# Type of Wood and Black Stain or paint?



## dhillaby (Nov 7, 2007)

I am building a component stand for my theatre room. Its built into the wall with access from the back in the electrical room. The frame is simply 2x4's so there is nothing sophisticated for me to do other than a top, bottom, sides and a door on the back + shelving.

However I am an novice at finishing type of woodworking. 

I was at Home Depot and looking at my choices of sheets of wood. Oak is expensive, maple had a nice finish and was much less than the oak, and they had some high grade sanded pine as well which was the least expensive.

So I want this stand to be black when its complete and I'm not sure if different types of wood would be easier to paint black or not?

I'm also not sure if I should be using stain, regular paint, a special kind of paint? I want this to look good when I'm done and I want my black to be a deep black not a greyish black (had that experience painting drywall).

And finally I guess my other option is to use the black laminent particle board stuff. Although my black would be black, I'm not a big fan of it and I know the laminent can chip when your cutting it.

Any advice on the type of wood and how to get a nice black out of this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks


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## joesdad (Nov 1, 2007)

If you're set on black, forget the stain. Once upon a time Home Depot carried a very inexpensive 3/4" Sandply. It was a bit soft and tended to fuzz up when you sanded it, but nothing a good sanding sealer wouldn't fix. Last time I used it I built some quicky laundry room cabinets and the the veneer bubbled up in the middle of some of the panels after painting. Never used it again.

I've seen poplar ply there which would be a better choice if your set on a wood product.

If you want an ultra smooth finish without all the prep time of sanding and sealing wood, than try MDF with a good oil based primer/paint and one of those funky little six inch foam rollers. You can't screw it up.


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## PK. (Nov 12, 2007)

Home Depots around here sell 3/4" China birch for about 26 bucks. I'll pick up a few sheets in between orders when I run out. I've used the Sandeply a few times for unseen things, it was okay, but the birch is better. I don't know where you are, but I imagine there's a yard that caters to cabinet shops. If you want cheap, buy the China birch. If you want something good, buy the Columbia Europly.

Mdf is great stuff, but for shelving I'd use plywood. For the rest of the project it'd be a good thing to consider.


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