Oak?

Short John Bronze

Short John Bronze

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"Heart of oak are our ships...." No they aint! My Corel kit has bits of wood from virtually every tree in the forest - except oak.
Similarly OcCre and Caldercraft in earlier builds. Is there a problem with using oak in kits?
Out of interest I tried planing the edge of a piece of oak with the cut set coarse. The shavings are shown in the following picture.
They are about 0.5mm thick but I could probably achieve the 0.6mm of some (mahogany) strips in my kit.
They are a bit curly but I assume they would stay flat if glued, for example, to a deck. It would make a change to straighten strips
instead of trying to bend them. " Jolly tars are our men" - at least that bit of the shanty is correct on SOS.
Oak.jpg
 
The best wood to simulate oak in a model is beech. It is straight grained with tight pores and looks like oak. I wouldn't use it for anything smaller that 1:48 scale. Below is what it looks like. The last photo has swiss pear in it also. The scale is 1:32 for all.



17.jpg18.jpg19.jpg33.jpg
 
Red oak here in Minnesota is very common, the most common hardwood, and used for virtually everything. There are at least 70 red oak trees in my own yard, mixed with pines and popple (poplar) trees. Red oak is so porous that it looks like the dark grained areas are hollow soda straws. Thanks DocBlake for the tip on using beech. The piece of bending beech used on the supports for the beaks head on Corel's La Couronne does indeed look like oak at the ship's scale when stained and the grain is tight. I want to buy more beech and use it as keel lumber, but haven't had time to look for a supplier that's close to me. Anyone have suggestions where to find some beech timbers?
 
"Heart of oak are our ships...." No they aint! My Corel kit has bits of wood from virtually every tree in the forest - except oak.
Similarly OcCre and Caldercraft in earlier builds. Is there a problem with using oak in kits?

actually looking in shipyard records a lot of different woods were used in ship building. Yes Oak was used but so was Elm, Beech, Walnut the upper parts of frames used Cedar, decking was southern pine, Ash, and Maple were also used.

in Model building Oak is also used The oak, or beech, family is Fagaceae so Beech and Oak are in the same family and i have come across saw mills the call Beech Oak. i have also come across some pretty fine grained Oak. the family contains about 1,000 species from shrubs to giant trees.
 
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
Red oak here in Minnesota is very common, the most common hardwood, and used for virtually everything. There are at least 70 red oak trees in my own yard, mixed with pines and popple (poplar) trees. Red oak is so porous that it looks like the dark grained areas are hollow soda straws. Thanks DocBlake for the tip on using beech. The piece of bending beech used on the supports for the beaks head on Corel's La Couronne does indeed look like oak at the ship's scale when stained and the grain is tight. I want to buy more beech and use it as keel lumber, but haven't had time to look for a supplier that's close to me. Anyone have suggestions where to find some beech timbers?
Click to expand...
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) can provide you with beech.
 
i have on hand about 435 board feet of Beech

what is killing the mail order wood business is the cost of shipping which in some cases is more than the cost of wood itself.
Beech is a heavy wood when i make a trip to the saw mill i can haul about 300 to 325 feet of Cherry, Maple , Poplar etc but when it comes to Beech maybe 100 feet due to the weight.

fun facts

American beech is a distinctive and elegant forest tree in Kentucky and throughout eastern North America.

The oldest American beech on record is 246 years old!

American beeches are very slow growing trees and will only grow about 4 meters every 20 years.

American beech is actually one of the hardest woods out there. So hard in fact, that
it is extremely difficult to split and is the most workable when it is steamed. This is why
beech is a popular choice of wood for people into bentwood furniture

Not only is it a popular food choice for many animals, but humans can also eat beechnut.

For humans, considering that the American beech is not a super prevalent species, it is not a very common
type of wood to use. Although beech wood is very hard, and it rots easily. Many Beech trees are hollow.

when steamed it becomes incredibly flexible,
 
Last edited:
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
i have on hand about 435 board feet of Beech

what is killing the mail order wood business is the cost of shipping which in some cases is more than the cost of wood itself.
Beech is a heavy wood when i make a trip to the saw mill i can haul about 300 to 325 feet of Cherry, Maple , Poplar etc but when it comes to Beech maybe 100 feet due to the weight.

fun facts

American beech is a distinctive and elegant forest tree in Kentucky and throughout eastern North America.

The oldest American beech on record is 246 years old!

American beeches are very slow growing trees and will only grow about 4 meters every 20 years.

American beech is actually one of the hardest woods out there. So hard in fact, that
it is extremely difficult to split and is the most workable when it is steamed. This is why
beech is a popular choice of wood for people into bentwood furniture

Not only is it a popular food choice for many animals, but humans can also eat beechnut.

