Original Posted By: Steve Eldredge
Glad the info on spruce, fir and hemlock helps, Brent. You are correctin your understanding of the grain run-out. 1 inch in 15 would be evenbetter than 1 in 12, especially if it is for a larger beam (such as aspar or longeron) that has to be scarfed together. Other criteriashould be 6 to 8 annular rings per inch when you look at the end of your1 x 6 and an absence of pitch pockets, knots, etc. Also look for signsof fracture or compression damage from rough handling. I have some firthat I picked up about 10 years ago that is beautiful with perfectgrain, but today I cannnot find that same quality from the samesources. Another source for good wood is the wooden boat buildingcommunity. There are a lot more people building wooden boats thanairplanes, and if you pick up a magazine called WoodenBoat you will seesome wood suppliers that can provide some high quality material.The Experimental Aircraft Association has several books and videosavailable for wood aircraft construction. Here are a couple: EAA Aircraft Wood Building Techniques Tony Bingelis has a four book set available from EAA, they are all goodto have. For now you would probably find these two more valuable:None of those prices includes shipping. You can reach the EAA at1-800-843-3612. Some chat group members can probably comment on theseand other useful books and videos.Glad to help, especially if it means we all build safer airplanes.Mike List________________________________________________________________________________