Douglas Fir - Wood selection Expertise

braywood · Post by **braywood** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:23 am

I am looking for some wood builders in Northern Ireland (Ballymena area) who would be interested in helping me cut up some douglas fir I have purchased, with the objective of using it for my Pietenpol project.

I would just like another set of eyes to have a look and get their ideas on selecting the best wood for my project.

Even if you are just learning yourself, 2 heads are better than one!!

If you are interested, please call 078 16 289 739
Mark Bowler
038471

Steve Brown · Post by **Steve Brown** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:07 am

Hi there.
Bearing in mind your inspector has got to be happy with your eventual choices, could he help? Might prevent expensive mistakes.

braywood · Post by **braywood** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:53 am

Hello Steve - been there, done that with my inspector - OK in principle, as long as the wood I use meets the standards for Sitka. I am reasonably familiar with these specs, but would like another assessment, before I turn it to sawdust!
Thanks for the comment.
Mark Bowler

ColinC · Post by **ColinC** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:02 pm

I have an interest in aircraft wood properties and have been doing a lot of research.

A while back I knocked up a wood brittleness testing machine to a design documented in an old manual - may have been ANC-19. There's a photo here: http://s894.photobucket.com/albums/ac14 ... achine.jpg

Basically you drop the weight from a specified height (according to species) and the sample should resist the impact. Brittle wood fails quite spectacularly and it is suprising how much similar looking samples do vary.

Very happy to try it out on a few samples if you want. I'm not an inspector and cannot give any sort of approval, but I can tell you what happened in the test and you and your inspector can draw your own conclusions from that.

I need 1" square samples x 12" long cut so that one edge is tangential to the annular rings.

I am planning to build bending and compression test rigs sometime too, but have been to busy lately to get around to that.

regards,

Colin

braywood · Post by **braywood** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:20 am

Hello Colin - thanks for your comments. I may take you up on your offer to test. I will likely need all the ammunition I can get to convince all that my wood selection is sound. I would certainly keep you out of the details!

Too bad we were not closer - I think you could teach me a lot about wood!!
I will be in Hampstead Norrys for the 8th of September at a Pietenpol Flyin; I have no idea if that is anywhere near you.....I am Canadian and just learning how busy England is!!!

I live here in Northern Ireland now, but will make trips to England for meetings, etc. every few months. I will cut up some samples to send to you and see what you think!!

Thanks again for the offer.
My home email is [email protected] if you would like to send me your mailing address.
Mark Bowler

ColinC · Post by **ColinC** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:41 pm

Hi,

I'm not sure that I could teach you much myself, I am researching too and lean heavily on others who are more experienced than I.

regards,

Colin