white oak planking

Oil acts as an emulsifier Bataan, which is why it once was used in steaming operations. With the movement away from oil based finishes and the dislike of anything remotely related to petroleum, it's not a "step" in the process any more, not frankly is it needed as the heat effectively does as good a job.

The "whites" don't move any more then other hardwoods. I'll add there are a lot of things called White Oak, many of which aren't necessarily Quercus alba. In fact, some of the "whites" move less, because of an interlocking grain and generally smaller tubule size of the cellular structure. Again, the choice (as you know) of grain alignment and more importantly how it's installed usually dictate how things are going to fit (assuming shaping is accurate).

 

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In Holland I've seen several times using fire and water to bent oak without the use of a steam box. Not white oak but european oak. Mostly they get it from France. Quercus robur I think.

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Kinderdijker Hoogaars





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Dutch Punter (there are many types)







On this page you see a in a movie the use of a gas burner and water to bend the planks. Also the planks are soaked in water before the bending.

For Dutch punters they don't have drawings, only basic jigs for the curves which you can see being used in the movie.

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BTW, isn't this thread better placed on Wooden Boat Building and Restoration..?

Cheers!
Angel

 

Bending wood with fire, halfway down the page. These guys know how to pre-twist a garboard. This 'perahu' is a very old type and the construction would be appropriate to Homer by replacing the dowels with tenons. These were the vessels of the fierce Bughi pirates, where our term "boogieman" comes from.
http://naga-pelangi.blogspot.com/

 

Good point - relocated now. Thanks.

 

Trunneling... just looked it up... Link - Link - Link





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCcg7AxiE7E

Quite a project . . . ! ! !

Cheers,
Angel

 

Wow...

 

wow, i feel like the bad kid who got put in the corner.Anyway, so steaming planks does'nt raise the moisture content of the wood ? So where it is on the meter is where it stays till more drying time or its put in the water , is this correct? jnjwilson

 

Yes, steaming does raise the moisture content of the wood, but so does sneezing in the same room as where it's stored. Moisture content (as you know) varies with environmental changes, but this is a normal and expected thing in wood. Since the steaming process doesn't take very long and the very hot water and steam quickly return to ambient temperatures and humidity levels, you don't have as mush as issue with movement as you would think. This isn't to say that wood isn't going to change dimension in the process, but it is to say that because of the speed of the environmental change "event", the impact on the plank's shape is minimal. This is also partly because the plank (or frame) is just adjoining or butting (except for the shutter) which minimizes the dimensional change impact.

 

I do enjoy these brain storming moments,alot of good pic. and info and Bataan shows up with a web site that i lost and i've been tring to find.So to hit the nail on the head, planking stock such as cedar quite stable after drying , can be flitch sawn,could be steamed if needed and dimensionally wouldn't change much ,till being nailed to a boat and in the water. White oak on the other hand , with much more movement needs to be rift sawn,steaming won't change the size to much,and when on a boat ,being rift or quarter sawn the movement will be manageble to seal the hull.
One last question, using rift sawn, green [ say dried 2 to 3 months] steamed oak stock for planking verses the same stock but dried to 15 - 20% ,when putting it on the boat do you leave a little larger caulking seam or does it not make much difference for using the wetter planking stock? jnjwilson

 

You should ask Burnham this question as he's the one planking oak boats. Planking should always be seasoned stock if possible, though once we planked an entire 50' schooner with green fir that had been cut two weeks. She rotted away in Hawaii and didn't last long. Green oak is used for framing because the bends are a lot harder than when planking. My approach to planking since 1969 has always been to set it hard against its neighbor and make seams as tight as possible with proper caulking bevel but I have never planked with oak that I can remember. A well-fitted seasoned plank, properly fastened to sound frames, will not buckle on getting wet.
Here's BERTIE getting her topside planks. The vertical timbers are to wedge the plank to the frames. The very stout sliding bar clamps were made from cement form clamps and were 6' long, enabling two of them to be hooked jaw to jaw and spanning 12' when planking the deck. Every hull and deck plank on this PO cedar and Doug fir boat was clamped and fitted as tightly as possible. Nearly 30 years on this has proven wise.