Pine good for a frame?

[Adam Cavaliere]

I am making a frame and figure pine (like the S4S stuff you can get at the BORG) will be a good wood to use if I plan on painting it. The person requesting the frame wants it to be black, so I figure going with the cheapest wood is my best bet.

I know I can't expect the wood to be exactly flat and may try jointing and planning it to be square.

Am I not thinking of something here?

[Neal Clayton]

don't see why not, it cuts easy on a router/shaper, not stable by default but when dry it should be ok.

[Frank Drew]

Adam,

White pine (or basswood, or poplar, etc.) would be fine, but yellow pine's more prominent grain (earlywood, latewood) might in time telegraph through an opaque finish.

[Jim Kountz]

Poplar is a better choice for painted work than pine. Sometimes you can get it cheaper than pine, I can but I have a mill right here in my backyard that I deal with regularly and I get great pricing. $.50/ft.

[Bill White]

If it will be painted, and ya sure don't want it to shrink/swell, I'd try MDF.
Bill

[Jim Becker]

While pine will work, poplar or maple would be better and both are available from the 'borg, too. These are close grain hardwoods and don't have the sap and "telegraphing" issues that others have mentioned. They will also take a milled profile with more crispness in my experience than pine.

Bill mentions MDF. My concern there would be getting the corners strong...it would require more work, IMHO, to do that with the material and then there is the extra work smoothing and filling the cut edges.

[Doug Shepard]

Poplar actually makes painting somewhat enjoyable. It's the first wood I think of if I'm going to paint something.

[Jim Becker]

Doug, maple paints even better. (Of course, I also dye poplar to wonderful effect and kinda chuckle when that use is sometimes discounted "out there") That said, the reason that poplar, maple, alder and yes, cherry paint so nicely is that they are close grained hardwoods that provide a smooth surface with little grain pattern projection. While I'd not use "top grade" cherry or maple for this, for example, cherry stock with a lot of white sapwood and available inexpensively could definitely figure into that use.

[Jimmy Williams]

I agree that poplar would be better if you are going to paint it. However, I had a lot of white pine on hand when I made the frames in my office so that is what I used. The furniture in the office is black so I painted the frames black using a rattle can. You can still see the grain (which is the look I was going for). Sorry but these are the only pictures I have of the frames.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

For a painted frame I'd use a closed grain wood.....white pine, poplar, maple unless you want or don't mind the grain showing and then just about anything. I hate pine; it's so soft you look at it hard and it's dented or scratched.

[Doug Shepard]

Doug, maple paints even better. ....

Cover up maple with paint? Philistine!

[Adam Cavaliere]

I won't be using yellow pine, but white pine. I'll see if they have poplar, but I'd rather not make the 30 minute drive each way to the lumber store when I can pop in home depot and pick up some wood if it doesn't really matter.

I did make a test piece with some scrap poplar and I have to say I was a little disappointed at the chipping that occurred. It happened both at the router and the table saw.

Have you guys first cut the miters and then done the molding with the router? I know every example I have seen is the opposite, but I would thing that would eliminate any chance of chipping that may happen on the molded parts.

[Adam Cavaliere]

I hate pine; it's so soft you look at it hard and it's dented or scratched.

That is such a great quote! LOL!

[Lee Schierer]

If you plan to paint pine, seal it first with a coat of shellac or the pitch may show through. Unless you use clear pine, the knots will tend to bleed through the paint over time unless sealed with shellac.

[Frank Drew]

Being largely end grain, knots might eventually show through a paint job even if they don't exude any pitch.

Adam,

I'd prepare all the stock in long lengths before cutting to size and cutting the miters.