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what wood ?
By dalibor, Section Mechanical Posted on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 10:51:42 PM MST
question about blade construction...

i was thinking to ask this before, but never mind i posted now.
what type of wood is best for blades, what is strongest type of it to use?
i was talking here with some people who are wood engineers and they are saying that in this part of world the strongest is black pine, but very rare in this days.
what other will be good? some kind of pine, oak or birk or something?
what is your oppinion ? what did you used?

what wood ? | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by wpowokal on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 04:15:36 PM MST
(User Info)

Last set I made were of Oak, good straight grain no nots and easy to work, and I will use it again.

allan down under
A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by dinges on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 04:35:26 PM MST
(User Info)

Alan,

Just wondering, is Eucalypt wood (or any other native Australian wood) any good for props?

Not that we have any of that over here ofcourse. I had to resort to PVC for my didge...

Peter,
The Netherlands.

[ Parent ]

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by richhagen (richhagen (a t) Juno.com) on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 07:09:09 PM MST
(User Info)

I recall reading a study done in Australia that found that Hoop Pine from Australia had the best material fatigue characteristics of local woods that they tested. I am not familiar with that type of wood as I have not seen it in the U.S. where I am at. I have found that most woods are suitable for small prop blades in that they have suficient material strength, and can be coated, or soaked to prevent changes in shape associated with moisture content. That being said, the machinability(carvability), strength, weight, and resistance to fatigue related failure would all be factors in determining what is best. Knots are generally bad and result in weak points in the blade look for wood with none, or as few and small as possible. Quite a few people here have used laminated boards with success as well. I have been carving CNC blades from knotless boards of common varieties of pine. Rich Hagen
'A Joule saved is a Joule made'
[ Parent ]

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by PaulJ on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 12:22:34 AM MST
(User Info)

Eucalypt is a fairly dense hardwood. I'm sure it would be strong enough, but the weight would be way too high. It's pretty good firewood though!

Paul.

[ Parent ]

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by wpowokal on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 12:41:27 AM MST
(User Info)

Peter the oak is growen in Tasmania and Victoria, I agree with others most of the native species would have too many knots.

We tried laminating local pine but there are too many knots.

allan down under
A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
[ Parent ]

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by Shadow on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 05:36:14 PM MST
(User Info)

I'm hooked on Cedar. Inexpensive, soft, easy to carve,wont rot,light,easy to balance. and smells nice.

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by willib (willibur at comcast dot net) on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 11:35:32 PM MST
(User Info) http://www.njwind.com/webcam.html#

hehe seven good reasons
i agree cedar is the lightest wood that i have lifted in the store, aspen had little or no knots , but was not as light as cedar .
pine was sort of heavy , and oak was the heaviest, poplar has the advantage of being excellent to carve with no knots , but is somewhat heavy although not as much as oak.

imo
Carpe Ventum (seize the wind)
[ Parent ]

Re: what wood ? (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by DanB (danb@*no spam*otherpower.com) on Mon Jan 16th, 2006 at 08:10:29 PM MST
(User Info) http://www.otherpower.com/

clear sitka spruce is said to be the best thing. We use lots of Cedar. Pine, Fir - spruce - those are the sort of things that I think are best.

what wood ? | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial)

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