Anyone worked with parawood?
 

So, I'm looking for a smallish dining table to use as a computer desk. All I want is 4 legs and a flat top, solid wood, no keyboard trays, no drawers, no nooks and crannies... Hard to find, let me tell you. :right:

(In case anyone has the perfect table in mind, I'm looking for shaker-style, 30"x48"x30". Finish can be anywhere from lightish-medium to dark.)

I have veered into the realm of unfinished furniture. I have done some wood finishing in the past (notably our bedroom set, which is still looking nice 10 years after we finished it). One thing that has struck me is the near-ubiquity of a 'new' material called parawood aka rubberwood. I have seen it denigrated as an inferior material to traditional hardwoods.

Anyone have any experience with this product? Any pointers?

My kitchen set was made of it. Looked really nice at first, but not durable at all. It got dented and scraped very easily. The chairs all got marks from people who sat in them with keys or other metal type objects in their back pockets.

Pie, if you want furniture to last more than a few years, you are better off buying good stuff and paying $ for it. Think in terms of amortizing the cost over years if you intend to keep it for years.

Cheap furniture has a much higher cost per year of service than expensive furniture. (Assuming its service life isn't ended because you grow weary of it)

It's almost garage sale season, I can find tables like that of good quality for cheep, at yard sales in the summer.

Or http://baltimore.craigslist.org/zip/

People seem to give away their furniture.

Go to a couple of antique stores. You might find a really well built table for the price of a new particle board piece of crap.

I saw a table around the size you are talking about in an antique store around here a couple weeks ago. Don't think it was a shaker style though.

Happy Monkey might have some info as well.

I don't know anything about parawood. I've primarily used cherry and walnut, finished with Danish oil and wax. My computer desk is the piece that gets the most wear and tear, and the wood has held up very well.

I would second the garage/craig/antique store sugestions, and maybe add estate sales.

I'm not keen at all on getting something second-hand. I actually need two of these tables, one for me and one for my husband. They'll be next to each other, so they need to match.

I'd rather spend a little more (or do the work myself) than get crap. There's plenty of tables that meet my operational needs down at Ikea; I'm looking for something with a little more aesthetic than that.

How about Alder? Anyone worked with that? Something like this.

Why, what happens if they don't match?

I'm not happy? Does this require justification?

Are you looking to assemble or actually build?
Alder is in the birch family and is relatively cheap, sort of durable, and is mostly a good wood for manufacturers to use. I don't know any woodworkers who would go out of their way to buy it. It is ok.

How much do you want to spend? Forget IKEA, while the stuff may look nice it is a 5 year piece at best.

If you aren't going to build it yourself and don't want to hire a local carpenter/cabinetmaker to make it and you don't want crap, then go to EJ Audi or some other Stickley type place.

Finding a woodworker to knock out a couple of simple tables without drawers shouldn't be that hard, or expensive. I bet you could get a pair for under $600. esp. if you were willing to sand and finish them, and want shaker style which is pretty simple and un-ornamented.

Dude, don't make her use the spank ray.

Imagine how disappointed I was to find out that parawood was not an erection device for wheelchair bound men.

F3, that's a great suggestion. I looked in our local yellow pages, and there are about 20 outfits listed under "cabinetmakers". I will call up a few and spec out a 48x30x30" shaker table, made from red oak. Support your local businesses!