Builder's Square spruce and similar
I once picked through a big pile of low-quality sprice 2x6s
looking for the ones with a nice tight grain, and not too
warped. I had a sawyer mill them into nice 1/2 inch
vertical grain boards for a hollow spar. Everything came
out perfect, and the spar is still in use, far as I know.
The trick was to find the tight-grained raw lumber, then
imagine it milled up into vertical grain boards. There's a
lot of wastage, of course, but at the price of typical
lumber yard spruce, the cost was not much of a factor.
Once could do the same for structural members in a Bolger
boat, like deck stringers. Although I feel spruce is a
little soft for the service. I suppose if it's out of sight
it wouldn't get too dinged up.
Charles Andrews
SoCal
looking for the ones with a nice tight grain, and not too
warped. I had a sawyer mill them into nice 1/2 inch
vertical grain boards for a hollow spar. Everything came
out perfect, and the spar is still in use, far as I know.
The trick was to find the tight-grained raw lumber, then
imagine it milled up into vertical grain boards. There's a
lot of wastage, of course, but at the price of typical
lumber yard spruce, the cost was not much of a factor.
Once could do the same for structural members in a Bolger
boat, like deck stringers. Although I feel spruce is a
little soft for the service. I suppose if it's out of sight
it wouldn't get too dinged up.
Charles Andrews
SoCal