than edge gluing narrower pieces of solid together, which is what you need to do to make large flat pieces out of solid that are going to be stable enough.

Oak is not that hard to work with if you use the proper tools and techniques. Some softer woods can be much worse, especially the oily ones or those with high mineral content, which are hard on tooling.