The cheapest really is best!

After many tiring trials of snapping pieces one type of wood after another, finally success. As you can see from the pictures, I finally found a type of wood that would be durable, yet springy enough to be steamed into shape. And I found it at that haven of bad lumber, the Home Depot.

There just happens to be a HD about 2 miles from the house. So many time have I gone there just to get one piece of mediocre lumber to do some project with only to be disappointed even with my expectations set so low. Oh no, even the kiln dried premium pine boards are usually either chipped to ruination or soaking wet, or both. But this time, that shortcoming became a blessing.

I went and got a nice 2X6 of green douglas fir that only had one large knot in it at the end. This board was so wet it weighed more than if it was oak. I mean, when I held it too tight, water would run between my fingers as it was squeezed out. And it was only $5! That 4/4 piece of eucalyptis, in comparison, was $50. Twice the lumber at a tenth of the price. My only thought was "Perfect!"

In all my previous attempts with different hardwoods, from exotic to local, after they had split while being bent on, examination showed that the center wasn't even warm, never mind wet and hot. The outside was plenty of both, but that condition didn't seem to penetrate more than an 1/8 inch to the interior of the piece. They all seemed either too dense or too dry to be more than a little influenced, even after being subjected to 10s of pounds of steam.

This time I knew I had a winner when it was bending under it's own weight as it went through the saw. Once I had it planed down to size I had to hold it in the middle to keep it from bending over. It probably would have gone on cold, but I already had the boiler going so it got the steam treatment.

I was doubly lucky that my brother-in-law was in town this week since even with the steam it was a two man job clamping everthing in place. Plus he had his nice camera with him and he was able to get these nice shots of the chine logs bent on.

Those of you who are very observant may have noticed that frame 11 is not there, and you'd be right. While I was cutting the notches for the chine logs, I realized it was imposible for me to predict the actual twist and bend they would take in order to cut a notch for that frame. Also, I has been occuring to me, however slowly, that the boat is a tad over built, so one less frame wouldn't matter much. And lastly, the bow will now take a more organic curve that it would have if I had left the frame in place. So it's gone. If I think it needs some additional support, I'll steam fit a strap in after it's planked.

So there you go. Now that I have identified the type of wood that I'll be using, I'll make some real progress. You can really start to get a sense of the shape of things with the fore logs in place. I'm off this afternoon to see if I can find some more lumber.