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Bomb Ketch Salamandre 1:48

THE ALDER.

Source: Home Depot (produced by Swaner Hardwood). Swaner is a flooring producer in California. Delivery took about a week. Link Below:
HD Link
20 boards .25"x1.5"x24" was $63, including shipping.
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Quality is superb, as it is meant for custom hardwood floors. It is S4S and comes double wrapped in plastic, with cardboard protecting all edges.
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Advertised dimensions are 1/4" x 1.5"x2ft.
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Below are alder ribs on my last build. It holds an edge well, is close grained, sands/saws nicely and takes stain/oils well.
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Hi Brad, I'm a little late for the road trip. I'm really looking forward to seeing your salamander build. You're off to a really great start.
 
Very pleasant surprise Brad that you are using alder for this project, very beautiful but not very common wood. I have a large amount of alder and maple, very nice trees to work with.
 
kuba91nt said:
Very pleasant surprise Brad that you are using alder for this project, very beautiful but not very common wood. I have a large amount of alder and maple, very nice trees to work with.
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I've had good luck with alder in past builds and enjoy both working with it and how it takes stains/oils. Unfortunately, the alder flooring planks (.25") are not wide enough to make a solid keel, so I will have to order some wider alder planks.

For carvings, intricate deck furniture, etc, I have a supply of pear to use.
 
BradNSW said:
I've had good luck with alder in past builds and enjoy both working with it and how it takes stains/oils. Unfortunately, the alder flooring planks (.25") are not wide enough to make a solid keel, so I will have to order some wider alder planks.

For carvings, intricate deck furniture, etc, I have a supply of pear to use.
Click to expand...

I'm honestly surprised that they sell Alder as a hardwood flooring. Having worked quite a bit with alder in the furniture industry, it is a quite soft wood and was only used for trim pieces, never anything structural or that would receive wear. It ranks slightly above basswood and cottonwood in the hardness scale. But, then again, we're talking Home Depot, where gullible people will buy anything. :rolleyes:
 
RussF said:
I'm honestly surprised that they sell Alder as a hardwood flooring. Having worked quite a bit with alder in the furniture industry, it is a quite soft wood and was only used for trim pieces, never anything structural or that would receive wear. It ranks slightly above basswood and cottonwood in the hardness scale. But, then again, we're talking Home Depot, where gullible people will buy anything. :rolleyes:
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Gullible? Shall we simply say ‘under informed’?
 
RussF said:
I'm honestly surprised that they sell Alder as a hardwood flooring
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As Russ pointed out aspen really is considered by many as a soft wood so not suitable for a floor, but, it sounds like it might be good for a model ship if you cannot dent the edges easily. English oak has a hardness of more than double that of alder so great for a floor, but it would be awful for a ship model. :) Thanks for posting about this, it is good to find new species that could be suitable as some get harder to come by.
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
As Russ pointed out aspen really is considered by many as a soft wood so not suitable for a floor, but, it sounds like it might be good for a model ship if you cannot dent the edges easily. English oak has a hardness of more than double that of alder so great for a floor, but it would be awful for a ship model. :) Thanks for posting about this, it is good to find new species that could be suitable as some get harder to come by.
Allan
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Alder is a fairly easy wood to work with and has a light, creamy color. It machines and cuts very easily. While not too porous, as oak is, it can have some wide grain lines, so if you're using it, plan ahead and orient your piece so the lines don't cut across your part diagonally.

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Aspen is a second growth timber here in Northeastern Minnesota , as it grows like a weed. It will reforest clear cut areas. It is cut for the paper industry. It is also known as Poplar local slang: Popple. It is very soft. Our local Menards stocks it along with more desirable cabinet woods. I bought a piece, but found no ship model applications.

I believe that Alder is a completely different wood. My father gave me a piece after a trip to Oregon. I used to make spars for a model. It worked fine.

Roger
 
Roger Pellett said:
Aspen is a second growth timber here in Northeastern Minnesota , as it grows like a weed. It will reforest clear cut areas. It is cut for the paper industry. It is also known as Poplar local slang: Popple. It is very soft. Our local Menards stocks it along with more desirable cabinet woods. I bought a piece, but found no ship model applications.

I believe that Alder is a completely different wood. My father gave me a piece after a trip to Oregon. I used to make spars for a model. It worked fine.

Roger
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I thought we were talking about alder all along. I believe Allan's reference to aspen was a typo.
 
