Outwale adventures

[patrick corry]

The weather warmed up enough to justify working in the unheated barn today. The plan was to steam and fasten outwales on the 1938 Old Town 50# canoe. I had found some old 'mahogany'- former gym bench seats from the 1960's- and had previously rabbeted and preliminary shaped them for the job. I steamed in the bag for about 45 minutes, and all was going well until the sharpest upsweep at the bow when disaster struck! The piece simply snapped in two. No long split, no edge grain gone awry, just snapped like dry kindling. It was oversized a bit since it hadn't been tapered at the ends or shaped in profile, but I don't think that would have mattered.

So, I chose a couple of pieces of Ash that had been previously ripped from an Ash slab 2" thick. It's been standing my barn for two years; air-dried. Well, after milling to close to final dimensions a bunch of squirrelly grain appeared and I abandoned them! Next, just for fun and to see how it would work out, I ripped into a 2x4x16' clear vertical grained Spruce I had. The piece was straight as an arrow and I was convinced it would yield perfect straight outwale blanks. Wrong.

The three pieces on my sawhorses are placed just as they were in the original piece. What a lot of internal tension there was! I ended up milling up the two left hand pieces and they are rather curvy but much more limber than the Mahogany or Ash; besides... canoes are curvy, right? I just made sure the rabbets are on the sides which benefit from the curves and most of my mounting job will be easy. I'll update with the results. I'm curious how they will look. Maybe the third time is the charm...

 

[chris pearson]

That mahogany I’m sure had zero moisture. Typically, you need twice the steam, twice as long with mahogany anyways…

 

[Worth Gretter]

I find it easy to be sympathetic since I have had some steaming failures too! What do they say? It's a learning experience!
I've seen on this forum how good your workmanship is, Patrick, so I guess it can happen to anyone....

 

[Nick Dennis]

Mahogany is a swine to steam and bend. When I did my outwales on my Old Town Charles River despite all ring from the same piece and with the grain all in the same direction all performed differently. The first went like a dream, the second creased, the third cracked and the last one twisted. As said soak and steam far longer than you think.

Good luck.

Nick

 

[samb]

I think so much depends on species as well as longer steaming and luck. I once used mahogany from a 1920s bookcase for long decks bending in two axis. It worked really easily with no fuss. I imagine it was proper mahogany rather than the eastern " mahogany type" timber that is commonly called mahogany.
Sam

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Not sure if you soaked, but its a must. Moreover too much steam will turn the wood brittle, drying it out. It only heats the moisture in the cells, doesnt introduce any. As was explained to me after bending failures by someone older and wiser...

 

[MGC]

Not sure if you soaked, but its a must. Moreover too much steam will turn the wood brittle, drying it out.

This.
You must soak for as long as you have patience to. It makes a world of difference. And, as Andre points out, too much steam can also be counterproductive.
I like to do a sample piece with the wood I am using if I have enough.

 

[patrick corry]

All good replies! If I'm being honest with myself, I confess my process here was probably short-sighted. Not soaked for long because of freezing overnight temperatures, though I've never seen much saturation from pre-soaking other inwales or outwales anyway. I probably could have done more milling to smaller dimensions which might have helped make the material more limber. Maybe I'll make some new ones from the same board and soak them until Spring in the pool... will chlorine hurt? Who knows but they'll sure be thoroughly soaked!

Now... just for the sake of conversation, how about looking at some crotch-cut pieces I'm drying for decks on an as-yet undetermined future build? I take long walks in my local State park and I'm always on the lookout for likely salvageable bits of wood for saving after storms. The local mountain bike club clears the trails and leaves lots of material for scavengers like me!

Here's Yellow Birch about 1.5 years dry:

and with alcohol wiped on to illuminate the grain:

And, here's some recently found Cherry with potential deck shapes: