Although it is very easy to tell you to use nothing but properly seasoned stock, you will doubtless sometimes be deceived, however, as it is by no means an easy matter for the beginner to determine; but you can at least try your best to get wood in suitable condition, for it will be time well spent. (Read the remarks on seasoning in Chapter III.)
Be content with the more easily worked woods in your early attempts. Do not buy highly figured, heavy, and hard San Domingo mahogany (no matter how beautiful) for your first table or bookcase—nor even quartered oak, nor mottled walnut burl, nor wavy maple—but begin with plain, straight-grained material, easy to work.
White pine is often considered rather cheap and common in appearance, but it is suitable for many things in the way of furniture. It is one of the best woods to "stand," or hold its shape, and if not desired of the natural colour (which, is, however, suitable and attractive for some objects) it can be painted. It can also be stained, but is not to be compared with whitewood in this respect.
Whitewood is, like pine, easy to work, durable, can be obtained in wide boards, can be painted, and takes a stain exceedingly well.
Black walnut is good to work and is well suited for furniture, though its sombre hue is not always desirable.
Cherry, when soft and straight-grained, is easy to work and is often (when highly figured or wavy) one of the most beautiful woods. It is easy to finish.
Mahogany is a wood of great beauty and durability, and holds its shape exceedingly well, but the beginner should confine himself at first to the lighter, softer, straight-grained varieties, which can be easily obtained. You can then try the more highly figured and harder kinds, which will tax your skill in smoothing them.
Oak in its softer, straight-grained forms is well suited to the work of the beginner. It is durable, and an article made of oak will stand more abuse without serious defacement than most of the other woods used for furniture. When quarter-sawed it is more difficult to smooth than plain, straight-grained oak, but as you acquire skill you will find quartered oak one of the most satisfactory woods. Oak can be stained if desired.
Many other kinds of wood are sometimes used, as sycamore, ash, birch, beech, maple, rosewood, butternut, ebony, etc., but these woods you can try for yourself, if you wish, as you progress in skill, and thus learn their peculiar characteristics.
An important point, not always realised by the amateur, is that the stock for good furniture should be planed true, that is, free from winding. Buy stock that is as true as you can find (see Chapter III.) and have it planed to be as true as possible. Have as much of this truing done by machine as you can afford, for it is not worth while to spend an hour in working down a surface by hand (see Truing Surfaces, in [Part V].) when a machine will do it in five minutes. There are, of course, cases in which this accuracy is not essential,—and judgment must be used, as in all intelligent work,—but, as a rule, it is highly important that the surfaces should be reasonably true if you wish to do your work as it should be done. The pieces, when fitted, should come together easily and naturally, and not require to be sprung or twisted or bent in order to be able to put the article together.