Thanks for all the thoughts on Alder (obviously not Aspen...I'm from CO).

Yep, it is on the softer end of hardwood and it works great for framing scratch builds. I like its stability and stain-ability. I moved a 1:48 scratch build of Serapis, from humid Scotland, to dry San Diego, to humid Hawaii & Bahrain, and finally to dry Colorado. It also takes various shades of oil well, so I was able to "paint" or "add depth" to Serapis by using various shades of WATCO wood oil.

From a Hardwood ID guide: "Alder is suitable for furniture, doors, kitchen cabinetry, and interior paneling, as well as electric guitar bodies and certain types of millwork (like mouldings and mantels), due to its workability. Its color and grain make it a suitable substitute for cherry or mahogany."
 
Roger Pellett said:
Aspen is a second growth timber here in Northeastern Minnesota , as it grows like a weed. It will reforest clear cut areas. It is cut for the paper industry. It is also known as Poplar local slang: Popple. It is very soft. Our local Menards stocks it along with more desirable cabinet woods. I bought a piece, but found no ship model applications.

I believe that Alder is a completely different wood. My father gave me a piece after a trip to Oregon. I used to make spars for a model. It worked fine.

Roger
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Roger we love alder, especially knotty alder. In our new house most of the doors including the wine cellar door were knotty alder. Visitors always raved about the beautiful texture! Magic Mike
 
BradNSW said:
Thanks for all the thoughts on Alder (obviously not Aspen...I'm from CO).

Yep, it is on the softer end of hardwood and it works great for framing scratch builds. I like its stability and stain-ability. I moved a 1:48 scratch build of Serapis, from humid Scotland, to dry San Diego, to humid Hawaii & Bahrain, and finally to dry Colorado. It also takes various shades of oil well, so I was able to "paint" or "add depth" to Serapis by using various shades of WATCO wood oil.

From a Hardwood ID guide: "Alder is suitable for furniture, doors, kitchen cabinetry, and interior paneling, as well as electric guitar bodies and certain types of millwork (like mouldings and mantels), due to its workability. Its color and grain make it a suitable substitute for cherry or mahogany."
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Brad, I swear about WATCO wood oils. Great quality! Magic Mike
 
Magic Mike said:
Roger we love alder, especially knotty alder. In our new house most of the doors including the wine cellar door were knotty alder. Visitors always raved about the beautiful texture! Magic Mike
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Exactly what we used for all the trim and doors when we finished the basement last year...love the "knotty alder" look!
 
Averaging just under a frame per day, in between playing with and babysitting the grandchildren, plus sightseeing in the nation's capital!

Today, the Potomac Shipyard, used a scroll saw to rough cut all the pieces for the final 14 frames. Now to bag them and start the exacting glue up process!
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Next week the shipyard moves inland (near Antietam battlefield) for a few days, followed by a week in Annapolis MD.
 
Annapolis MD update: Pearwood shipped to a friend's home was transferred to the shipyard foreman today.
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Last two days were spent boating and visiting with friends and classmates, so only a few more frames were completed.

Tomorrow we will bike around the USNA grounds and visit the museum to feast our eyes on the beautiful models in the Rogers model ship collection. I will try and post a few photos if the cell phone/lighting permit.
 
Glue thickness added 0.37" to the "length along the keel", compared to the "length along the top of the rail".

This is almost the thickness of a single frame (0.386"!!)

Below photos show this phenomenon (Shipyard Superintendent will discuss why he thinks this occurred below):

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The surface area of the frame cross section is very large around the keel area (red square), when compared to the much narrower area at the top of the rails (green square).
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While pressing the halves together, the excess glue is almost completely squeezed out of the narrower top, while more glue remains in the wider area near the keel.

Dividing 0.37 by 42 frames equates to an average of 0.0088inches thicker in the keel area of each frame (about the thickness of two pages of copy paper).

SHIPYARD SOLUTION: Shipyard Superintendent will direct workers to sand each frame around the keel area more. The Superintendent will personally measure the thickness of EACH frame until BOTH the TOP and BOTTOM measure equally at 0.386".

Workers are glueing the final frame today (photos of the frame stack to follow)!!!

We are camped at "Range Time" on the DelMaVa Peninsula, so shooters put some lead downrange!! (photo 1). Yesterday we visited Assateague Island and rode bikes with the wild horses on the island (photo 2). Tonight, seafood in Ocean City MD!!
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