wayward you had the same
as me
FIREWOOD!! He was tired of moving it from laundry to wood room to garage where it was in the way of all the tools he barely touches now. Wasn't going to move it back in to the house again, had no practical use for it so like all born and bred farm boys figured the next best use was to 'use' it. His daughter knew I'd have a total fit when I arrived so he said as long as it was out of the garage he would be happy.
Never even thought of fir. The boards are very rough on the inside so I'm figuring a soft wood. Should check the inside of the drawer fronts, they are smoother but at least it may show a grain. The knots seem stable, on the back though at least two have popped out. Only just got it in the house this afternoon. Stupid me, never thought to take a look at the bottom when we were lifting it up the stairs. It doesn't seem to be overly heavy in comparison to it's look. I had expected to have more trouble getting it in........but I throw 40-50 lbs of produce around all day and my daughter was a garbage 'man' used to moving 20 ton a day by hand, so we're not too shabby in the moving dept.
I think the one thing that most struck me when I first saw it was the fact that I had one of the same style in my bedroom from the time I was about 10. It was solid mahogany and came from my great aunt's beautiful victorian home. Unfortunately it came along with a (now) gorgeous cannon ball four poster, also mahogany.......that my great aunt had died in. NOT the kind of bed a 10 yr old relishes sleeping in.
At least it doesn't have the issues my sideboard does and now that my other furniture is out of the way (thank you daughter!) I can get both pieces in my room and work on them on the deck just outside. They'll be accompanied by a little bedside table I picked up that would give you guys another set of giggles.
Guess I'm truly an equal mix of both my parents.....mother loved the old, fine furniture and dad was a scavenger/re-user at heart.