Laminated Pine Boards

Tantalo · Post by **Tantalo** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:26 am

I was in the Home Depot the other day and saw wood boards made of pine that are end to end laminated. I didn't see any knots and thats understanable since the boards are laminated using small high quality pieces.

I know pine is heavier than cedar, so that's a disadvantage.

Has anyone ever stripped such "laminated" boards and used them for a canoe/kayak?

I'm wondering what the boat would look like? I envision such a boat looking something like a checkerboard because of the various grains along each strip.

But maybe this is a very beautiful design!

bluedcanoed · Post by **bluedcanoed** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 6:31 pm

I've never considered these finger joint laminated pine planks for marine use - but I have seen them exposed to moisture. The glue is not water resistant and will delaminate if it gets damp.

Cheers,

Bob

Tantalo · Post by **Tantalo** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:05 am

bluedcanoed wrote:I've never considered these finger joint laminated pine planks for marine use - but I have seen them exposed to moisture. The glue is not water resistant and will delaminate if it gets damp.

Cheers,

Bob

Good to know Bob. But once the wood is encased in the fiberglass, I am thinking the moisture problem should go away. Am I right on this?

Sonshine777 · Post by **Sonshine777** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:31 am

I would think they should work just fine. Most of us glue the strips together with glue that would come apart when exposed to moisture, but when encased in fiberglass they hold just fine. If they can stand the strip making process they should be great building material.

pawistik · Post by **pawistik** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:48 am

I don't see any reason it wouldn't work. What about the cost? How does it compare to using other boards with some knots, scarfing the strips as you strip the boat and expecting a certain percentage of waste?

I don't think the appearance would be too bad. Though as you suggest, you have less control over colour matching of boards scarfed. Maybe this would be a good method for a painted hull?

Cheers,
Bryan

Glen Smith · Post by **Glen Smith** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:19 am

Tantalo, since you have these boards available locally, perhaps you could buy one and do some tests with it and let us know how it turns out.

Tantalo · Post by **Tantalo** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:53 pm

Glen Smith wrote:Tantalo, since you have these boards available locally, perhaps you could buy one and do some tests with it and let us know how it turns out.

I might use a few as as a contrast/accent strip on the deck. I'm no where close to testing right now. Testing is a good idea.

It might make kayaks look cheap but then might also make them look cool. The pine wood is very light in colour almost like basswood or popular. Not sure if it would contrast well with light WRC. Sandwiching a strip between 2 dark WRC sounds interesting though or the other way around.

Envisioning what a design would look like and then actually seeing the real thing may not be what you wanted in the first place.

Rehd Brown · Post by **Rehd Brown** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:11 pm

Over the years, working with that finger-joint pine has shown me one or two things.
First, the glue method used when making them is pretty sketchy.. as in hit and miss. They don't get full coverage in the joints. When cutting down to smaller sizes, you will have many joints just pull apart.
Second, it doesn't bend very well in either case.. if the joints are bad, it comes apart and if the joints are well glued, it won't bend very well.
Third, when planing, all the angled edges will leave lots of area for snagging and tearing out grain.
I would also suggest that you pick up a small length and test it for all these things before committing to any larger amounts..!

Rehd