You’re favorite woods to work with.

I like the usual walnut, cherry, and maple. Cypress is super easy to work with too.

I've made stuff over the years with lots of different woods including cypress, Spanish cedar, mahogany, walnut, birch, cherry, oak, maple and teak.

My favorite for looks is walnut. I love the graining it has.

By far, the easiest to work of the above group is cypress, and I've used it many times to build things for myself and others over the years.

The biggest thing about cypress is if you plan on staining it. I find it is best to use a "piss coat" of 2 parts denatured alcohol and 1 part shellac applied to the wood first before staining to help it go on more evenly.

If you don't do that, there's a very good chance the stain will go on uneven with some real dark areas next to some pretty light areas.

I do my best to stay away from staining cypress and much prefer to simply clear coat it for a more natural finish.


If you've built an acoustic guitar, then you have a lot of patience and a good degree of attention to detail.

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and an acoustic guitar

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Woods used?
Being an acoustic player for decades I’ve given this a passing thought for years. My preference would be cedar over rosewood, 000 size.
This may be the year.

Walnut, White Oak, Cherry, and Mahogany tend to be my go to woods. Mahogany isn't quite as good looking as Walnut, but is cheaper (African at least) and easy to work with.

See a lot of people saying they like working with cypress. I have made a few things with cypress. It's too soft for me. If I have to use a chisel to make a mortise or something, the wood just tears. Would much prefer harder woods if I'm doing any sort of traditional joinery.

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Mahogany isn't quite as good looking as Walnut,

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I've built a few display cases and stands out of mahogany and find the grain to be rather bland, but you're right, it is nice to work with.

I use to be pretty regular at Riverside Lumber on Morrison Rd. in N.O. East off Downman Rd. They have a great selection of domestic and exotic hardwoods, but none of them come cheap. What I liked most is they allow the customers to pick through the lumber to get some nice pieces they want for their projects.