Saturday, May 7, 2016

Would There Be Wood?

I told her and she didn't believe me. When I helped Kathy build her first boat, I told her I bet she couldn't build just one. Sure enough, she paddled her boat one year on various river trips, and then last year she begged me to let her paddle my solo canoe just one day. Immediately, she started coveting my boat. I told her "thou shall not covet" and she said, "You're not my boss (any more.)" End result of all that was that I've been on a wood buying mission while in the Northwest this summer since clear Western Red Cedar doesn't exist south of Crescent Bay - at least not in the lumber yards I've visited.

After we got all settled into our moochdocking spot in Newberg, I started by checking out the nearest lumberyard. They had a bunch of clear cedar stacked in one corner including some really nice 18' pieces. I knew it wouldn't be cheap, but their price was more than I wanted to pay.

The son of a friend of a friend, or maybe it was just a friend of a friend, said to check out a different place. This place was clearly the professionals yard - they aren't even open on weekends. When we asked, they sort of pointed over their shoulder - over there. We found what we were looking for, on the top rack. The "help" was going to crawl up the rack and hand us a pair of 2x6 but I wanted to pick them out myself so he had to get a forklift.

The friend who had a friend even carried them out to the truck but we'll keep it blurry to protect his identity. Who knows, there must be a law against exporting good lumber to Arizona.

Two 12' 2x6s should make enough strips to just about build a 15' solo canoe, but I still needed wood for the gunnels, thwarts, seat frame, and deck. We were hoping to use Port Orford Cedar if I could find some.

After dropping off the friend and his better half at the airport, I headed back south to Lebanon to visit Steve Steele at Steele's Boats & Trailers. When I met him at the Boat Festival he said he had a stash of Port Orford Cedar from his father. I included a picture of one bay of his shop so Kathy would understand the type of work space I'm assuming she'll provide for the canoe project.

I think that one 1x6 of Port Orford is all that we'll need, but since I was there, I decided to get two. The Port Orford hasn't been planed yet, but has been in dry storage for years. It will be special to use wood connected to the history of dories in the Grand Canyon in Kathy's canoe. I'm feeling a little covetousness.

8 comments:

  1. Kathy must have been a reaaaaaally good Admin! Or you just like to keep her indebted. haha!! I can't wait to see the process of how it goes from boards to a canoe. It must smell lovely. Funny, I thought it "would" have taken much more wood....very interesting!

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    1. She was a spectacular Admin and is a wonderful friend!

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  2. Wow, what a great post- so covetous of seeing all that great wood.

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    1. I thought of you, especially when I was at Steve's place!

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  3. As Suzanne said. Looking forward to seeing the project go from boards to boat.

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    1. It's going to be a fun build. I expect we'll get started in October after we get back from this year's Green River trip. Too hot before that.

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  4. I am so excited! Good call, John. October sounds like a great time to get started. You and BJ are rock stars! Thank you for taking the time to track down the wood for this project during your vacation. I especially liked the picture of your little helper....

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    1. I had lots of fun chasing wood and was especially please to find some beautiful Port Orford. We'll still need to figure out what you might want to use for a feature stripe but that's no sweat. BTW, the wood is still in a garage in Newberg, so here's hoping a friend doesn't get a bug to build a boat before we get back there!

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