No Koalas Where Harmed in the Making of THIS Steamboat... yet.

I recently stopped by at my local specialty woods supplier, Willard Brothers in Lawrenceville looking for some green or air dried oak for the chine logs. Why, you might ask? Well, I've been trying to steam bend some of the kiln dried that I have from the frames and have met with limited success. It seems that the maximum size that bends the way I want it about 1/4 in. Any thicker and it seems that the steam doesn't penetrate deep enough. On second thought, it might not be working even at a 1/4 in as I have a batten that I've been using to shape the frame ends to prepare them for the log and I've been bending it dry and cold without a problem.

So the kiln dried stuff is not so good for bending, but the only air dried oak they had was in the form of 4X10 10' slabs. That's about the roughest of rough hewn timber. Any less milling and it still has leaves on it. I breifly considered getting one and cutting it down myself, but I am far from set up to handle that kind of work, particularly since my only help is an 8 year old. Not so good for muscling around a few hundred pounds of wood through power saws.

While I was wandering around the showroom contemplating just how hard it would be to cut these giant logs I noticed some lumber that looked like pale mahogany. Now mahogany takes a bend wonderfully, doesn't rot, and is perfect for boats, but and also puts a wonderful dent in any budget. But considering I only needed a little bit, I inquired after this "White Mahogany".

When I mentioned White Mahogany to the guys at the shop, they looked at me with the pitying gaze usually reserved for the mentally deficient. Finally, one said, "Oh, you mean the Eucalyptus." Probably like may of you, I've only seen eucalyptus on nature shows while it was covered in koalas, and since the focus is always on those vicious marsupials the only parts of the tree I've ever seen was the twiggy bits with the leaves. Apparently, there is more to these trees than koala food.

The variety I was admiring is called eucalyptus grandis and is a fast growing tropical hardwood which is currently being farmed on large scale in Central and South America. Now before, I get any comments, no I haven't researched the economic or environmental impact of this farming, but common sense tells me its got to be better than burning the rain forest down to make room for cattle or soybeans. Besides, its beautiful wood. Straight tight grain and light weight. and best of all, it's cheap. I don't think I'll be planking with it since it's a little more expensive than cyprus which is my next choice, but if it behaves well, I might consider it.

So I got an 11' board. I haven't had a chance to cut it to size yet but I will this week. There's enough to do the chines on both sides, plus a little left over that I'll probably shape into battens for shaping the planking.