Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I plan on getting some of my floor and wall framing material this weekend.
I see some people use Oak, Poplar, and Pine.
Does it really make a difference? I can see at places where I will be attaching things latter i.e.: hinges, lights, which it would be better to use
a hardwood.

Awhile back I made a project out of select white pine, knot free stuff
and it turned out really nice.

I plan on biscuits or pocket screws and epoxy or polyurethane glue at all joints.

Thanks

Don

I would think that for sandwich construction, the select pine would be fine...for most everything..............

I haven't checked this out personally yet, maybe some members can help. It seems for sandwich construction, you need to make sure that the insulation available is the same thickness as your framing. I think that some builders have had difficulty matching 3/4" insulation with frames cut out of 3/4 ply. In my rural area that doesn't have big box stores with a wide selection of materials, I thought I would go ahead and check out the availability of the insulation and either buy the cheapest pine to match, or (because I have a planer and access to cheap western red cedar or sitka spruce), run some rough sawn boards through the planer to fit. I can see absolutely no reason to use anything other than an inexpensive and lightweight softwood for the framing so long as it is relatively dry and stable...Good luck...Juneaudave

[quote="Juneaudave"]It seems for sandwich construction, you need to make sure that the insulation available is the same thickness as your framing.

I framed up my floor for two layers of 1/2" pink foam to discover that 1/2 foam (at least here) is 9/16, and that 1" white foam is 15/16. So, I had to do some redesign, which irritated me a bit, and along the way I lost some R's.

Around here the box stores don't have any 3/4" foam insulation.

idaho dave

d-hartman wrote:I plan on getting some of my floor and wall framing material this weekend.
I see some people use Oak, Poplar, and Pine.
Does it really make a difference? I can see at places where I will be attaching things latter i.e.: hinges, lights, which it would be better to use
a hardwood.

White pine is going to be 50% lighter than oak but it's screw holding capability is less though still adequate in most cases. Worst cases are hinges. I'm planning to use inserts or thru bolting for the side doors and fir as hinge attachment framing for the hatch. A dense spruce would work too. Hardwoods are expensive around here but could be a good choice for critical locations where they are cheap.

just picked up 111.6 board feet of aspen ($134), no knots. this is what i am using. i would use cedar but northern white is too soft and the western cedars are too costly.

Thanks

Pine it is !

Don, whenever I am in a big-box store, I check out the 1x12 white pine lumber rack. If it hasn't been picked through, I pick through it, and usually select 3 or 4 nice 8 ft boards that are mostly clear, but with a few knots, hopefully all in a row. I bring it home and store it on stickers in the shop and always have a ready supply of my very favorite woodworking material.......white pine lumber.

I try to choose pine with fairly close growth rings, as I find they are stronger and accept stain better. If some lumber has bark on the edge or a crack within the board, it is no problem because I am only looking for the clear stuff when I rip it on my table saw. I avoid twisted or cupped pieces, of course.

My whole tear is made of it, except for the roof trusses which are ripped 2x4 douglas fir. I maintain that it is the glue that holds these things together, and the screws or nails are used to hold things tight until the glue dries. It has worked so far for me. No screws in the hinges have pulled out, they are very close together in the door piano hinges. If you have concerns about the hatch hinge, use a piece of oak or similar hardwood where the hinges screws are. Just my 2 cents.

Roly...............Got Wood?

Logical choices dictate that that material should suit the job ...hardwood in places that require strength , lighterwoods would save weight in other areas...