What wood to make masts out of?

[src]

What is a good wood for making scale masts? The mast material that came with my Enterprise isnt as straight as I would like and I cut a piece off some time back to fit my bowsprit and 'The cat ate it"Now I may not have enough.  Anyway I am considering boxwood, I know I need straight and fine grained, is there a better material? I will most likely go with square stock so I can build up my masts and yards based on "Fully Framed IV" and "Masting and Rigging"

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Sam

[russ]

I have had good results with Western Alder. It is very straight grained. It is a little soft, but it makes good looking spars. The mast on my cross section model is made out of alder as is the decking. The mast has been nice and straight these past ten years and the model has never been cased.

 

Russ

[src]

Thanks Russ, I will look into that over the weekend. If it is similar to the alder I have used in the past on cabinets it can be a very nice wood to work with. The slight red tint might also be a good contrast to the rest of the wood tones.

Sam

[russ]

The stuff I have has a light brown color to it. It might be a slightly different species or a different part of the tree. I got mine years ago at a local furniture shop.

 

Russ

[von stetina]

I used lemonwood bow staves. Worked great, nice and straight.

 

Von Stetina

[grsjax]

I have used birch dowels successfully.  They work easily, look good and and the color looks right.  I have read of using something called "yellow wood" for spars but do not know what it is.  Another one I have read about but have no experience with is sitka spruce.

[Richard Griffith]

Another excellent choice is Costello which looks and acts like boxwood but is less expensive,  It takes stain well so you can get the color you want.  Costello is from South America, mostly from Paraguay.

 

Duff

[src]

All,

Thanks for your responces, a nice variety, just what I have come to love and expect here.

Duff, I looked on The Lumberyards website and they dont list Costello, does it have another name?

I may have to get 2 or 3 different color woods and see what I like.

Thanks again,

Sam

[russ]

Sam:

It is a variety of boxwood. It is generally what you get from them when you order boxwood. South American boxwood, more or less.

 

Russ

[druxey]

Castello Boxwood or Lemonwood are very similar if not identical species.

[Richard Griffith]

Druxey is correct, either choice makes excellent spars.  Castella is calycoohyllum multiforum and lemonwood is c. candidisstimum and both have similar working properties. (BTW, I have to look up these Latin names which is important because trade names often overlap and confuse us.)

 

So the question is where to get them.  There is a topic on this forum called 'where to buy wood', and check out Gilmer Wood Company for Castella, often spelled Castello. I did not locate lemon wood yet, perhaps someone knows where to get this. 

 

Good luck with your project and have fun~!

 

Duff

[src]

Thanks Duff, I was unaware of Gilmer. The one time I needed to buy hobby wood I went to either Hobby Mill or The Lumber Yard, cant remember which. Right at the moment life is interfering with Life again so I havent contacted anybody for a couple of samples. I am leaning towards something light colored like the box wood alhough both the spruce and alder might go well also. Decisions decisions.... Fortunately at the rate I am building it will be at least a couple of months before I really need to worry about masts. I dont mind winging it to a point but it is nice to have a plan in place first.

Sam