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What is your favorite wood to plank the deck?


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Not oak. Tried it and it looked good until it was glued down. Then, the scale of the grain was too pronounced. Color was nice, though.

Steve

 

"If they suspect me of intelligence, I am sure it will soon blow over, ha, ha, ha!"

-- Jack Aubrey

 

Builds:

Yankee Hero, Fannie Gorham, We’re Here, Dapper Tom (x3), New Bedford Whaler, US Brig Lawrence (Niagara), Wyoming (half hull), Fra Berlanga (half hull), Gokstad Viking Ship, Kate Cory, Charles Morgan, Gjoa

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I know we all see a lot of holly used. Nice and white.  I've never seen an actual deck on a ship look anything even close to that, though.  I have a branch from high up on a holly tree, and it has a really nice greyish-tan to light brown color.  Still that fine grain, but the color is more similar to aged oak or weathered teak.  Might be my choice on a future build.

 

-John

-John

 

Member:  Ship Model Society of New Jersey

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Maple is a cheaper alternative to holly. Also holly is hard to weather. Generally deck wood is of a lighter color but it doesn't have to be. Some use boxwood or even pear (unsteamed pear which is lighter).

Build on hold: HM Sultana 1/64th scale

 

Current Build: 31 ton Doughty revenue cutter as USRC Active 1/64th scale (in progress)

 

Future Interests: Ballahoo, Diligence, Halifax and beyond...

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I am a big fan of using Maple as decking , with the large scale of my models I can get away with the grain patterns. I have also used Mahogany, Bubinga and Brazilian cherry. So I agree with Gaetan, ( your taste , your choice )

 

Good luck with whichever decking you decide on,

 

                                                                                Keith

Current build:

 

     A Battleship

 

Past builds:

 

   The Unicorn - The Lindworm - Malahini -  Shinobi Maru  -  The MaryJane - The Weeligstraal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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Some of the kits have tanganyika, which looks nice but is a bit splintery.  I used tanganyika on my Caldercraft Badger.

 

I'm using maple on my Pegasus.  It's a really nice wood to work with.  There are some amber waves in the otherwise light color, but I actually like it.

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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John,   Holly is a difficult wood to season.  The piece you have has probably been infected with Blue Mold.  It is grey or blue and it discolors the wood. 

The good aspect is that it only discolors, it does not rot. You can use it with no worry.  I was working Holly logs into billets and as the band saw blade approached the end it was pushing water ahead of it,  so communication inside the wood is easy.  Most who want Holly are after the snow white effect.  To preserve that, Holly must be harvested in Winter and rushed to a kiln to stay ahead of the Blue Mold.  For most of our uses,  it does not matter.  In your case, it makes for a more realistic decking color.  Holly takes well to wood dyes and makes for an easier to use Ebony when dyed black and the mold does not matter  It bends like a champ,so is good for hull planking, it just looks better dyed or painted.  The scale effect of the grain is about as good as it gets.

 

BCD,  

Open pore species- such as Oak, Ash, Hickory, Black Walnut - do not scale well, so are maybe not among the better choices. 

 

Basswood in pre-scribed sheets is what kits used to provide for decks.  The wood scales well and will work as individual planks.  It is just too

soft and ready to fuzz for my taste.

Yellow Poplar is light weight and easy to work and stays crisp.  You have to be picky about the planks unless you want a greenish deck.

Soft Maple might get you some grey effect in areas of a board, but mostly it is close to white.  It is soft, and can fuzz or be brittle.  As a horticultural specimen  Soft (Water) Maple is a weed.

 

Hard Maple will make for a good deck if you want something that looks like Rupp Arena.

Sycamore ( American ) is brittle and has a pattern that is too busy ( an alternate name is Lacewood ).

What the English call Sycamore is a species of Maple that is close but not quite as hard as Hard Maple.

NRG member 45 years

 

Current:  

HMS Centurion 1732 - 60-gun 4th rate - Navall Timber framing

HMS Beagle 1831 refiit  10-gun brig with a small mizzen - Navall (ish) Timber framing

The U.S. Ex. Ex. 1838-1842
Flying Fish 1838  pilot schooner -  framed - ready for stern timbers
Porpose II  1836  brigantine/brig - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers
Vincennes  1825  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers assembled, need shaping
Peacock  1828  Sloop-of -War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Sea Gull  1838  pilot schooner -  timbers ready for assembly
Relief  1835  ship - timbers ready for assembly

Other

Portsmouth  1843  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Le Commerce de Marseilles  1788   118 cannons - framed

La Renommee 1744 Frigate - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers

 

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I use tanganyika on all mine, it looks great after a single coat of poly.  But it is very brittle so make sure you have extra. 

Casey

 

"I drank what?" - Socrates

 

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Future Builds:        

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Tough question....  holly, boxwood, pear, silver maple (I've not tried other species of maple) look good depending on the effect you're looking for.  As for finishes... Wipe-on-poly, varnish.. there's a bunch.   I'm a Wipe-on-Poly guy but other finishes look excellent from what I've seen on MSW.

