Sassafras for light framing?

[outofthenorm]

Can anyone tell me if air-dried sassafras is a suitable boat building wood? Will it bend with steam? And how is it for rot resistance? I have a low cost source of long straight knot-free boards and I'm considering it for this very lightly built 8 ft geodesic tender.

8' geodesic (http://gaboats.com/boats/westportdinghy8.html)

- Norm

[landlocked sailor]

Should work well; the Wood Handbook lists it as "resistant or very resistant" to decay, though "moderately weak" in bending. I'll bet steaming would solve that. It's also "moderately heavy", though white ash is too. I used white ash for a geodesic canoe (Platt Monford's 'Nimrod') with good results; there is so little wood in the darn things that they weigh practically nothing!. Rick

[Jack Heinlen]

If you could get it green it would work better. I've never worked sassafras, but green wood is always easier to bend.

Getting out straight-grained stock would be a good idea. With such a small boat the frames can't be more than what, five feet long?

A primer on how to get straight grained stock out of sawn plank has to be here in the archives somewhere.

If you're intent on it, throw together a little steamer, get a plank, make a test frame and see how it bends.

It has a rep as tough stuff. Sassafras root is the primo NA wood to make mallets for froe work, for example. But I'm not sure how it will bend.

[ 08-31-2005, 12:39 AM: Message edited by: Jack Heinlen ]

[landlocked sailor]

...and Shaw & Tenny uses sassafras for their premium paddles. Rick

[Wayne Jeffers]

Originally posted by outofthenorm:
. . . And how is it for rot resistance? . . .For anyone who doubts the rot resistance of sassafras, I have several 25-year-old sassafras stumps on the property in Ohio that you're welcome to come inspect.

I don't know how it bends or accepts glue or fasteners, though.

Wayne

[outofthenorm]

Thanks everyone. This all encouraging stuff. I've used it for furniture projects and small boxes. It looks good, works easily and even smells good when it's cut.

Rick: what's your impression of the geodesic system? I like the idea of a 29 lb tender that will easily carry 2 people plus gear.

Jack: Can't get green stuff but at least it's not kilned.
The suggestion to test steam a few pieces is bang on of course. I'll cut some to minimize grain runout and give it a try.

Wayne: thanks. 25 years dead in the ground is good enough for me.

- Norm

[Don Z.]

IIRC, check the woodenboat index for sassafrass. Once upon a time, every issue had information re: different species of wood and their suitability for building boats, and I know sassafrass was listed, with good results.

And on a similar note, if anyone can tell me where I can find a mill in MD (near Annapolis, but I will travel) where I can buy a lot of it (not for a boat this time, but that will come) I'd appreciate it...

[TimothyB]

If you're interested in helping those stumps along, there is a guy who sells fungi plugs that should do the trick:

http://www.fungi.com/

He even sells chainsaw oil that is impregnated with spores so the stumps, when cut, decompose much faster. I'd bet he'd be able to tell you what to use on sassafrass to get them to break down.

[landlocked sailor]

Norm, my impressions are:
1. Platt really engineered those things to be light & strong.
2. Building the canoe was more like model-building than boat-building
3. I was impressed how small the dimensions of the wood parts are; the ribs were so fine I could tie them in a loose knot before steaming. They were green though & I needed to steam them to get them to bend AT THE RIGHT PLACES.
Platt died this past June @ 84. Bob Hicks has a nice tribute to him in the latest MAIB: he reprinted the article about him from 1984. Rick

[Jon Etheredge]

I've used sassafras in 5 or 6 small boats for frames as well as other parts. It takes steam very well, far better than white oak in my experience. Part of the reason is that the stiffness is much lower than oak. So for steam bent frames, you probably want to increase the scantlings if the plans specify oak.

It also glues very well with epoxy. A good way to work around the lower stifness of the material is to laminate frames instead of using one piece steamed frames.

My previous comments are for those building more tradtional boats. For a Geodesic Aerolite boat I would guess (emphasis on guess) that sassafras would work extremely well without having to resort to laminating or even changing the scantlings.

The pros of sassafras:
- Steams well
- Glues well
- Very pleasant to work with
- Finishes nicely (darkens to a golden/orangey brown under varnish)
- Good rot resistance
- Light weight (relative to other hardwoods)
- Relatively stable (dimensionally)

The cons:
- Trees are typically small diameter so it is difficult to find thick or wide stock.
- You may find pinholes (some type of borer?) and these may be accompanied by localized staining. These don't seem to affect the rot resistance.
- I have seen some wood with degradation from drying (or possibly it was wind shakes)
- Low stiffness

[outofthenorm]

Thanks everyone. I just called my guy and ordered a small stack of sassafras.

- Norm

[Steve Lansdowne]

Hey, Jon, you forgot to mention how great it smells when you work with it. Root beer, anyone?

[Bob Smalser]

The pinholes are usually Ambrosia beetle larvae eating the mold left in the sapwood tunnels by the boring adult, penetrating slightly into the heartwood occasionally.

Harmless once the wood is air dried, as the larvae are long gone. Pinholes deep in the heartwood are different, more harmful, and less common beetles (Lyctus and others) that usually attack older woods found in barns, old stacks, and other structures.

Infestation by Ambrosia occurs when logs are left on the ground for anything more than a couple weeks in weather above 55 degrees. Mill your logs immediately or protect them by either ponding or debarking. Incecticides aren't practical. Ambrosia wood still meets structural grading standards...you don't see much of it coming from large commercial mills because of ponding via irrigation.

[ 09-01-2005, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]