Jump to content

Recommended Posts

We have a local peach farm and I can get some pieces of green peach wood that would be about 24" long and 4" to 8" wide. I remember hearing that all fruit woods were good sources for modeling timbers.

 

I was wondering what you all thought about this wood for modeling.  Does anyone know if it has a fine grain and if it works well with hand tools.

 

Figured I'd get some feedback before getting involved in obtaining it then sealing and aging.

 

Thanks,

Richard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Richard, definitely grab this stuff and try it.  You have to air dry it first.  Label the ends with 'Peach' and the date it was cut. Get some parafin and dip the ends of the logs, then put the logs in a dry warm place for a couple of years.  Generally figure about one year per inch.  (One log was too big so I cut in in half lengthwise then dipped the ends.)  I did this for my dogwood and am very happy with the results.   

 

I have NOT used peach but do use pear, apple and cherry, all very good woods for building model ships, toys and anything else that needs a hard wood for strength and durability.    

 

I also use flowering dogwood, Costella, box wood, basswood, soft maple, redheart, yellowheart, pauduk, clear pine and poplar.  I seldom use open p;ore woods because those pores make the model lumber look like the toredo got into them. 

 

Keep building and above all, have fun.                        Duff in Middletown, CT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Richard,

 

I have never seen peach wood. 

Would it be possible  to post a picture?

A fruitwood with close grain  and a nice brown color could be a very good choice.

Also you should try to work a piece and sand it a bit to see how the wood reacts.

How the wood reacts to the knife?

How easy the wood can be sanded?

Who knows, may be you have a winner!

Edited by Gaetan Bordeleau
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks all,

Mark great links,

I will definitely get some from the orchid and season it.

Does anyone know if anchor seal is as effective as other sealers such as paraffin?

Do you just coat the ends or the whole thing?

Can you cut the wood into billets then coat them or is it better to do the whole limb and season it before cutting?

 

Thanks all for the help

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it has similar properties to cherry, it might be a great alternative.  

 

Completely different hobby for me, but I know the barbecue guys down in your area use peach a lot instead of cherry when they smoke meats because it has a similar, yet softer, flavor profile.  Now I'm getting hungry :rolleyes:  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think of wood as being like a bundle of straws.  The end grain is the open ends of the straws.  The trick is to have the water in green wood leave the surface of the end grain at the same rate as the sides.  The stress of drying more quickly from the ends leads to splitting (checking).   You do want the water to leave.  Getting logs into billets speeds drying as it increases the ratio of drying surface to total volume.  You can use old left over house paint to coat the end grain, though you would want to keep an eye on things and add another coat or two if checking starts.

If you coat the sides, and really slow down water loss, I am thinking that it will take forever to dry and set up a situation for fungus to rot the wood.  Fruit wood may have a higher sugar content than other types, so fungus would be a problem in any case.  My ideal would be to store the drying wood in an environment where the internal temp in the billet is a bit higher than what a fungus could tolerate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want a supply to play with in a couple of months, you can dry some billets in a home made kiln.

Make a box using 1 inch  foam foil surface house exterior insulation. Foil surface facing in.

I mounted mine inside a shelf. No need to seal the seams, let some air leakage occur.

Heat using incandescent light bulbs   -  200 - 300 W was enough for a 4' x 16" x 16" volume.

I used a $10 computer cooling fan to pull out the moist air -  they are DC motors but apparently you can use a transformer that supplies more power than the fan wants, but less will burn it out.  

Sticker the billets for complete air circulation.

300 W 24/7  - your electric bill will go up a few bucks.  I kept the temp at 120 degrees or less - dry heat about 20 degrees above ambient seems to be enough. I did it in my garage in Mar- Apr -  I guess 20 > ambient in GA in July- Aug is above 120 sometimes.  There are low cost digital thermometers that record the highest temp. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found that apple-wood's outer sap-wood is lighter than the heart wood, and 15 years on, it hasn't darkened at all. Loquat is a perfect wood for ship modelling. It has the color of apple sap-wood, the grain of pear, and it bends easily without steaming.

