Big boughs

[oldclaypaws]

Some of my upper oak boughs are the size of medium sized trees, typically 45 cm wide and 30 ft long. They're obviously not as straight as the butts, but sizeable enough to be cut into something useful like shorter beams or 2 M boards or possibly arches.

Does anyone know if the heartwood from upper boughs is as sturdy and useful as butt-wood on a smaller scale, or whether they only have limited uses such as firewood? Is there a market or niche use for big chunky bits of curved oak ? The total volume of the upper boughs must be as much as the butts, so there's a lot of it and well worth trying to find uses for it other than burning. Its potentially a lot of value if I can find uses for smaller short or bent bits.

[Rankinswood]

cruck blades for building a cruck frame

Rankinswood

[oldclaypaws]

Cheers Rankinswood. The guy who was underbidder at the auction where I secured the wood was after the timber for conservation building. It might be an idea to look him up and see if a deal can be discussed. I've a couple of books on timber framed building so I'll see how many 'bent' bits are illustrated and maybe put out some feelers into that market, any likely bit could just be left barked and sealed and left sitting around on the ground for a few years to see if a user appears. Not sure what publications you'd use to advertise availability of such material, if there are more commonly sought dimensions or if it varies considerably according to the individual building?

I understand upper boughs produce 'reaction wood', which is far more prone to warping and twisting as it dries, so maybe planks and beams are not the ideal use (?). It'd be OK for craft projects like Mike Peppler style benches, chopping boards, chainsawed stools and square decorative 'plinths' or wood turning blanks.

[Rankinswood]

Wiggly and bent timber can be put to good use in vernacular buildings.

You could place an ad on the Woodlots website under timber for sale or for specialist cruck blades try the Carpenters Fellowship notice board or under the materials section of the Bodgers web forum

Rankinswood

[oldclaypaws]

Thanks again Rankinswood. I guess networking locally with thatchers, conservation builders, chippies and other wood related trades might be a good move. We certainly have a good number of heritage vernacular buildings in Somerset, and they are continuing to use the same techniques to make repairs, extensions, and new builds, so with some research it should be possible to find a 'wood grapevine'. We also have a woodland association (Blackdowns) which has a website with a suppliers directory which I could use to indicate I have oak available.

[Terry]

Hi Paws, dont know if there is any demand these days, but they used to use the bent bits in wooden ship building and forestry practises included artificially encouraging bent bits of certain shapes for ship building.
Knew someone a few years ago who did a bit of restoration along these lines and the HMS victory is still being constantly maintained. No doubt there are other old or replica vessels that may need specific shapes.

Maybe not the most promising suggestion, but just a thought.

[oldclaypaws]

Yes Terry.

The thought of oak ships did occur, so I downloaded a few hints from the web and started on HMS PAWS last week. Here I am with my one hand, shivering me timbers.

Seems to be going according to plan so far. I've grown several acres of flax and hemp to make sails and rope, dug some pits to cast the cannons next week and bought a parrot. (Norwegian blue of course). It seems a bit inactive though, not sure the guy in the pet shop didn't pull a fast one. I bought a pallet of brown sugar and made 6 barrels of grog in preparation for planned launch next month. That bit could be a bit tricky as we're 25 miles from the sea, but with rising sea levels it must only be a matter of waiting for the sea to come to me.

Also found a really cool nautical compass in an antique centre which the lady said will take me to my hearts desire. So far its taken me to the Twiglet section in Tesco and top shelf of the local newsagent, so it seems to be working fine.

Not too worried about the left hand now, decided to finish the job, took the rest of it off and attached a nice hook instead. Just have to careful if you get an itchy backside. Aaaarrrr.