Hello, everyone. Wood has a large number of advantages over concrete. It is cheaper, faster, lighter, easier to work with and it is renewable. Concrete is usually placed in wood forms, so there is a large amount of wood used in concrete construction anyway (you can clean and reuse it, but for a small project like a house there is a lot of it wasted)

pic above  turn into table top already 

Hi for this table if use white Ash wood, how much would it cost ya?

Hi All Sifu,

I would like to get some education on timber usage/type application in Malaysia/KV market.

What is the different between the timber like balau/nyatoh (high-end type) compare to those selling in large construction material suppliers? Are they the same type of wood just not as finished as those mentioned here?

Basically I trying to figure out, are these "high-end" timber are meant for outdoor durability and they are being seen/touch by the user thus they are more expensive. and those "cheaper" type selling at construction supplier are mainly for structural/framing and eventually hidden from user thus they are cheaper type of wood?

Hope my question make sense 

Hi, hope my answer is right and can help you

For heavy type (or strong) wood like balau, cengal, merbau, resak, kranji etc, they strong and last longer in out door even without treatment mostly is because of it peak density per wood, so it is strong and stand for wet condition.

For other soft wood or medium , medium hard wood (usually they will call “mix hard wood” or mhw), they are softer and less packed in density, so it is light, suitable for light project, furniture, or thing that don’t need extreme support, or less burden to structure etc. One good thing for softer wood is easy to work for carpenter to shape or refine it.

To make soft wood to become last longer and water resistant as possible, usually they add kin dry (heat) , steam, chemical etc . But it will still not strong as above heavy wood when come to extreme job. But if use it right, it can as useful as heavy wood

Hi PowerPC, thanks for the reply. Not really the answer I am looking for...    but appreciate it none the less.

Maybe my question was not very clear. Hmm... how should I put it. Ok... I am trying to DIY a small deck at my garden so i am trying to come outwith a material list. So I know the deck boards and the rim joists I should use these so called high-end wood like balau,cengal,resak...etc because they are exposed to the weather AND they will be seen and touch by people. and these woods are pricey.

Then my question I have is, what about those structural members of the deck that are hidden from view and touch (like posts/joists). Sure, they need to be strong for obvious reason  but they dun need to be pretty to the eye and touch. So what type of wood should i use? Yes, I could just use those high-end wood but i would like to keep the cost down so what type of wood is suitable (strong) and maybe cheaper (coz dun need to look nice).

Any sifu can advise. Thanks.

can anyone recommend the sandpaper grit and coating oil i should use for my white oak counter?

You can ask sifu @AR188    He is expert in wood work

Ar188 offline for quite sometimes d

Izzit ? no wonder not see him up so many months, maybe he is busy ?

Don't know man, mobile also change liao... Couldn't get him atm

Hi all, if you are looking solid wood to make a part of your house renovation work, or a part of your yard, garden, or even living room, you will need to have a look for below.

I'm from a sawmill, and our timber business was established since 1988, and expanding our business to home user now.


(*to mod, i am not making an advertisement here, as i'm just trying to share some idea of my house by using the timber from my factory to all user here. But, if any of mod discovered that my topic has offended any rules out here, i will be very happy to remove this topic. Thank you.)


I believe many people love wood, because wood can be the closest relationship to mother nature if we use it right. Sometimes , just a simple peace of wood can make your living room feel warm and welcome. But because the tree is getting less, some of you may though the wood is pricey, and premium. Actually, it don't really expensive if you purchase directly from factory. Also, you can use B-Grade wood, it look natural and cost saving.
Few years ago, i am starting using rejected wood (B-Grade) as decoration in my house, you can see those picture below. We can share some idea, too.
This is my tea-pot rack, by using B-Grade 2x4, a lot of natural hole in the wood, it then turn colour to brown after time. Did you know how much it cost here ? Per wood is only RM12.50 (for 10 feet length) , picture shown are 8 feet (RM9.00), 7 feet (RM7.50), and 6 feet (RM6.50).



you will need only Wall-plug nail.  Drill a hole in wood, depend on your load preference, usually needed only few nail, and "slot" in the wall-plug nail, voila, you have just make a nice rack.

This rack is using 4 feet 2x4 B-Grade wood, cost only RM3.00 per wood.


Close-look for hole in wood.

I am using steel fence before i make over all fencing to wood. Picture below shown are using 1x3x3ft wood (RM2.80 per pcs), as you can see, after 5 years, i am not even maintaining it, and it is all directly from bandsaw, without any touch-up (planning & paint) , it still stand.

To make it look better, i then nail some 1x4 (RM1.80/pcs) to make a flower-pot.


Here's the self-made letter-box, which only cost very few ringgit to make it. few pcs of 1x4x2ft (RM1.80/pcs) , and 1pcs of 4x4x5ft (RM58.60/pcs).

You may not like the original wood look without painting like my fence above, if you wish to make it more clean and smooth by painting it, you can refer the fencing of my other house below, this 1 using 1x4 , for just (RM3.70/pcs), the whole fencing cost about RM260 (for 30ft length).

There are many table-top-sized wood in my factory, which actually hole and crack, so we rated it the B-Grade wood, and it can't sell to our customer since the usage propose aren't same. The size of such table-top wood usually 3"x12", 3"x14", 3"x16", or 4"x16". Original proposed for this size are making bridge, fishing boat, or other heavy duty use, some how, some logs aren't perfect, it has some hole, so, i then use it to make tea table for guest welcoming in my 2nd living room.

There have different size thus has different price. As your reference, like picture below, i am using 3"x12"x18ft , the table-top alone cost (RM315.00/pcs) , and then, i using the same species of log as support, the log size is 12x12x10ft (RM270/pcs) , and cutting it to 3pcs to support whole table.

The table-top surface has paper sanded to smooth, and with those hole and crack, it look unique.  I has seen the same type of table selling at antique shop for more than RM12'000 !!!

But i am only make it for less than RM800.00 for this table, included labor to make it. (wood alone total = RM585 only)

I am looking forward to build more wood-work and share here Thank you for viewing.
You can visit our factory facebook and website for more detail :  www.fb.com/fltimber    or  http://fltimber.business.site .

nice advice I'll look in detail later

You are welcome , Maybe i am not really understand your previous question

Now i understand dy
Is those "part" expose to rain and sun ? If yes, you can still use Mix Hard Wood (MHW) which usually have chemical and treated, even it is still not as strong as premium hardwood.

Hope my answer help 

Hi PowerPC, thank you for your advice. may i know what are Mix Hard Wood in Malaysia? scare i go to the local hardware store or lumber mill and ask for mix hard wood the uncle or the foreign worker there will answer me "Huh...?" 

hahaha...