Wood for interior

[musicman]

Well its hand rubbed and he said it took the entire family weeks to work on them when they had the time,But dang they look like a million bucks..My cuttent employer has a Prevost and Ive noticed alot of coaches like Prevost have than bland white corian counter top and cabinet look...No personality in the new coaches at all..They look to sterile and all those flat straight lines...YUK...Not for me...Most of the walls in my house are pecky cypress over drywall and I have 10x10 Cypress beams in all the room ceilings..The fireplace is all river rock and My porch has a tin roof..I accented the entire porch with Wagon wheels and a old whicky barrel..I liike that old country feel and thats what Im shooting for in this coach

[cody]

Next time I run into you in the chat room I'll walk you thru the process, it's time consuming but you can get pro results if you take your time.

[jdr]

Baltic birch plywood for all of the walls and cabinet structure. Very cheap high quality plywood. All solid cherry interior with cream color shades and upholstery with copper counter tops. Cherry is cheap for a hard wood,easy to work and has a nice reddish color I like. Just oil it and your done.The cherry wood looks alot richer than it is. You can spend a LOT of money on hard wood if you want to and you will use more than you think. I would try to stay away from the soft wood only because it will dent easily. If money isn't an object, ebony or pink ivory is ONLY about $90-$100 a board foot!

[Gary LaBombard]

FWIW I thought I would mention that anyone needing a mixture of fully cured hardwoods ready for milling to any dimension you need at a price I am sure you would be pleased with should email Fred Hobe located at Madison, FL.  You can get his email address through our profiles if you are interested. 

Also plan to spend some enjoyable time with a grandfather to our conversion family who can also give you much advise on any aspect of your conversion, especially if you own a MCI but any bus I am sure.  Tell him Gary sent you, you won't meet a nicer man in life.
Gary 

[johnjem]

my 4905 was completey done in maple<nicly done and even has inpervections in the knots i like it,

[superpickle]

 

you must have a Thing, for Splinters   

[belfert]

Baltic Birch cheap?  It costs at least $30 for a 3/4" 5x5 sheet around here.  3/4" is probably overkill for most uses and 1/2" is sometimes a lot cheaper.  I will admit it is generally cheaper than any hardwood plywood. 

I'm planning on knotty pine wood in my coach simply because it is cheaper than hardwood and lighter too.  Would an epoxy finish make the surface of pine harder?

[gpatom]

I used grade A oak for all my cabinets. The drawers (and I have lots of them) are all made of poplar, both are good hard woods and built to last. Finished out very nice and you can get many different colored stains for oak.

[Jeremy]

Baltic / Russian birch ply is indeed excellent stuff, albeit with a rather plain grain. I used lots and lots of it in my house (including panelling the entire kitchen and conservatory), largely because it is cheap and it goes well with the birch furniture / kitchen cabinets which are quite fashionable at the moment. I pay around £9 ($18) for a 4mm thick 5'x5' sheet - $30 for a 3/4" (19mm) sheet seems like exceptional value for money - I would buy a truckload at that price and use it to build the whole structure of your coach's interior. I was surprised recently to find a new supplier selling Russian Birch in 8' x 4' sheets (although only in 6.5mm thicknesses), which is a big improvement over the former limitation of only being available in 5' x 5'

My bus interior will all be done in Cherry - a combination of ready-veneered ply, some veneering I will do myself (I hate doing my own veneering, but sometimes it's unavoidable), and hardwood for mouldings. Poplar is a wood I also like a lot (very Art Deco), but I have a deep abiding dislike for anything made of Oak or Knotty Pine - mainly I think because they are both so horribly common.

Jeremy

[captain ron]

I used cedar and barn siding in my bedroom, Knotty pine in the living room ceiling and lower walls and bath ceiling. some ash and oak wainscot (mixed) on 2 bath walls (upper half) kind of a hodge podge but looks nice.

[mandolinplucker]

I have never heard of "french polish" done with anything but shellac. It is an old method of finishing furniture and musical instruments. To do a guitar takes many coats and a few weeks to do. It is sort of like "spit-shining" shoes except instead of shoe polish you use shellac and instead of spit you use a drop of oil. I can't imagine trying to do a whole bus interior that way. A more practical way would be to thin down polyurethane and apply it with a rag instead of a brush. It takes a few coats but they go on fast and dry fast and don't run like brushing does on vertical surfaces. It's a much harder and more durable surface than shellac, or lindseed oil which will stain with water or alcohol. Min Wax makes wiping poly but it is a whole lots cheaper if you mix your own.

[Cary and Don]

Cabinet finishing is what I do for a living.  There isn't any law that says the uppers have to be the same wood as the lowers. Many custom kitchens are going with a mix and match.  Light uppers, darker lowers.  One type of finish on the wall cabinets, another on the island cabinet.  The mixture gives the cabinets more of a furniture appearance.  As pretty as maple is when new and white, it does not stay that way very long.  It is very light sensative and will turn a light golden color with age, usually within a year. I plan on using a light stain on our uppers and a shade or two darker on the lowers.

Don and Cary
4107 complete
Neoplan in the works

[boogiethecat]

Um... why is Cedar "out" ?  I've had it (T&G)on my ceiling in da bus for 5 years now and it's never been anything but great! Absolutely love it...

[cody]

Cedar works great for a ceilings, my concern would be in using it for the cabinetry that it might be prone to nicks and dings.  I suggested hardwood for the cabinetry or any area's that might be in the line of fire when moving things around or bumped into with other things like chairs. I've done custom cabinetry for many years and have always cautioned people about the vulnerabilty of softwoods for cabinetry, if a person is careful they look great for many years but one ding and it's there for eternity too lol, unless it's a minor compression dent and can be steamed out.