One of my hobbies, other than woodworking, is building model ships, especially 18th century sailing ships. As a consequence, this past week I had the opportunity to visit Mystic Seaport (Connecticut) and Boston to see some of these ships in-person. It was a great experience to see and tour the USS Constitution, built in 1797 and still on the Navy's list of commissioned warships! I also had the opportunity to watch as skilled craftsmen were refurbishing the Mayflower II (Mystic Seaport). Although they use modern power tools to cut and milling huge timber slabs, they use the old traditional techniques for shaping, bending and fastening planks to the ship's frame. It was amazing to see how 2.75", quarter-sawn, white oak planks were bent to conform to the ship and held in place with huge wooden treenails (trunnels). The oak planking is steamed for almost three hours (1 hour/inch) prior to bending.
During the course of watching this work, I asked where they sourced their wood. I was surprised to learn that the white oak and live oak come from the aftermath of various hurricanes the south has experienced over the past decade. I use the word "surprised" because I recall reading posts on this site about "Shaken Tree Defect", which is the result of internal stress experienced by trees shaken and toppled during major storms events. It is my understanding that wood from such trees is often not suitable for making furniture due to the potential for excessive cracking and checking. Given the fact the cracking and checking would also be undesirable defects in a ship's hull, I am left to wonder how they deal with the problem? While I don't know the answer, perhaps they have a good way to cull through potentially problematic timber or the sheer size of the slabs they work with are less prone to problems than the thicknesses typically used by most woodworkers. Whatever the case, for those of you interested in seeing craftsmanship on a large scale, I recommend the trip!
During the course of watching this work, I asked where they sourced their wood. I was surprised to learn that the white oak and live oak come from the aftermath of various hurricanes the south has experienced over the past decade. I use the word "surprised" because I recall reading posts on this site about "Shaken Tree Defect", which is the result of internal stress experienced by trees shaken and toppled during major storms events. It is my understanding that wood from such trees is often not suitable for making furniture due to the potential for excessive cracking and checking. Given the fact the cracking and checking would also be undesirable defects in a ship's hull, I am left to wonder how they deal with the problem? While I don't know the answer, perhaps they have a good way to cull through potentially problematic timber or the sheer size of the slabs they work with are less prone to problems than the thicknesses typically used by most woodworkers. Whatever the case, for those of you interested in seeing craftsmanship on a large scale, I recommend the trip!
Very few folks know how amazing the craftsmanship is to make a wooden ship! Just the "wood" engineering is awesome, special wood for different purposes, grain orientation alone is mind boggling.
