gardnesd Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 I've had folks tell me, "you live in the south use syp for your shop furniture" etc. I'm a little new to the game and am wondering how does syp come? Is it dimenisional lumber? Is it offered at the big box? mom and pop lumber yard??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben@FineWoodworking Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 I've had folks tell me, "you live in the south use syp for your shop furniture" etc. I'm a little new to the game and am wondering how does syp come? Is it dimenisional lumber? Is it offered at the big box? mom and pop lumber yard??? I would not know this if I wasn't reading Schwarz's workbench book. Yup SYP is dimensional southern yellow pine. He says to get 2x12s. Even if you want a 2x4 get the 2x12 and rip it down because the better wood is used in the 2x12. I haven't check mine (nashville) but it should be available at your big box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwatson Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 i am making a workbench out of SYP now. bought 2x12s in 16 foot lengths and cut it down to what i needed. you can cut warps and twists out if you do it this way instead of using 2x4s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sac Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 I am a fan of SYP. I think that it a real nice grain to it. Works very nicely as well. Make sure that you can find some in your area. Use the Product Locator on the SYP Council page. I used it for the base of my LVL bench and it is great. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardnesd Posted November 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 Found some at sLowe's. The 2x12's are much better wood than the other dimensions. I suppose you can find even better lumber at the local lumber yards due to the fact that they move more lumber(a lot more to pick from). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwatson Posted November 23, 2010 Report Share Posted November 23, 2010 bought mine from lowes, i dug through the pile looking for the best and as little knots as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Pants Posted November 24, 2010 Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 I've used SYP for a lot of my shop furniture, built a workbench out of it as well using one of Chris Schwarz's plans. It's easily found at the big box stores in Texas at least, and while it takes some searching for good stock (straight, not a lot of knots etc.) it works well and is very strong for a softwood. Its a little more expensive than SPF but its worth it. I would recommend working with 2x6 stock or bigger though (it cuts and planes well). 2x4 stock tends to be harder to find straight boards and it seems to have more knots in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawrence Brown Posted November 24, 2010 Report Share Posted November 24, 2010 We had a huge pallet of it at the train restoration shed where I volunteered. Had it specially shipped up here. Some pieces were at thick as 12x12 and 20 feet long. It was the closest we could get to the original stuff. I was amazed at how clear and how heavy it was for being pine. Definitely a lot better than the fir we get around here. I could definitely see using it for benches and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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