Road trip to Huron County

Today provided great weather for a drive to collect materials and a strip canoe form. The box trailer is still apart, so hook the boat trailer to the van and collect Rob and off we go. First stop is a new contact sawyer with a lot of ambrosia maple in 4/4, 6/4 and 8/4.  Prices were too good to pass up, and he had live edge slabs suitable for furniture and such so a big piece came home as well.
The next cruiser off the form will be trimmed with wormy maple. Not totally out of line with authenticity, as guide models were not built with materials not as selected as the first grade, and we've restored Chestnuts and Peterboroughs with everything from curly maple to birdseye. A few pieces of elm rounded out the pile, and we headed to collect the form.

A retired teacher had advertised the form for free to pick up, and its going to the local middle school for grade 7s and 8s to form a club to construct a canoe during the school year. 14'5'' long, with a modern stem and waterline, flat sheer, its reminiscent of a sleeker solo boat, along the lines of a Swift Osprey.
Currently 28" width and 11" deep, against the Oprey's width of 29" width and 26" gunwale width.

What causes ambrosia maple?

the lumberman's term for this product has been wormy maple. The appearance is actually caused by Ambrosia beetle that carries a fungus on its legs that causes the discolouration. The holes are due to the beetle boring through the living wood.

Modern lines, more plumb stem and sleek modern lines

One big load of logs

Lots of Maple

Starting to build a pile

Time to load

Lots of live edge slabs

Strip building form

Pick up at an historic house circa 1875

Second stop

WCHA Auction 2015, Wanigan

All sanded and ready for finish, this nice looking box has sides laminated from American Chestnut offcuts, with a centre section of ambrosia maple, and two stripes of African Mahogany to highlight the contrast. Inner rails are Ambrosia Maple, outers are Chestnut. White cedar ribs, and planking is red cedar. 

Sanded and ready for oil 

First hit of oil

Soaking up and showing off.

Red Cedar Planking

Another view 

Markings on the maple. From the web, information on wormy silver maple:

Ambrosia maple comes from regular soft maple and Hard Maple trees that have been infested by the ambrosia beetle. The small beetle bores a network of tunnels and short galleries called cradles. A fungus is responsible for the blue, gray and brown streaks and decorative patch work that accompany each tunnel and adjacent wood. The streaks and patch work add a unique look to this hardwood without affecting its structural integrity. This wood is mostly found in the central part of Eastern United States. 

The tunnels made from the beetles are extremely small. The infestation of the ambrosia beetle is terminated during the kiln drying process and will not start again in dry wood as the beetle needs somewhat wet wood to survive. Ambrosia beetles also infest other species such as birch, Aspen and Beech.

Fully oiled

Ready for varnish

Chestnut outer rails

Lid ready for laminating. Two strakes of Sassafrass between the Chestnut and Mahogany

Oiled, varnish next

Sassafrass between the Chestnut and Mahogany, nice and straight grained. Smells great, a shame to seal it!

Sassafrass really shows up on the digital camera