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Boat building lumber


Kudzu

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I have been sitting and studying the plans on Cs-20 #66 the past couple of nights. I noticed that spruce and fir were recommended for building materials. Problem is around here all we have is Southern Yellow Pine and then the generic white wood that can be any of several specie and always full of small knots.

I can probably get local cut pine at a sawmill I don't think it is going to be good boat lumber either. This is not old growth pine nor is it Loblolly pine. It's typically going to be fast rowing souther yellow pine with wide growth rings in it. To my thinking not boat building lumber. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Just wondering what everyone else is using?

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I wish I could get a truck load of sassafras! I got my hands on one small board once, I made the supports for a swim platform on my Cris Craft. It stays wet and not a bit of rot.

I have never seen anymore. I will try lumber finder and see if there there is any being milled anywhere close.

That reminded me that there is a company that formed a couple of years ago that does timber framing. They probably know of all the sources for lumber and might be able to direct tme to someone too.

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Doing a little reading on southern yellow pine. Found this and thought I would post it for anyone else that is in the south and facing the choices I am.

This from a web site on the Missisquoi Bay barges

Wood Identification Results

The overwhelming majority of the wood samples taken from the Missisquoi Bay barges were southern yellow pine (52 of 57). This type of pine, which falls under the hard pine group, is divided into eleven species. Four of the eleven species make up 93% of the standing timber: loblolly (Pinus taeda), short leaf (Pinus echinata), longleaf (Pinus palustris), and slash pine (Pinus elliottii) (Hoadley 1990:148). Among the softwoods, southern yellow pine has the best combination of properties required for shipbuilding timbers. Although white oak is higher in shock resistance, holds fastenings better, has higher shear strength, resists splitting, wears less, and bends more easily, southern yellow pine is lighter in weight, lower in shrinkage and swelling, resists warping and stays in place better. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, southern yellow pine is more common and less expensive. Writing in 1880 Hall recounts the qualities of southern yellow pine:

This tree (southern yellow pine) is properly the yellow or long-leaf pine, and all from Virginia southward is of this variety

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Gee, now I wish I could find some of the SYP here.

Sassafras is available only from the local/small mills around this area. Most of the local lumber yards don't carry it and the one that I did find wanted over $12/bdft. I buy kiln dried 4/4 in widths from 8 to 12 inches and lengths from 10 to 12 ft for $1.50/bdft from the mills. This is the same price I pay for hard and soft Maples and the White Oaks. Walnut runs $2/bdft. I rarely buy lumber from the yards any more, the exception being Mahogany. I usually buy about $200 to $400 in lumber at a time, so not big orders.

Maybe we could figure out a way to ship some SYP up here and ship some Sassafras down to Tennessee? :)

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Maybe we could figure out a way to ship some SYP up here and ship some Sassafras down to Tennessee? :)

Funny, I was thinking that reading your post. Then I saw your last line. :lol::lol: If gas was not so high I would suggest we meet with a load somewhere North of the Kentucky line.

Around here SYP trees grow everywhere. Common as dirt. Most of the larger (bigger than 2x6) framing lumber is SYP.

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Lets see now. I take a load from Teen. to Gregman, pick up aload of the walnut and saasafras, return to Tenn, delivering about half of it for the other half and return home. Such an easy solution for a Knothead.

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I'm sitting here looking at a wainscote on my basement/office wall, made from yellow pine siding. The lumber yard had a small quanitity of the stuff and it had been sitting around for a while, so they gave me a good price to get rid of it. It was tongue and groove stock in a Dutch Lap pattern, but we hung it vertically and it looks good. BUT.....you had to be really, really careful when you nailed it or split on you. I think we eventually drilled pilot holes for the finish nails. Some even split after it had been up a while. My dad also tells me it's a booger to sand as it really clogs up the paper.

Aside from that, it's some good looking stuff and extremely tough.

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