Name your Choice In Wood For the Following:

Its Me · Post by **Its Me** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:25 am

Inner Stem:
Outer Stem
Seat Frames:
Yoke:
Inwales:
Outwales:
Decks:

Erich Eppert · Post by **Erich Eppert** » Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:53 pm

Hi It's Me,
Here are some of my thoughts on the choices below;

Inner Stem: White cedar for light weight, Ash for strength and rigidity
Outer Stem: Any Hardwood that will bent. I like Black Walnut for a dark effect and Ash for a light effect. I will inlay the dark strip at least four feet from the bow and stern.
Seat Frames:Cherry is my favourite, ash is easy to find and work with. Cane for the seat.
Yoke: Again Cherry, second Ash
Inwales: A 1/4 inch hardwood with cedar scuppers. Light weight and strong.
Outwales: Ash is the easiest to find in long pieces, Cherry is nice but harder to find in one long piece.
Decks: Butternut is some of the nicest wood for deck materials,. It is very light and nicely figured. Can be very colourfull if left to oxidize for a month without a finish. White cedar for light weight, any wood that looks nice will do.

I have used all of the above for one or another kayak or canoe I have built. I am assuming that you are making a stripper canoe. For a cedar canvas there are a few different woods used. Sitka spruce or White spruce for the inner gunnels
Regards, Erich.

Its Me · Post by **Its Me** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:37 am

Eric I like your choices. Yes its a strip canoe I am working on.

On ebay, I have seen a good variety of lumber in various lengths. And was wondering if anyone has experince buying wood off ebay. It looks economical.

I like your suggestions on lightning up the canoe with lighter weight decks and scuppers. But Oh my, is that rosewood calling me for outer stems. Also a walnut yoke would be nice. :D

You like cherry for the seats? hmmm

John E · Post by **John E** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 7:23 am

E-bay purchasing may look economical but don't forget to factor in the shipping costs of your e-bay purchase. quite often that will take a good deal and turn it into an not so good deal. Wood is heavy and can be costly to ship using normal shipping practices of E-bay. OTher shipping companys that can ship on space available basis might get you a steep discount but a longer waiting period for shipping.

Erich Eppert · Post by **Erich Eppert** » Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:29 am

Hi Again.
Sound like you have some nice woods to play with. I know from experience that Rosewood is not quite as hard as pig iron. We built a North Star kayak with rosewood decks, stems and inlays. It was tricky to keep the cedar from being removed too much to get the deck flat. The result is one of the nicest kayaks that was built in my shop. I have built a 13 foot Rob Roy that was 28 pounds, but it was built with 3/16 inch strips, 1/4 inch ash and cedar scuppered inner gunnels, white spruce outer gunnels, cedar stems and four ounce glass. It was nice and light. You can do almost anything with a little imagination and elbow grease.
Happy building, Erich.

guest · Post by **guest** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 8:47 pm

2 questions, what about teak for stems and or gunnels, and could someone please name some good contrasting dark and light woods? Thanks

Glen Smith · Post by **Glen Smith** » Sat Aug 21, 2004 9:28 pm

Teak is an oily wood and is therefore difficult to glue and/or coat with epoxy. It can be done but I won't give you a personal guarantee on the success.

For contrast in soft-woods I use Eastern White Cedar and chocolate brown Western Red Cedar. For contrasting hard-woods I use ash and walnut.

ropegun · Post by **ropegun** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 5:25 pm

So far this is what I have used.

Inner Stem: Port Orford Cedar
Outer Stem: Peruvian Walnut, Port Orford cedar
Seat Frames: Hard Maple, Quilted Maple
Yoke: Maple, Cherry, Black Walnut
Inwales: Hard Maple, Curly Maple
Outwales: Hard Maple, Curly Maple
Decks: Chery, Black Walnut

I have also considered Port Orford for the gunwales, but was unable to get my hands on longer stock for most recent boat.

guest · Post by **guest** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:57 pm

We have decided to go with cherry inner and outer stems and also with cherry for the gunnels.

sedges · Post by **sedges** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:44 pm

nner Stem: western red cedar or white spruce
Outer Stem don't have them on my boats
Seat Frames: southern yellow pine, dense grain structure grade
Yoke: southern yellow pine, dense grain structure grade for yoke thwart and shaped cedar for pads
Inwales: southern yellow pine, dense grain structure grade
Outwales: southern yellow pine, dense grain structure grade
Decks: southern yellow pine, dense grain structure grade or spruce/cedar

IslandStripper · Post by **IslandStripper** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:03 pm

The strongback is built, the forms are all in place, stem time. (Endeavour 17)

I have at my disposal some 1by boards 48" long of big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) and cypress (chamaecyparis nootkatensis). I was planning on using the cypress for the insided stems and maple for the outside stems. Anyone have experience in bending and shaping big leaf maple or cypress? How's "workable" is the maple?

Rick in PenderH · Post by **Rick in PenderH** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:00 pm

Hi

I have used local (from my back yard) big leaf maple for gunwhales and stems on wee lassie canoes, worked ok for the whales, but was hard to bend for the stems. To be fair, I wasn't using steam, just a heat gun, but found oak or fir to be much easier to bend. I'd be tempted to use the yellow cedar both in and out, but it will be a bit softer.

rgds

rick

KARKAUAI · Post by **KARKAUAI** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 9:41 am

Rip it to 1/8" thickness, and it'll be no problem to bend. It is a very hard wood, so shaping will be a little more difficult, but certainly not impossible.

The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Name your Choice In Wood For the Following:

Name your Choice In Wood For the Following:

Material choices

woods

stems

big leaf maple stems