spar wood alternatives

if you weren't going to use/couldn't get sitka for spar material for a small inland waters cruiser, what would be your next choice? spars will be built bird's mouth const'n, 16-22 ft long single side and fore stays. accomplished, well equipped wood worker of 30 yrs experience.

 

Eastern white spruce, eastern black spruce (if you can find it) or Douglas fir in that order.

 

thanks PAR, i figured doug fir would show up, wieght putting at the end. i think that's what i'm going to end up using and just settle for a little heavier stick. i want to build with local stuff whenever possible...expense. where i am there's not much around except standard house building materials, surely, D.F is available. the biggest problem is that when i walk into a lumber yard and ask about something they don't stock the first question they ask is, "what are you building?"...no need to say what enters thier heads after that....$$$$$$$$.

 

Wood also varies within each species. Ring count changes the mechanical resistance. Also finding clear stock is hard to do with some types of wood.

Look at Sasafrass. It is realitively in expensive, straight grained, rot resistant. Less weight than DF. Also Cypress (but it is next to impossible to find it clear, VG and no grain run out.

What quantity are you needing?

 

Douglas fir is available at the local Lowes/Depot in the form of 1 by stock and 5/4th stock, both used in decking or siding. You'll need to go through a whole stack or two to find enough good looking stuff for a mast. The nice thing about birds mouth is you can rip around most imperfections found in a 1 x 6. You'll want to find the tightest grain boards of the lot, which should be reasonably straight also. In a pile of quality 2 x 4's you may find one or two that are much better then the others. This will be white spruce, light and good spar making stock, but you'll have to fish through hundreds of other 2 x 4's to find them. You'll only need a few for your mast so it could be worth the effort.

I have been building this type of mast for some time and have developed methods for several needs you may be interested in. Luff rope grooves, swallow tails, internal halyards, etc. drop me an email for details.

 

Cap't Ron,
I used to live in Independence, Wis, which is west-central, and built canoes there. I needed 18' wood for the gunnels and would go to Star Trusses in Independence. He had mountains of 1"x24' doug fir and would let me pick what I wanted and sold it to me for cost. It was no problem finding clear of flat or quarter sawn. The factory is still running and you could possibly get the same deal ( explain what you are doing) or you might look in your own area for a similar situation, which gets you out of the realm of Menards/Home Depot lumber yard crud. Sam

 

hey PAR, thanks for the re. i will e-mail you shortly. in that i'm in the building trades, i am in the lumber yards all the time and have buddies that work in a few that are, as we speak, "culling out the good ones"' for me. i have the "encyclopedia of wood" and it's been a big help in finding species that will work. we don't have a lowes in the area, but have menards and home depot. i have searched through thier pallets enough to know the routine well! at the same time, from what i've been reading on several different sites, it seems that lowes generally has a little better grade of lumber and allot more and better varieties of sheet stock overall. i need to get into the library and see if there's a lowes somewhere decently close and have a look for myself. thanks for the tips.
hey samsam, i never thought about a truss factory, i will definately look into star trusses, i have used them on jobs (i'm a carpenter). well said about the menards/home depot crud, going there is just about useless at the stores in my area, it seems that local has some input on the quality of lumber found at these places. way too much market research going on!!.
thanks again guys....ron ward

 

Take a look at Hemlock.

 

To quote designer/ builder George Buehler (roughly) "hemlock is a weed and has no place on a boat". Or something to that effect. I have no experience with hemlock, so personally, I don't know. But reading the above quote would make me think more than twice.

 

Hi Craig,
We need to be careful about which Hemlock. I'm referring to Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) which is the same density as Sitka Spruce and has, I believe, slightly superior mechanical properties. It glues well and can take varnish.
George may be speaking of Eastern Hemlock (found in the east, funnily enough as opposed to Western Hemlock which is found in the west such as Alaska, British Columbia etc). Eastern Hemlock is full of knots and is a brittle wood - not suitable at all.
I would expect that Western Hemlock is of a lower cost that Sitka Spruce so it's worthwhile giving it a go. Maybe calling a boabuilder in the west, such as Eric Jespersen at Jespersens Boatbuilders in Vancouver, might get you better advice than I can give.

 

Most of the varieties mentioned are really hard to get in Australia, but oregon pine is recommended in some books, and I have used it for a small dinghy mast with reasonable success. You need to check the grain carefully in the piece you select.