Salt Blocking

[Asgeir]

"Shipbuilders at an early time discovered that white oak, which they used green unless it was for construction above the waterline, was greatly hardened by contact with salt water. This led them to pack the spaces between a ship's frames with salt—a technique known as salt blocking"

Aldren A. Watson - Country Furniture

As anybody used this technique?
Thoughts?

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Re: Salt Blocking

The only place I've seen salt was in the RSS Discovery in Dundee - still uncertain of exactly what purpose it served.

[MushCreek]

Re: Salt Blocking

I always thought that the salt was to prevent rot, especially from rain water. Wood rots a lot easier in sweet water than salt.

[Breakaway]

Salt might prevent rot, and it attracts water so it maybe helps keep things tight(?).

But it would wreak havoc on ferrous fastenings, no?

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Peerie Maa]

Re: Salt Blocking

The only place I've seen salt was in the RSS Discovery in Dundee - still uncertain of exactly what purpose it served.

When Discovery was refitted for display, she was packed and pickled with Borax. Timbers were drilled and fitted with borax rods, surfaces out of sight will have been covered with borax powder.

[nedL]

Re: Salt Blocking

I’m pretty sure Charles W. Morgan was salt blocked when she was rebuilt. I think Carl (Morgan Volunteer) talked of doing it.

[wizbang 13]

Re: Salt Blocking

makes a boat rust away in 20 years rather than rot away in 10
hey it doubles the life of a vessel !

[ron ll]

Re: Salt Blocking

My converted salmon troller has white oak frames in direct contact with the poured concrete ballast. There is absolutely no deterioration at the interface. I’ve been told that was due to the fish hold being packed with ice and salt during commercial fishing. Wood in contact with concrete in land based construction is a sure invitation to rot.

[Bobcat]

Re: Salt Blocking

No salt used in a troller's hold, just ice.

[sp_clark]

Re: Salt Blocking

When Discovery was refitted for display, she was packed and pickled with Borax. Timbers were drilled and fitted with borax rods, surfaces out of sight will have been covered with borax powder.

https://www.hunker.com/13425952/how-to-treat-wood-with-borax

https://www.borax.com/products/applications/wood-protection-biocides

Wood in contact with concrete in land based construction is a sure invitation to rot.

Why to this day I can't fathom why 10,000 wood fence posts get planted in concrete for every one that gets sunk in a hole then backfilled with gravel. More labor & $$$ to source & place concrete compared to aggregate.

[ron ll]

Re: Salt Blocking

No salt used in a troller's hold, just ice.

I didn’t know that. Guess I better do some research.

[Bobcat]

Re: Salt Blocking

The troller I worked on used no salt except as ballast. We would fill the hold with crushed ice and then lay the fish in a bed of ice, putting some ice in the belly cavity. Once a layer was done, we would cover the layer with ice and start the process over again. We would add bin boards as we built up the load. The fish would last about 10 days. The ice was also ballast. Trollers were really rolly if they were empty. They did a lot better with a load of fuel and ice

[ron ll]

Re: Salt Blocking

The troller I worked on used no salt except as ballast. We would fill the hold with crushed ice and then lay the fish in a bed of ice, putting some ice in the belly cavity. Once a layer was done, we would cover the layer with ice and start the process over again. We would add bin boards as we built up the load. The fish would last about 10 days. The ice was also ballast. Trollers were really rolly if they were empty. They did a lot better with a load of fuel and ice

Interesting, thanks. When was salt used as ballast?

[Dave Hadfield]

Re: Salt Blocking

As I understand it, it was also a method used on Canada's east coast to help preserve boats built of poorer, cheaper materials. Anything to make a living...

[Bobcat]

Re: Salt Blocking

Interesting, thanks. When was salt used as ballast?

I am not sure it was widely used. The boat I fished on was a converted sardine carrier so there was a huge hold space ---trollers caught few fish and did not need a lot of space for the catch. The boat rolled too much. So George put bags of rock salt in the hold as ballast. I suppose that the salt was cheap and came in bags that were easy to move. There were a couple of bins with bags of rock salt, several tons I think We also had barrels of fuel in the forward hold that were mostly ballast. They were there in a emergency, but generally we just filled the tanks when we went out to fish.