storing white oak to be bent

[Lulworth]

Oh wise ones... The boat is a 28 ft Herreshoff S-boat. I will be picking up (Thursday if all goes as planned) a 2"x12"x16' white oak keel piece that will be used to replace the aft section of the keel (goes from the ballast keel to the transom). This sucker has to take on a s-shaped curve and I am building a frame to do it on but it won't be ready for bending for several months (this is not a fast-track project). How do I store it to prevent checking and to preserve its green-bending properties? I guess keeping it wet (salt water) is one option but what about regular soakings with linseed oil or the like? I am worried because I have had some large slabs (2"x18"x10ft) of white oak drying in my garage for two months that are destined to be floor timbers and even though the ends were painted and the bark is still on and the slabs (5 of them) are stickered and slowly drying in a fairly cool garage some of the damn things have split four to six inches) at the ends. No big deal here for these ones but it wouldn't do for the keel to split. Opinions other than the usual "use CPES" would be gratefully received.

[Dave Fleming]

Usual practice when a load of Indiana White bending Oak came into the yard was to lay some sleepers,a layer of planer chips or rice hulls from the feed store, a layer of wood with some spacing between each piece, a layer of planer chip shavings or rice hulls , wet each layer down well and cover with a final layer of chips/rice hulls and cover all with a tarp or two kept damp with an occasional hosing down of the tarps.
Some have added rock salt to the chips/rice hulls but to each his own.

Don't see the value in keeping the bark on the flitch edges my self.
Woods gonna dry through the large surface but mostly through the ends.
What ya paint the ends of the flitches with? Thinned paint or thinned plain old yellow woodworkers glue is what I have used. Keep flitches out of drafts and on the north side of the storage area.

'Bout all I can say, on this.
;)

[Smacksman]

I'd float it in Lulworth Cove.
Seriously though, baulks that were floated in the sea steam nicely.

[Bruce Hooke]

Floating in salt water is great if you have that option available but if you're like most of us you probably can't do that. Another choice is fresh water but for chunk this size that's likely to be hard to arrange as well. For frame stock I've used a PVC pipe filled with water to keep the wood wet. However, for something of the size you are talking about Dave's method sounds like a good way to go.

As to the ends - in my experience regular paint is not much help. Aluminium paint is suppose to work well and I've use old epoxy that I no longer trusted for more demanding applications. Once any splits get started it is very hard to stop them so it is important to get that sealer on ASAP. If some small splits have already started but are still short it might be worth cutting the end of the wood back to an inch or two inside the splits (they are always longer than what you see) before painting the ends up with your choosen sealer...

[Lulworth]

Thanks for the great advice. It sounds as though Dave's approach is the only viable one for me. The idea I suppose is to make sure that the wood is always in contact with air that is fully saturated (100% humidity). Ironically, this is exactly the situation one needs to avoid to prevent rot in the actual boat. The alternatives such as tie it to my mooring is an interesting option but if it were hit by anyone their boat would sink for sure! Also, the barnicles, sea squirts and assorted sea life that attach themselves to anything in the water for more than a week would be a bit more than I want to deal with!

By the way, I painted the ends of the flitches with latex paint which is quite clearly not an effective moisture barrier - Maybe I'll try cutting the split ends off and painting with old epoxy.

David.

[Ed Harrow]

I don't know where one gets such things, but Brad Ives stuck the end grain of my big chunk with steroid versions of the wwww-type metal fasteners that are often used to hold corners together. Anything that would accomplish that task would seem useful.

[Allen Foote]

The only way I've been able to keep wood "green" is by dropping it in the river and tying it off to a dock. For large stock I always nail a piece of marine plywood across the end grain.....its something about the 3" bronze nails spaced 2" apart that hold it together. I do this when puting in large timbers for strutts or rudder posts. Its the unequal drying that makes the splits and warps. Have you thought of warping it to shape using heat lamps and a come along?

[Lulworth]

Thanks Allen, the marine ply and nails into the end makes a lot of sense, especially if it is glued (to slow water egress) in place. I'll try it on the keel piece for certain. I was planning to use a come along plus some fat friends sitting on one end after a couple of hours of hot steam (the plank, not the friends) to bend it over the forms but are you suggesting that that might be over kill and that I could spot heat (so to speak) the thing and gradually, over a period of days, get it into the right shape? Hmmmm....sounds too good to be true. Bye the way, any suggestions for an estimate of spring back? There is a detailed calculation (in the frame repair book by Wooden boat) but I've heard local folks say, forget about it, after it hardens (cools) it'll be fine. Opinions?

Thanks, David.

[Bruce Hooke]

Warping it to shape using heat would only be a temporary solution. As soon as the moisture re-equalized it would straighten back out, or at least try to and in the process exert a heck of a lot of force on whatever structure was trying to keep it bent...

I think you were probably joking about the fat friends but in case you weren't I'll just note that the come-along, and some clamps if you can get them into the picture, will do way more than even the most corpulant of friends. One decent C-Clamp can exert something on the order of a ton of force so a bunch of them can do as much as a room full of people...and clamps don't want liquid refreshments once they've done their job!

[htom]

Down at the orange store they sell 10'x25' 4 mil clear plastic sheeting. Why couldn't you lay this on the ground, put the timber on it, lift up the edges and ends, and fill it with an artificial salt-water solution? A timber-sized swimming pool for it, just enough to float it?

[Allen Foote]

I keep alot of white oak "laying around" with interesting twists and turns. Its amazing how often they fit a flared bow just perfect. If you warp the board into shape over time, and fasten it in without relying on the fasteners to pull it into place it will retain that shape. Its unequal drying that does it. The wood "shrinks" on the dry side and you can add to it by soaking the wet side and then puting the dry side back into the sun. Yes, you can also take the warp out by doing the opposite, thus striaghtening the plank you left out on the ground last night (soaked up dew on one side and baked by the morning sun on the other). You can manipulate wood twisting by the grain patterns, by following the grain in a slab cut piece you can cut a frame that will steam bend almost effortlessly. :D