woods to choose from

ok 1 i know western red cedar is probably best planking materal overall, i really want to clearcoat the cedar and just anti foul the bottom..
2 white oak keel and ribs time tested and proved no problem..
3 what about the rest of the boat/ship? cross beams and the like ?
a few of the nusiance cut trees around here in all kinds of diameters
west red cedar
vine maple
nobel fir
deadoras cedars.
big juniper species trunks
bigleaf maple
douglas fir
green holly
scotch pine
thorny black locust
mountian ash
beech
chesnut
western hemlock
various other assorted species
however not mutch oak around here

a few of those are paticularly fast growing and prolific i know i did landscaping for 12 years.
reccomendations on cureing/ drying same
i already got the part about brine soaking 2-3 monthes before drying from longship boat pages , any other comments would be aprecated.

somone mentioned recycle of wood well, just tons of material that might be of use to wood boat builders is going off to be made into guess what..dirt.
you know who is throwing it out there and Paying for it to be taken by recyclers..landscapers. last time i knew my boss just hated dump runs.

however this means also going to construction lots before they are cleared. and being able to haul material. or haveing it picked up and deliverd. youd be astonished how mutch just goes to the grinders.

 

There is no best species of lumber. It depends on the application and design. Do you already have a design? If so, following the specifications is best. Otherwise, you may have to recalculate the scantlings.

 

hmm i was looking more at what kinds of boatwoods to look at saveing and cureing for boat building...perhaps even as a specialty company...and depending on growth rate i might consider looking into growing trees for the boat building industry, properly cut and cured plank and beam ought to be fairly valuable right?..like i said i see a lot of clearing and landscaping jobs out here resulting in a what could be a lot of nice timber going to the recycle grinders...if i knew what was suitable then that kind of thing i could target thru local landscapeing and construction outfits who pay quite a lot for stuff to be ground up and taken away
take many hillsides in my area have orgon bigleaf maples usually the big tree gets cut for safty reasons and the base grows these straight trunked suckers grow out of the stump usuaklly they are allowd to grow for a few years til they become view blocking and get trimmed at the stump a lot of these are 4-6" straight not very branchy trunks 10-20' long pretty even near the base
thats just one example

 

i havent really chosen a wood to build in yet gonso though i see a majority favor white oak and red cedar. even the vikings pretty mutch preferd cedar on oak... so i guess that pretty mutch establishs whats "best" in terms of non fiberglass construction. doug fir is another alaskan cedar is also another real straigt grained wood in farly long lengthes.. iv been thinking about not building in wood.

 

If you are looking for a specialty product, marketing crooks may be something to think about. These are the bent parts where roots and branches come out of the trunk. They used to be grown and harvested in quantity, but with modern lumbering techniques they are usually burned or left behind.

 

see thats just the kind of thing im talking about ,mostly what i ned to know though is what species of trees to keep and what to leave doug fir west red cedar wetern hemlock are the most commen big stumps usually with the entire root fan! in the case of doug firs and id like to maby find something fairly responcable twords the enviroment that provodes the wood boat communiety with a supply ...another question..split or sawn planks?..and what about whole trunk smaller trees instead of sawn beam wood? are some of my other questions..i also know of acres suitable for growing trees dooin nothing like premium boat wood is western red cedar it wouldent be hard to get enough bare root saplings to cover a couple hundred acres easily in the space of one planting season..a thing used in landscape industry called a trencher is a wonderfull thing for planting bare root :>

 

In a "marine composites" class I attended a couple years back, the subject turned to fatigue resistance. The lecturer, who was from the Naval Academy, mentioned that Black Locust was on of the most fatigue resistance materials he knew. Food for thought.

Joel

 

i know it grows fairly fast.. its drought tolerant..and profilic and i feel for you if you accidently run into a mass of small ones long sharp thorns like barberry but on a tree. this is the kind of thing im thinking of so what else do u know about the species i listed at top there Jr.?

 

You cannot go wrong with SYP (Southern Yellow Pine)...nearly as tough as oak and long lasting. You can used it for hull and deck planking.

 

For conventional wood boat construction Douglas fir is good for all parts except bent frames. The finer the grain the better, typically. That means usually trees from higher elevations or places where they grow slower as opposed to where they grow really fast.
Hemlock is not well suited to conventional wooden boat construction as it doesn't do very well in a wet environment.
Western red cedar is best for planking small boats because of it's lightness. It is less desireable for planking larger boats because it is relatively soft.
Locust can be used most anywhere as a substitute for oak except bent frames and probably not for planking either.
Larch is almost as good as douglas fir and is the favored wood of the northwestern varieties for grown frames or knees cut from the roots and stumps. I believe it is very similar to what is called hackmatack or tamarack in the east. Some one may correct me if I am wrong about this.
Some varieties of beech are excellent for boats and I would suggest you do some research to determine if the ones you find are of the best varieties.
The best kept secret of Northwestern woods is Oregon white oak. It is excellent for bent frames, perhaps as good as anything for that purpose. The only drawback is that you must grade it very strictly as it is prone to pin knots and shake (tiny cracks or splits as it grows or dries).
Alaskan yellow cedar and Port Orford cedar are excellent for boats also, being more rot resistent than douglas fir but softer.
Sitka spruce and Engleman spruce can also be used for boats but I would suggest being a little more judicious about where they are used than the others. Both of these spruces and douglas fir can be used for solid masts. I have heard of the spruces being used successfully for planking when treated with wood preservatives.

 

One further comment here; if you see a reference to Oregon pine they are talking about Douglas fir.

 

thank you , actually i left off the oregon coast oak due to the fact that most of the exsisting stands are at risk from sudden oak death..a vicious fungal infection i read about some time ago and people tramping back and forth sometimes bring the spoors in on their shoes or clothing or even dirt on truck bodies.. figured it might be a good oak wood but left it out delibrite in order to not promote cutting of it.