Heirloom Chest - Which wood to use?

[blkdiamond]

I will be picking up the wood to build this Heirloom Chest from Wood Magazine (http://www.woodstore.net/heirhopches.html) this weekend and my wife has requested that I paint the chest black, which I will be doing using Milk Paint and then a water-based finish.

I was planning on cutting the panels out of Baltic-Birch plywood, but was debating on what wood to use for the frame. I thought about hard-maple, but the cost is still fairly high for wood that I will be painting. I am hesitant to use something too soft like poplar as this will be used as a coffee table/toy-box/blanket chest. So my question is, what recommendations do you all have for the wood for the frame. Thanks.

[eric71m]

I just built this Chest...

Since you plan to paint... Poplar is a fairly inexpensive wood choice.

[Dan S]

If it's going to have a hard life, I would pay the extra and go with the hard maple. Don't by select though go with #1 or #2 common.

[duckkisser]

if you go with a dark wood like oak, cherry, walnut you can ebonize the wood. here is a post that i put on that has a link you might find useful just so you know you can take oak and put tea(might be able to use wine) since both have lots of tannins to get it really dark.

http://woodtalkonlin...h__1#entry38521

[JohnnyNoName]

I would try poplar or red maple if you don't want to see the grain. If you don't mind seeing the grain through the paint... whatever is cheapest and easiest to work in your area.

Jonathan

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