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

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I normally go with holly with either "Natural" stain finish or wipe on poly.  Recently I saw a model using beech for decking.  It looked good...scale oak appearance.  .

Chuck Seiler
San Diego Ship Modelers Guild
Nautical Research Guild

 
Current Build:: Colonial Schooner SULTANA (scratch from Model Expo Plans), Hanseatic Cog Wutender Hund, John Smith Shallop
Completed:  Missouri Riverboat FAR WEST (1876) Scratch, 1776 Gunboat PHILADELPHIA (Scratch 1/4 scale-Model Shipways plans)

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  • 2 months later...

Holly, Aspen for a less whiteish look but will mar due to softness, Anigre - kinda like boxwood but slightly more grain, Castello boxwood if I am planking the hull with Pear, just a great looking combo!

 

Lou

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My POB II will be Yellowheart :)  Stay tuned ;)

 

Bill

Passion is Patience...and I am a carpenter in any scale.

 

 

Current build;  Endurance - 1:70 scale, Occre

 

Current build;    H.M.S. Surprise - 1796, 1:48 A L

                                    

 

 

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Nice Bill.  Dave (Doc Blake) has been using yellowheart on some of this builds to real nice effect.  I'm considering using it on my Charles Morgan build to represent the ochre areas.

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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Nice Bill.  Dave (Doc Blake) has been using yellowheart on some of this builds to real nice effect.  I'm considering using it on my Charles Morgan build to represent the ochre areas.

Good morning Mike!

 

Yellowheart..and Redheart are really nice woods. Their grain is tight and linear. I have ripped down some test planks/decking strips, it is flexible, holds a nice crisp edge. 

Over time they will both fade a bit with a grayish hue. Proper sealing and finishing to really close up the wood's cells can minimize this. The fading is more dramatic if continuously exposed to sun light.

 

 

Bill

Passion is Patience...and I am a carpenter in any scale.

 

 

Current build;  Endurance - 1:70 scale, Occre

 

Current build;    H.M.S. Surprise - 1796, 1:48 A L

                                    

 

 

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Good morning Mike!

 

Yellowheart..and Redheart are really nice woods. Their grain is tight and linear. I have ripped down some test planks/decking strips, it is flexible, holds a nice crisp edge. 

Over time they will both fade a bit with a grayish hue. Proper sealing and finishing to really close up the wood's cells can minimize this. The fading is more dramatic if continuously exposed to sun light.

 

 

Bill

 

Hey Bill,

 

I've been using redheart on my Pegasus build, and really have enjoyed working with it.  It can be a bit crumbly at times, but unless you're doing detailed carving, it hasn't been an issue for me at least when it comes to using it for planking or creating deck structures like the bitts:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=441236

 

 

I haven't worked with bloodwood, but I heard that it can be splintery, and the UV aging effects are much more dramatic.  Redheart will age to an orangy-brown color, while bloodwood will turn a very dark brown almost bordering on black.

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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I have seen teak used and it looks good, it would be great on larger scales..........let's say 1:24 ;)  :)

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Hey Bill,

 

I've been using redheart on my Pegasus build, and really have enjoyed working with it.  It can be a bit crumbly at times, but unless you're doing detailed carving, it hasn't been an issue for me at least when it comes to using it for planking or creating deck structures like the bitts:

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7267-hms-pegasus-by-landlubber-mike-amativictory-models-scale-164/?p=441236

 

 

I haven't worked with bloodwood, but I heard that it can be splintery, and the UV aging effects are much more dramatic.  Redheart will age to an orangy-brown color, while bloodwood will turn a very dark brown almost bordering on black.

 Bloodwood is aptly named as it is splintery and pierces the skin with ease. It is a very oily wood that makes quick work of sandpaper, especially on power tools.

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The more tannin a wood contains the higher it's propensity to react (oxidize) in the presence of UV light. I've not worked with Bloodwood at such small scale.

 

Managing moisture content of your woods is everything. As I do for furniture, etc.. I maintain color matched pieces together and don't cut them until I'm ready to use them. I think especially for cutting planking/decking, I would cut them 24-48 hours before use. this gives any stress in the grain a chance to relax, but keep them bundled and straight.

I am building a "humidor" for the new shipyard to store my materials while they await to be used in the build ;)  I'll post the construction of the humidor when I start it.

 

Teak, would be interesting. It has a pretty open grain pattern. I would think as with any wood, a careful selection of the pieces chosen would be worth trying on a larger scale model :)

 

 

Bill

Passion is Patience...and I am a carpenter in any scale.

 

 

Current build;  Endurance - 1:70 scale, Occre

 

Current build;    H.M.S. Surprise - 1796, 1:48 A L

                                    

 

 

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I have used Beech Poplar Maple with some weathering and a wipe on poly.  At my scale the end result is nice.

David B

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