Charlie Jones Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Here's a shot of the heart yellow pine timber I found for the lower section of the keel. The ballast will butt against this timber. The piece of pine came from a house built somewhere around 1900. I counted 118 rings across the end of the 4x4 (FULL 4 inches ) Piecing slices together I figured the tree was somewhere around 140 years old when it was cut. That means the tree started growing somewhere about the time (or before) of the American Revolution. Note the run of grain along the length of the 8 foot chunk! A real shame we can't find wood like this todady isn't it? [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 What a beautiful piece of wood! We used to get some old douglas fir out here from old houses, and what they used for construction beams back then is absolutely straight, vertical grain. Finishes great, too. But alas, the old salvaged lumber is being exported now to Mexico for building down there (at least it isn't being burned!) I have some wood from my father's patio he built 30 years ago, and I'm going to start on the centerboard for the Spindrift soon ... the board will be laminated douglas fir. I'm looking forward to starting on it either this weekend or after my little mini-vacation next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Jones Posted September 17, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 Frank- there's a furniture builder in Victoria who specializes in using old wood. He travels all over the south buying and tearing down old buildings just for the lumber. Frequently he has some really beautiful stuff, like this. Builds some gorgeous furniture too. An example- here in Port Lavaca he dismanted an old house and found the walls were studded with full 4 x 4 heart cypress, mortice and tenoned into both the floor plate and the ceiling plate!!! At one time he had some 2 x 6 fir joists from another house that were full dimensioned and TWENTY EIGHT feet long, absolutely clear. I go there to buy lumber when I need a really special piece, such as this keel. Sure is beautiful stuff to work with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P Doug (WA) Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 This is not as impressive but with the scarcity of good lumber I am finding it pays to check everything before cutting it up for fire wood. I just tore down a little barn I had built around 20 years ago. I had a wood floor in part of it made out of 2"X7"X4' boards. I was going to cut the boards up for fire wood, until I got to looking at them. They are real nice red fir (I think). Make great boards when run through a planer. Sad part they were probably 8' or 12' boards before I cut them into 4' lenghts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Day Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 This is for Frank Hagen. I wasn't aware that you were building a Spindrift. It appears you are far enough along to answer questions when I get stumped on something. I now have plywood and epoxy in the workshop, so I'm pretty close to starting the boat. I'm looking forward to a lot of fun in the next few months. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dunn Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 Nice looking wood. I ran into a guy here in Denver that bought the bleacher seats from Denver West High School when they rebuilt their bleachers. He has a pile 3' high with three or four stacks of mahogany boards, 14' and 16' long by 8" or 9" wide by slightly more than 1" (a real inch) thick. I bought a board for my gunwhale. He has planed the finish off of some of the boards. He is selling the unplanned boards for $3.50 a board ft. He thought the bleachers were built around 1938. The boards have two holes about every 4 ft. Drop me an email if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 This is for Frank Hagen. I wasn't aware that you were building a Spindrift. It appears you are far enough along to answer questions when I get stumped on something. I now have plywood and epoxy in the workshop' date=' so I'm pretty close to starting the boat.I'm looking forward to a lot of fun in the next few months. Steve[/quote'] I'm still in the "drooling over the plans" stage ... haven't even started. I do have some nice douglas fir that I want to start making the centerboard with ... I even cleaned the shop up a couple of weekends ago. I have sourced some Okume plywood for it, but haven't made the trek down there to actually buy it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Day Posted September 18, 2003 Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 That might even be better. You threw me off when you wrote about building the centerboard. I thought you were further along. We can now work our way through our projects at about the same time. I look forward to corresponding more as we get into our projects. Steve 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted September 19, 2003 Report Share Posted September 19, 2003 Great idea, Steve. In fact, you'll probably encourage me to get started and working on it. I'm very interested in having a small, quick to launch sailboat I can single hand easily and not have to bother with an outboard, registration, etc. The Spindrift fits that bill for me, but I just have to get started! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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