What kind of wood?

[Elum!nal]

Hy...

I'm thinking about making a custom case with wood, but i don't know what kind of wood to use plywood or fibreboard(sawdust board:) ) or are there any other choices?

Tnx!

[d_stilgar]

You could always go with a solid wood. Like maple or cherry. I know my arbor longboard is made from 7ply maple with a toplayer of hawaiian koa wood. Koa is a really beautiful wood.

Wait, do you want it to look like wood when you are done? Or paint it. (I should've asked that first)

[Elum!nal]

Ou yes I would like to paint it...

[d_stilgar]

I would first say that you should work with what you are most comfortable with. Then you should consider which is lighter. In the end if I were going to paint it, I would probly first cover it in bondo and sand it. Or some base coats and sanding to get it really smooth before the real paint goes on.

So my suggestion is, idk. Sorry

[Maz]

if you are going to paint it, i say stay away from osb but if you get the different plywood, the layered kind, that shoild be fine. particle board it useless for holdint anything together. plus it does not paint well without lots of primer.

[Cevinzol]

MDF would work ok. Its the kind of stuff they use under laminated tops. i won't warp or expand with humidity. its pretty heavy and you'll want to coat it with sanding sealer before painting it.

If you use plywood. Get "cabinet grade" or "lumber core" other wise you'll hit empty pockets in the laminates when you cut out your pieces. I made a whole desk from lumber core with a birch veneer. It looked great.

[Slug Toy]

id say MDF too. just some advice though if you choose it.

1. MDF wont really react to humidity, but if you get it wet... holy crap its like a sponge

2. dont nail it. youd bend the nails before you fastened anything. drill holes and then use screws, or glue it all up.

3. be careful if you cut it or use a router on it, and for god sake dont plane it. itll tear out real bad. it burns easy too. basically, if you go too fast it tears out and if you go too slow it burns. and once again, dont plane it or else youll end up with an ugly board.

on the other hand, there are some big advantages to MDF. it is nice and flat, so you dont need to do much more than cut it to shape. its dense, so it also muffles sound really well. ive got a bunch of speakers made of the stuff with veneer on them. very good acoustic qualities (no resonance, or rattling).

if you want to go for proper wood and have the money and equipment to do so, id be partial to ironwood. its about the same as MDF, except you dont have the tear out problems. its strong, and dense so it probably wouldnt resonate either. only drawback (as with any proper wood) is that you have to machine it to get nice flat surfaces.

MDF is number one in my mind, but if you want to go aux naturale, get something very dense.

[Slug Toy]

and one other thing. MDF doesnt paint well on its own. it sucks it up just like water. youd need to seal it first.

[Elum!nal]

Thanks a lot for your help !
I'l see what I get and then start moding :)

[zitwep10]

How much money do you have? If you are rich, why don't you go with Ebony?

lol

[Elum!nal]

No i'm not that rich :P I will make the case with plane plywood :)

[zitwep10]

Yeah, besides ebony is really heavy. Hmmm... an idea just popped up, I am going to do a case made out of ebony and ivory...

[tybrenis]

a case made out of ebony and ivory...

Sounds nice and legal to me.

[zitwep10]

Hehe, my dad has a lot of ivory statues and such.. We actually also have furniture made from ebony and with incrusted ivory.

[tybrenis]

Do you live in America? Or anywhere other than, like, Mongolia? Real ivory is totally illegal - hopefully its some sort of substitute :o

[zitwep10]

No it aint, I know Ivory is illegal. I live in Switzerland but we used to live in Sri Lanka, all of what we have is antique, nothing is newly made, they are all more than 60 years old.

[ComputerKing]

ya wood is good