Re Kwila

[Sayla]

Does anyone have experience framing (laminated) with Kwila?

Thanks,
Sayla

[ian scott]

I've laminated it a few times. Not for framing tho'. It often comes from the timber yard quite wet and bends ok like this. Much stiffer when it's dry. I clamped the laminations in position and let them dry a bit then glued with epoxy.

Nice timber. Looks super clear finished.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Bootles lists it as a boat building timber with an extremely stable shrinkage at 1.5% radial and 2.5% tangential. It says it will gum up saws and planers, but will cut well if blades and knives are clean. "The cutting angle of the planer will need to be reduced, especially on the radial surface." It glues "reasonably satisfactorily except with casein," which you won't be using within a boat anyway. "Sanding dust can be irritating to both skin and mucous membranes." So cover up and where a mask. It's a fairly heavy timber at 850 kg per cubic metre. Bootles also states that iron in dirrect contact with the timber will produce a black stain. Cedar is 350 kg p/m3 and most pines, including our own Hoop Pine, are about 500 to 560 kg p/m3.

Kwila fresh from the yard will weep a staining resin for a while if wet.

[WX]

I have a very nice wooden mallet I made out of it...strong and stable I'd call it.

[Sayla]

Found this article on google - by WB member John Welsford -

http://www.woodenboat.net.nz/Workshop/Workshoptips/Timber/Timberchart.html

In an excerpt -
"...... anything I make with this will be there for a lifetime. Good for the really strong parts of a bigger boat. I have chosen to use quite a bit of Kwila in my own boat. Very heavy and dense, stable and strong it is ideal for floors, frames, engine bearers, towing and anchor bitts and deadwoods. I have a pile of varying sizes out there drying and will be using the first pieces as floors when making up the frames and bulkheads ..............."

I thought it would be good stuff - a durable tuff glueable alternative to oak, with a density for hardness (yet <1000kg/m3). Select pieces, though very strong++, seem to have enough flex for frames - and perhaps not as brittle under stress bending as say, Mahogany - I wonder how bending under stress compares with oak - some timbers bend better than others but then crack through, whereas another may weaken in a splintery crack that still remains intact.

Kwila is also very available.

Sayla