Subject: Re: baidarka greenish spruce gunnels?
From: Ron Curtis (ron@roncurtis.com)
Date: Fri Mar 31 2000 - 23:35:27 EST
I've been working with wood for thirty some years and I would say you have a
good deal with the spruce. Have it sawed right away and select and cut your
parts. You can bring them inside, this time of year the interiors of
buildings, if they have been heated for the winter, are the driest they can
get. (One trick is to seal the ends of the pieces with paint or wax or
whatever will reduce moisture from escaping too fast from the end grain to
avoid end checks.) This will speed the drying of the parts. Also the
slightly green wood will respond to shaping to the boat much better than dry
wood and will tend not to have such an ingrained memory of its original
shape (straight) as much as dry wood because it is drying in the shape that
you want it to be. Sawing and shaping the pieces to finished dimensions
will hasten drying considerably (the smaller the quicker), the rule of one
year per inch is applicable to rough sawn boards of full 1" thickness and of
3 to 4 or more inches in width and which will be used in critical parts of
furniture that cannot tolerate certain types of movements and is hardwood
not softwood. By the time you are ready to put the skin on it should be
dry, besides there are no parts in the boat that have critical width
requirements and in fact these old kayaks were designed to be built with
green materials. Stick up (use stickers to separate the pieces) what you
don't use for the next boat. The suggestion of quarter sawing is the best
way too, superior function of the wood, but also the biggest waste.
Good luck,
Ron Curtis
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>From: wayne steffens <wsteffen@mr.net>
>To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
>Subject: baidarka greenish spruce gunnels?
>Date: Fri, Mar 31, 2000, 5:17 PM
>
> The search for gunnel material for my Caribou kayak has begun, and its been
> exasperating. I really want to use spruce for such an ominously long craft,
> and the local lumberyard pickings are pretty poor as usual.
>
> I found a small sawmill nearby that has several large spruce logs, well
> over a foot in diameter and 16 feet long. They are "dry" by a millers
> standard, as they have been sitting two years. However I know from cutting
> 8 foot firewood logs that a fair amount of moisture is retained when the
> bark is still on a long log. This mill will custom cut gunnel boards for me
> if I want them, and it will be far less than half the cost of a finished
> board (which I cant find anyway, yet). So, for you more experienced
> woodworkers, the question is will this stuff cause a lot of warpage
> problems if I try to use it? I've had supposedly "dry" lumberyard boards go
> crazy on me after buying them. The son of the mill owner (the owner is out
> of town) says that spruce will not freak out on me like other woods might.
> He's young though, and I dont know if I should take his word for it. Anyone
> have any experience with spruce in this regard? Its white spruce, _Picea
> glauca_.
>
> They will cut this stuff for me right now if I want, or I can keep hunting
> for dry wood if it seems wise to do so. I'm sure I can find dry stuff
> eventually, but I will pay a lot more for it, at may take a while, and I'd
> sure like to start building right now.
>
> Wayne
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