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Unfinished Furniture - Pine Vs. Oak
By Thomas Bridleman
The most readily available bare wood is pine, and there are numerous reasons for this. Pine is abundant and, as a soft wood, is relatively light and easy to work with. It also provides a good balance between attractiveness and durability, and stands up better than many other types of wood in high humidity environments. It also takes stains and paints well, which are the most common means of finishing a piece of bare wood furniture.


Price is another often compelling factor. There’s really no better value for your money than pine bare wood furniture, and with proper care, a pine piece can last for generations. Its easy availability, attractiveness, durability and price combine to make it an excellent choice when considering the purchase of a piece of unfinished furniture.

If pine is the most readily available type of bare wood furniture, then oak is not far behind. While more expensive than pine (in part because of its slightly lesser availability, but also because it’s more difficult to work with), oak is steeped in nostalgia and tradition. Many famous pieces of oak wood crafted in the Middle Ages are still around today, a testament to the durability of this type of wood.

Oak is a hardwood, and as such, will typically have more pronounced

and interesting grain patterns. Like pine, it takes paints and stains well, but where pine offers good durability for the money, oak offers superb durability, and generally requires less in the way of maintenance and upkeep.

Because of this, while pine wood is perfectly acceptable for numerous applications, if the piece you’re considering is destined for high traffic and heavy use (a dining table or desk, for example) then spending a little more and investing in oak is probably the better choice.

If you don’t mind mixing wood types in your home décor, my recommendation would be this:

Use pine bare wood for accent tables, book cases and other pieces where traffic and use will be light to moderate. Also, pine should be considered a top contender in bathrooms and other high humidity environments.

Use oak bare wood for heavy traffic/high use pieces such as desks and dining tables, where its greater durability will enable it to stand up to the rigors of constant use with relatively little in the way of maintenance.

Whatever sort of wood you settle on, with proper care and maintenance, your bare wood should last for generations and if you finish the piece yourself, it will be imbued with a bit of your family’s history.
To learn more about this and related topics, see Our Website, unfinished pine furniture, www.bare-wood-furniture.com/unfinished-pine-furniture

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