Welcome, lots of information here. Good advice whether its woodworking or finishing. Would be interested in knowing what types of wood are popular where you are.
Brian
Thanks for the welcome! I'm looking forward to learning a lot!
Well, as a budget woodworker, never sure if I'm going to completely ruin a piece before I start with it, I normally buy offcuts from either Castorama or Leroy Merlin, which are chains of hardware stores we've got over here. There's a lot of pine, obviously, also birch, beech, spruce, fir, oak. A real, ie pro woodworker probably uses much cooler local woods. Perhaps I'm not the best person to ask, as I think the woods I mention are pretty common in most places. But there its is.
Over here, often people bring out old furniture and just leave it on the sidewalk for someone else to take. You can find interesting stuff there. Normally you just find particleboard with melamine... but sometimes you come across some old, motheaten oak beams you
could salvage if your wife allowed you to bring home dirty stuff you find in the street... 😄