What types of wood do you use in hull making

[exwafoo]

At least some of the ship was put to good use.

 

Super model

 

Alan

[Shipbuilder]

It has almost gone now.   The forward half collapsed into the harbour several years ago, and the stern is disintegrating fast.     Boarding the hulks was "strictly prohibited,"  but I had always wanted to visit all the hulks in Stanley since my schooldays, adn when the opportunity came, I took it and went aboard American clipper Snowsquall, barques Lady Elizabeth and Jhelum, brig Fleetwing, and ship Jennie S. Barker.     

Bob   

[HGRogers]

I started building ships in bottles with a wonderful chunk of black walnut.  I started with that because it was what I had at the time.  It's a very hard wood, dark in color, and hard on the tools, but the piece I had was extremely dense, tight grained, and of excellent quality.  The quality of that piece is hard to come by unless recuperated from old furniture, or you have the luck to stumble across a good stock.  I also carved teak for a while, but it was a bit to fibery and brittle, not to mention extremely irritating to my eyes and nose. Now I use basswood, but really want to try something else, since it does have the tendency to get fuzzy on the edges when sanded.  As David mentioned, I too am interested in fruits woods, boxwood, and would really like to try holly.

 

For the masts, I originally used long leaf yellow pine and still have some strips lying around that where recuperated from the porch floor boards of an abandoned house.  It worked really well for the masts since it was extremely strong with long fibers, while at the same time, flexible but not brittle. The color also worked well for the masts.  I now use bamboo skewers, turned down.  In my opinion it is the best wood for masts, since it is extremely flexible, strong, has a nice color, and easily drilled.  I  can turn the masts down to a mm or less in thickness as well.  

 

I often lay planking down on the decks and have used everything from fur, pine, basswood, mahogany, jatoba, and even teak, which unfortunately does not slice well and is extremely brittle and hard to work with. 

 

And finally, I use HDU board (high density urethane) for carving modern, fiberglass hulls, which often have more rounded/odd shapes.  I ordered a box of scraps (of high density grade) from a sign company and it works great for powerboats.  Since its not wood, it carves in all directions and keeps its edge really well.  The only drawback is that it has a tendency to break or chip when carving to a point or sharp angle, but sands like a dream.  

 

I hope to experiment in the future with some other woods!!

Edited February 16, 2016 by HGRogers

[HGRogers]

Here's an example of a ship in bottle I built using mahogany planking over a basswood hull, which was carved in three sections.

[Gwyl Blaser]

Nice work Heather.  The mahogany really complements the look of the cruiser.  Very realistic.

 

Gwyl

[ModelsInBottles]

DSiemens - thanks for the tip about the bamboo skewers. That's exactly the kind of stuff I came to this site for.  I have some in my kitchen actually but the diameter seems too big. I'll see what I can do though--whether it's buy smaller ones (if available) or just sand them down.

[DSiemens]

Your welcome Models. I use a draw plate to thin the bamboo skewers down and it keeps them nice and round. You can buy them online for around $30.

[HGRogers]

DSiemens - thanks for the tip about the bamboo skewers. That's exactly the kind of stuff I came to this site for.  I have some in my kitchen actually but the diameter seems too big. I'll see what I can do though--whether it's buy smaller ones (if available) or just sand them down.

You can pick up some very nice bamboo skewers in chinese food stores/supermarkets.  When you select your pack, look for skewers that are richer in color, some in which you can see the grain of the wood, this means they will be stronger and hold there shape, even when turned down very fine.  Don't use the clear almost white skewers (they have no strength).  I have tried draw plates, and didn't like them.  You can't get a tapered look with a draw plate and they don't work for all woods.

 

 It's very easy and faster to cut a skewer in half, and insert it into a dremel tool.  Place a piece of sandpaper on the edge of the table, fold it over, and insert the bamboo stick.  Put gentle pressure on the skewer and gently move the dremel tool back and forth.  You can turn down a skewer to needle thickness or finer if you are careful!

[Alex Bellinger]

Since I have trouble painting I have been trying to use a variety of woods to avoid it.  For this yawl I used aspen, a kind of white poplar, for the hull topsides and cabin roof and redwood for the lower hull.  Boxwood makes up the boot topping, bowsprit, blocks and prop.  The deck planking is pine and the cabin sides and cap rail are also pine, from a piece sitting around long enough to weather into that deep warm red.  That wood also makes up the skylights, hand rails, etc.  The masts and spars are bamboo.  The stand is oak, which has a nice contrasting grain.  This is all a little smaller than 1/8" = 1', with a hull about 6" overall. 

 

[AndrewH]

My modelling supplies are still mainly in store after moving to Australia, so I have been on the lookout for suitable materials readily available.

 

Hulls - I expect  - till set up with circular saw - to use coffee stirrers or similar.  They seem to have a fine-grained white wood and from experience they carve well.  

My new (and observant) wife has brought me a pile which are square-ended (like a plank) and made from what appears to be European Beech (Fagus Sylvatica). Whatever the wood is,  it appears excellent for hull-carving. 

 

I have also acquired from a charity shop a venetian blind made from 2mm planks with about 18" (600mm) between cord holes.  The wood is not wonderful (some of them claim to be limewood) and probably obechi or ramin, but will be fine for block-like things, such as a hull carving.

 

Masts and spars:  Normally I would use Bamboo, drawn through my homemade drawplate (photo later if it would be of interest).  incidentally I find Bamboo splits (for me ) better if I use a blunt knife for the splitting - it seems to run up the grain without any tendency to cut to one side or the other.

I have just thought about this - and quite probably its not the bluntness -  but the thickness of the blade which is the real requirement for clean splitting.

 

The coffee stirrers would laminate into mast blanks, I suspect, but I don't think that I would want to use them as yards - I feel that the wood would gradually take up a set even if the forces were low.

 

(Note on Homemade drawplate - Disc of hard brass about 1/16 (1.6mm thick) (originally a 1950s car ammeter dial).  I took a masonry nail (hardened circular nail), polished the tapered point a bit, and smacked it into the disc with varying forces so that it made a variety of circular holes of different diameter  - each with a burr on the lower side.  

I sharpen a the end of a split bamboo skewer and pull it through progressively smaller holes FROM THE BURRED SIDE.  The burr seems to act as a knife and/or scraper to size the bamboo )

 

andrew