Wood it's characteristics and use in model building

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

a story i heard by my uncle was the steel decks were covered in wood to dampen the noise when metal hit the metal deck it was like being inside a bell when below.

 

[LeMercure]

Hi Dave, Thank you for this very informative post. I have enjoyed reading through it.
I have a question please:
Can you recommend any alternatives to Pear (for planking larger surfaces) with these key properties:
> Stable with changes in humidity (more stable than Pear)
> Not a noticeable grain or colour fleck through it
> Mid brown or darker in colour depth (I attach a photo of some Pear that I have and am looking for this colour or a bit darker)

Thanks in advance.

​

 

[Bryian]

I have an order with Dave from the lumberyard for some natural Pear deck planking.
Its been held up at the post office because of the coronavirus, but will post some photos when it arrives.

 

[LeMercure]

I have an order with Dave from the lumberyard for some natural Pear deck planking.
Its been held up at the post office because of the coronavirus, but will post some photos when it arrives.

Hi Brian,
I am following up on your previous post. Did you receive the pear from Dave at Lumberyard?
He sent me a small sample which I received a few days ago and the quality looks very good.
I would be keen to know what the Apple is like. Alex Dobrenko used Apple for his models and spoke very highly about it.

 

[Bryian]

Hi Antonio,
yes indeed my natural pear timber arrived from the lumberyard. I will post some photos in a day or so (when I get around to it )

.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Lets talk about planking for hulls and decks. There are 3 basic ways to cut planks from a log flat sawn, rift sawn and quarter sawn.

the first drawing it is clear to see a flat sawn log is the easiest way to cut planks from a log and has the least waist. This cut produces planks that tend to cup when dry.

Center drawing is rift sawn the purpose in cutting a log this way is to try and keep the rings close to a 90 degree of the surface. thus it produces stable planks, however it is labor intensive and produces a lot of waste.

the last drawing is quarter sawn which as the name implies the log is first cut in quarters then each quarter is cut into planks. This cut is far more stable than the flat sawn plank and just a little less stable than rift cut planks.

Because decks and the upper works of ship wrecks almost never survive it is difficult to know if shipwrights took the time and effort to rift cut decking or they used the easier flat sawn lumber.

here he will show you the difference between flat and quarter sawing

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

looking at the floors in my house my play room is flat sawn red oak



this cut showcases a “cathedral” look of annual rings. This look is the result of the annular rings being 45 degrees or less to the face of the board





it looks good on a real floor but not so good on a scale model because it creates dark areas like in this image from a build log by Uwek. you can see the color shift from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. This is the result of laser etched decks where a sheet of wood is used. In commercial kits to avoid this the manufacture would have to hand select each and every board or have their source custom cut the lumber as rift or quarter sawn a very expensive way to avoid the color shift.



here you can see the difference between flat and quarter sawn. flat sawn is the vertical board and the one to the right and below are quarter sawn. So a kit maker would have to select only the quarter sawn material. Again very costly.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

One way to avoid the rings is to use a wood where the rings do not show up as much. Take a walk in my kitchen which is planked in Maple



looking closer the ring pattern is very light compared to the red oak. the top and bottom boards you can not even see the ring pattern and very faint in the middle board



a couple quarter sawn boards and there is no ring pattern.




now with model building what do you do?

 

[ChrisP]

err .............................. I think the appropriate word is galley not kitchen - it's your fault for planking your floors like a perfectly laid ship's deck.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

There are two schools of thought on wood and model building one is "so what" that is what came in the kit so use it. Then on the other hand is the slight color shift bothers you in this case avoid kits that supply laser etched decking sheets because a kit manufacture is not going to hand select each and every sheet that goes into every kit. Way to make the deck to your personal liking is the cut the deck sheet apart into single strips and break up the color differences. Or mill your own deck planking or buy replacement planking.
Use woods that do not have a pronounced grain pattern like Maples like hard maple, silver maple, soft maple, Poplar, Basswood, Boxwood or natural pearwood (un steamed) to name a few. A lot of different woods can be used but you have to plan on how you are going to cut the planking. When milling your planking rip down the strips square and run them through a thickness sander to the width dimension, then look at the strips and turn them at a 90 degree so the surface of the plank is quarter sawn. If you want to rip down your own planking but need resawn wood for smaller saws order the thickness of the sheet to the width of the planking not the thickness. This gives you the option of turning the strips. you can ask for "flat sawn" sheets to the width of the finished planks so when you rip the sheet down you are at a 90 degree of the flat sawn surface. If you order sheets to the finished thickness then you need to buy quarter saw sheets.
in large planks stability can be an issue but in the small scale planking it does not make a difference.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

err .............................. I think the appropriate word is galley not kitchen - it's your fault for planking your floors like a perfectly laid ship's deck.

aye mate it is the galley yes all my floors in each room is planked in a different wood must of worked in a shipyard in a previous life the floors do look like ships decking.

working on a little table from a cross section of log i hauled in from the yard. haven't figured out the legs yet

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

There still seems to be some confusion about a wood sold as Castelo Boxwood, this is not a real wood it is a trade name and it is not
boxwood nor is it in the boxwood family.

This is not a type of Boxwood it is a wood that can be used as a substitute for Boxwood.

if you are buying Calycophyllum multiflorum Castello Boxwood you are most likely buying Lemonwood, Digame or Ivorywood, Palo Blanco or
pau-marfim

South American Boxwood is Gossypiospermum praecox and not Calycophyllum multiflorum.

In the western market it is misleading if you see model ship blocks and fitting made of Castello Boxwood. To be truthful it should read Blocks
and fittings are Lemonwood or any of the other trade names for Calycophyllum multiflorum and not passed off as made of "boxwood"
Things may be different in the Eastern market as Calycophyllum multiflorum may not be imported in the east and local sources of a Boxwood may be used.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[Philski]

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Even more reading (try this site):

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

for those who would like to add this to their personal PDF library