Taiji wrote:Some of those alder logs would be very welcome down here in AZ. A few decades ago I took a couple of woodworking classes at the local community college. They considered alder a hardwood though softer than something like hardrock maple of course. It was the cheapest of the woods to buy, and one of the easiest woods to work with for making furniture. I really liked the texture and color of the wood too. Kind of a pleasing honey colored wood with a nice grain.
You could probably make about 10,000 kitchen cutting boards with that much alder!
I do a lot of woodworking projects with our indigenous cypress and it too is one of the "softer" hard wood varieties. What I like most about it is how easily it works, especially when shaping it on a router table. Many times you can make the entire profile without worrying about scorch marks or dulling router bits. Early last year I bought 50 pieces of 1 x 6 x 8 boards that have been air drying in my shop that I've just started to use to build an entertainment center for my man cave. This is about the 10th piece I've built for myself over the last few years including a dining room table, china cabinet, large bookcase, queen size bed frame with headboard and footboard, outdoor furniture and re-facing all my kitchen cabinets.
The only issue I, and others, have is when staining, it is best to use 1 part shellac cut with 2 parts denatured alcohol (lovingly referred to as a Piss Coat) applied to the wood, then sand with 220 grit to help the stain take more evenly in the different grain of the wood. Miss that step and the stain has a way of looking very splotchy and uneven between the softer and harder graining of the wood.
If the alder works as easily as the cypress, I don't think it would make a very good cutting board surface. I'd prefer to use a much harder grained wood for something like that.