Weekend project with BORG materials

[Erik Christensen]

There is a lot of criticism here about the quality of wood and sheet goods found at the BORG retailers - much of it justified IMHO, but to me not accurate in every instance. A few weeks ago I needed to build a pair end tables that would hold 2 laundry baskets each - we are moving to a small 1 BDR apartment soon when the house remodel starts and space will be at a premium. This would be a painted project that only needs to last 6 months - not fine furniture by any stretch of the imagination. So to get the materials for this project I can dive my 12 mpg truck burning 4.50$/gal gas 4 miles round trip to HomeDepot & get whatever or 60 miles to the hardwood store for baltic birch plywood and maple for the legs.

Just for the heck of it I went the BORG route this time just to see how it would turn out. They had some 3/4" ply that had a luan looking face veneer that did not seem to have too many voids from what I could see and 'seemed' to be reasonably flat and was 40% the cost of the BB. I also rooted through the 2x4 stack and found 2 that were reasonably straight and knot free (operative word here is 'reasonably'). The ply was actually pretty decent and the legs using the pine 2x4's did take a bit of extra labor. I made a half dozen extra so when I got bad chipout when finishing the curves on the shaper I just trashed it and went to the next one.

So here are the finished tables before paint:

assembled.jpg


And after paint - not sure I would do this again unless I had a similar painted project in mind but nice to know I don't have to use expensive materials to get a quality I can live with.

finished.jpg

[keith micinski]

Those do actually look nice. Lets hope the 20 percent moisture 2x4's don't warp like crazy and they stay relatively nice.

[Jay Rasmussen]

Nice job Eric! You still put a high level of craftsmanship into those pieces. To me that’s what really counts.

I use BORG stuff on occasion, like you sometimes I’m just not looking for heirloom quality or cost.

Jay

[Lee Schierer]

As long as you are aware that Borg lumber is considered construction grade material and is only dried to 12% you should have few problems. I've used their hardwood faced plywood on various projects without problems. Their construction grade plywood is not as stable as their hardwood variety. I don't buy their dimension hardwood lumber because there is local mill that supplies superior grade kiln dried material for 1/2 the price you would pay at the Borgs and I have yet to have a piece that was a problem from the local mill, plus I can get cherry, walnut, ash, maple, poplar, red oak, or hickory.

[John Hays]

I guess it depends on where you're located and the suppliers your local BORG buys from. Some are certainly better than others.

For example, from any BORG in my current area, you just can't find a 2x4 that doesn't have at least 15 knots in it and has a moisture content you can actually feel by hand. All 1x2s and 2x2s are bowed and/or twisted by at least 20 degrees, not to mention that there isn't a sinlge flat sheet of sheething ply that I have ever seen in the 2 years that I've lived here.

In contrast, when I lived in Virginia, BORG wood was about 60-80% better in terms of not having the problems mentioned above.

About a year before I moved, I built an 8'x2' workbench and a 4'x2' thermoforming machine out of BORG wood with a crappy 10" Tradesman table saw and a hand drill... both came out nearly perfect. At this point in time, I'm building my shop cabinets from BORG wood with a Ridgid 4512 and a Porter Cable PCB660DP and I'm having a heck of a time getting the cabinets to hold their squareness.

So yes, you CAN build nice things from BORG wood, depending on the quality they have to offer.

[John Marshall]

In my area, 2x4's usually all warp and twist. I had gotten plywood from them before and not really had a problem. Got a few sheets of plywood when it went on sale a while back and had to leave them in my garage for a few months before I got into my project. Well they went all crazy. I have tried to use them as best I can, but it has been difficult to say the least. Definitely going to have to rethink it in the future.