For humans, considering that the American beech is not a super prevalent species, it is not a very common
type of wood to use. Although beech wood is very hard, and it rots easily. Many Beech trees are hollow.

when steamed it becomes incredibly flexible,
Click to expand...
Dave, I have to say the cannon carriages you sold me are fantastic. Could you sell me a 5mm thick piece of beech, approximately 20cm x 40cm, or smaller sections of the same width? Thickness is the only important dimension. I'd like to use them as the keel, beakshead, stem, rudder and other parts on my current build of HMS SoTS, replacing the kit plywood.
 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
i have on hand about 435 board feet of Beech

what is killing the mail order wood business is the cost of shipping which in some cases is more than the cost of wood itself.
Beech is a heavy wood when i make a trip to the saw mill i can haul about 300 to 325 feet of Cherry, Maple , Poplar etc but when it comes to Beech maybe 100 feet due to the weight.

fun facts

American beech is a distinctive and elegant forest tree in Kentucky and throughout eastern North America.

The oldest American beech on record is 246 years old!

American beeches are very slow growing trees and will only grow about 4 meters every 20 years.

American beech is actually one of the hardest woods out there. So hard in fact, that
it is extremely difficult to split and is the most workable when it is steamed. This is why
beech is a popular choice of wood for people into bentwood furniture

Not only is it a popular food choice for many animals, but humans can also eat beechnut.

For humans, considering that the American beech is not a super prevalent species, it is not a very common
type of wood to use. Although beech wood is very hard, and it rots easily. Many Beech trees are hollow.

when steamed it becomes incredibly flexible,
Click to expand...
Unfortunately in the northeastern US and in our area of Canada, beech tres are succumbing to beech bark disease. In the last decade in our area the emerald ash beetle has killed almost all of the ash trees. I had to have 2 cut down last year, huge trees. In both cases, invasive species are responsible.
 
DARIVS ARCHITECTVS said:
Once a tree species is wiped due to disease, if it possible to reintroduce the trees, or will the disease persist?
Click to expand...
The insects and /or fungi causing these diseases are still active in the area, so I dont think so. Even though all the ash trees around here are affected for the most part, it is still a new thing north of here. In a beautiful Provincial Park north of here, they are cutting down hundreds of mature ash trees because they are worried about them losing large limbs onto campsites. There have been big campaigns for many years asking people not to move firewood, for camping or for heat, from one area to a other, but there are those that think "one load won't hurt" and within that load are the beetles or whatever.
 
Short John Bronze said:
"Heart of oak are our ships...." No they aint! My Corel kit has bits of wood from virtually every tree in the forest - except oak.
Similarly OcCre and Caldercraft in earlier builds. Is there a problem with using oak in kits?
Out of interest I tried planing the edge of a piece of oak with the cut set coarse. The shavings are shown in the following picture.
They are about 0.5mm thick but I could probably achieve the 0.6mm of some (mahogany) strips in my kit.
They are a bit curly but I assume they would stay flat if glued, for example, to a deck. It would make a change to straighten strips
instead of trying to bend them. " Jolly tars are our men" - at least that bit of the shanty is correct on SOS.
View attachment 217857
Click to expand...
 
I get my wood at house construction sites. there is an abundant amount of maple, oak, sherry maple poplar that is used in finishing house. also go to wood working shops all have a scrap bin of drops. in fact I was able to procure 20 19 x 48 x 3/8 sanded plywood for a casket manufacture here in Connecticut. I save a lot of money doing this and seeing i have a planer i can mill to the thicknesses i need.here is a picture of my steam box made from casket drops
 

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Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
i have on hand about 435 board feet of Beech

what is killing the mail order wood business is the cost of shipping which in some cases is more than the cost of wood itself.
Beech is a heavy wood when i make a trip to the saw mill i can haul about 300 to 325 feet of Cherry, Maple , Poplar etc but when it comes to Beech maybe 100 feet due to the weight.

fun facts

American beech is a distinctive and elegant forest tree in Kentucky and throughout eastern North America.

The oldest American beech on record is 246 years old!

American beeches are very slow growing trees and will only grow about 4 meters every 20 years.

American beech is actually one of the hardest woods out there. So hard in fact, that
it is extremely difficult to split and is the most workable when it is steamed. This is why
beech is a popular choice of wood for people into bentwood furniture

Not only is it a popular food choice for many animals, but humans can also eat beechnut.

For humans, considering that the American beech is not a super prevalent species, it is not a very common
type of wood to use. Although beech wood is very hard, and it rots easily. Many Beech trees are hollow.

when steamed it becomes incredibly flexible,
Click to expand...
And Beech is very common in the construction of quality workbenches!
 
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