Message-Id: <l03102800aff1c7c24e84@[204.177.185.201]>
In-Reply-To: <199707151453.HAA20847@ns1.intelenet.net>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 00:59:44 +0000
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
From: Peter Cain <cainpe@iserv.net>
Subject: Immersing wood to season it
In "Fine Woodworking on Bending Wood" I came across a reference to the
pilot gigs which Wolfgang mentioned when we were talking about...elm, was
it? A synopsis of the related points follows:
The Cornish elm trees selected to become planking for the pilot gigs (and
they never took one more than half-grown "because the nature was gone out
of it"?) were chained in creek mud and soaked in saltwater until the worms
had eaten away the sapwood. That took about four years. The planking was
cut from the logs and dried for a year.
The article notes that the keels on these boats were not seasoned in salt
water and that in gigs which have survived to this day, the keels have had
to be replaced.
-Pete-