 

(Rant: I find it annoying that many fast food outlets use the marketing term "apple-wood" to describe bacon.) 

Edited by uss frolick
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just picked up the Peach wood.  It was cut two days ago.

 

I tried to get some anchor seal at the local home depot and lowes but they had no idea what I was looking for.

 

Should I use a more commonly available substance (i.e., paint, sanding sealer, etc) or just let it go.

 

I will be visiting a friend who owns a band saw and was thinking of cutting which ever piece he can fit on the saw to create smaller billets for faster drying.

 

I am not really equiped to remove bark.  Is it really necessary? If so, is there a simple way to do this does not required heavy tools?

 

post-4218-0-98279800-1436646383_thumb.jpg

 

thanks,

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just use old paint to coat the ends- ASAP -  several coats  - if nothing else  use TiteBond  or whatever PVA glue you use,  but left over paint is usually something that goes to waste otherwise.  

 

I don't know about you, but I find 16-18 inches is a good length for my stock, longer is difficult to handle  -  I will  use 6 inch if that is what is available.  That is 24 feet long at 1:48. 

 

If it is what it takes to get it band saw size,  I would bisect the logs using a chain saw - down the pith - a bow saw and hand rip saw if that is all you have.  The kerf is horrible, but still better than nothing.  

 

For the band saw, you will not have one flat surface, either for the table or the fence.

Use a board to ride on the table and against the fence - 1/2 inch thick or so  2-4 inches longer than the log.

I used right angle framing braces/brackets  and drywall screws  to fix the log to the carrier board - keeps the log from rolling and lets you define the cut line.   Once you get two planes at right angle on the log - you don't need the carrier.

 

Use the band saw to shave off the bark from the billets.

You can use a draw knife to shave off the bark, it is just a chore to fix the log to keep it from moving.

 

RE: your friend with the band saw.  Find out how long  his blades are and buy about 3 economy rip tooth blades for it from a local shop.  Green wood is tough on blades and if Peach is like other fruit wood, much harder than what most wood workers are used to.  It will dull the blade faster than usual wood stock.  I would expect at least one blade to break.

Edited by Jaager
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jaeger, DaveS, and all,

Thanks for the detailed replies. They are very helpful.

 

I am not sure if band sawing will be possible on the larger piece but should be doable for the smaller one. I will find out this week.  

 

The idea of the drying rig sounds simple and easy.  A question: If I cannot get the larger piece cut down to billets, would the drying rig still help it.  If the piece does develop cracks, can I just cut billets around the cracks and live with the waste?

 

As for outside drying, I live in Georgia and not sure how the heat and humidity will affect it.  I would appreciate your thoughts.

 

I am enjoying this exercise... would be great to work a scratch build from raw wood. That really sounds like scratch building :-)

 

Richard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The top of the large log - looks like there are two branches .  I would cross cut that log about 1/3 down and have mostly a straight cylinder for the bottom 2/3 s.  

The top 1/3 - the side towards the camera - will be a short 1/2 log that is what 6- 12 inches or so?  very usable.  

The branch side.   Creative cutting with the band saw - you may get some curved grain that is useful for 2nd and 3rd futtocks, davits, knees, foothooks.   The curve will not be 1:50 - 1:100 scale, but still help in avoiding cross grain.

The way the log is now, is not even good for a splitting.

 

You are going to have to break these logs into smaller pieces at some point.  Doing it now gets it into sizes that will dry faster and with less tendency to split.   

 

If nothing else,  get a few more logs from the orchard, take them to a place that sells firewood and see if they will use their power splitter and 1/4 the logs.   That should get them band saw ready.  Who knows, the firewood dealer might have something interesting you can salvage in his stock.

 

The split planes are likely to be curved and twisted.  You will definitely need the carrier board for the band saw. 

 

You are new at this, my tendency would be to focus on the loss from the splitting and chain saw kerf,  Better to focus on what you are getting instead.  In the end, once you get hard dry lumber,  resawed, thickness sanded,  sawed into various pieces,  at best, 50% of this wood will go to saw dust anyway.

Edited by Jaager
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...