samb
LOVES Wooden Canoes
On my OT HW I need mahogany outwhales. I’ve cut them and shaped them, given them a week in kerosene, steamed them and bent them and will now cut the ends off and maybe start again with the steaming. My problem was that the pieces did bend, but along the line of least resistance which meant putting a twist in the timber as much as a bend. The fact that I’m having to use sapele rather than ‘proper’ mahogany, and the fact that it’s kiln dried because that’s all I can (easily) get doesn’t help. Even with the bend I managed I see the start of splitting. I did manage to bend the inwhales, but they didn’t have the ‘L’ profile that is encouraging the twist.
As I see it my best / easiest alternatives would be:
Buy a different species of wood, machine, steam, bend and stain it: It would have to have a similar grain pattern rather than using ash (which I know I could bend but would not look right). Would cherry do the trick?
or
Machine the curved section out of solid and splice it in. – This would be straight forward enough but would it look wrong being carved from solid rather than bent?
What are your thoughts?
Sam
As I see it my best / easiest alternatives would be:
Buy a different species of wood, machine, steam, bend and stain it: It would have to have a similar grain pattern rather than using ash (which I know I could bend but would not look right). Would cherry do the trick?
or
Machine the curved section out of solid and splice it in. – This would be straight forward enough but would it look wrong being carved from solid rather than bent?
What are your thoughts?
Sam