Bennett & Bennett Graphic Services
For the past year or two, I’ve been building work tables using construction grade lumber. It’s become another obsession, searching the thousands of crap boards at Home Depot and Lowes. So, at the risk of creating competition for these rare gems – this is what I look for. You can look through every stack in the entire store and you’re lucky to find one quarter sawn 2×4 (2×6, 2×8, etc.).
Does anyone else do this?
I’ll post more on perfect 2x4s and the things I’ve built – SOON.
I'm a graphic designer, specializing in package design for print production, a furniture maker, gardener and 27 other things.
I live with my lovely wife (since August 12, 2017) Breda. She's a musician and teaches K-4 music. My boomerang son Jack recently moved out, he's a fantastic chef and we miss his cooking.
November 2020 marks 30 years living in and restoring my old house. I have an awesome workshop where I'm currently building kitchen cabinets. My fifties have been my happiest decade.
No drama here - but a lot of music and laughter.
Bennett & Bennett Graphic Services
7 replies on “OKAY! I’m back… In search of the perfect 2×4.”
Welcome back woodchuck .. You must have been at Home Depot for 6 months. Wondered where you’ve been.
Have you been posting to yours? It’s so hard to find time.
I do the same thing hard to do a box stores with crap lumber.
I get busted for crawling into the racks and rearranging the stacks. I found two 2x6s recently, straight grained and hardly a knot. Gave me weird rush.
I only use 2 x 8’s , 10’s, and 12’s. 2 x 4’s and 6’s in my neck of the woods are made from douglass fir. The 8’s, 10’s, and 12’s are southern yellow pine are much more stable and easier to work with.
I’d love to be able to tell the difference. There are definitely several variety, some with a pink cast, others with at least quarter inch rings and some that grew slowly, less than 1/16″ a year. Then there’s the weight! Some have real heft while others feel like balsa.
I bought a Ryobi moisture meter at Home Depot for $50 so I could tell how much moisture content are in the boards. Some boards are stable at 9%, but the real heavy ones are up to 15%. I always let them acclimate in my shop for a couple of weeks before I build with them.