cflrich
05-05-2008, 04:42 PM
Hello all,
I'm going to start building a strip-planked kayak as soon as I can get some materials together, but I'm having trouble locating any decent cedar here in Central Florida. I would prefer to build with western red cedar and one of the lighter cedars... atlantic, northern white, don't care which. I've checked some lumberyards in the area, found by searching at the Western Red Cedar retailer search site (http://wrcla.org/purchasing_cedar/retailers.asp), but they didn't have anything clear. One guy told me he thought he may be able to order some stock better than what he had, but it wouldn't be clear, and he really didn't think I should build a boat with it. The boards I did get a look at were ok, but had many knots, such that it would be very difficult to mill many strips that were knot free.
I still have a couple places I want to call tomorrow that I found on Woodfinder (http://www.woodfinder.com/)-- Namely, Chipmunk Hardwoods in Edgewater (www.chipmunkhardwoods.com (http://www.woodfinder.com/listings/redirect.php?id=1501)) and Alva Hardwoods down in Labelle (www.alvahardwoods.com (http://www.woodfinder.com/listings/redirect.php?id=10521)) to see if they have anything that might be useable. But either one of those is a bit of a trek for me, and I'm considering that I may need to have some wood shipped to me.
So I'm looking for some advice. Specifically, if anyone has any info on the following questions, or anything else useful, I'd love to hear it:
-- Anyone know of a good source of cedar (or any other suggested wood) in Central Florida? I can get decent pine all day, but I'd rather not add the weight to the kayak.
-- Anyone have a reliable source to mail order from that I can have shipped to me? I'm pretty hesitant to order sight-unseen, but I may have to, and if anyone could recommend someone, that'd be great.
I realize I can order pre-milled strips from CLC and other sources, but these run $0.50 a foot-- or around $500 for the 1000' or so I'm going to need. I was hoping buy wood, and mill it myself, for less than half of that, which I don't think is unreasonable. If I have to get it shipped, I'm hoping to keep it around $300 total... if it gets to around $400, I'll just go ahead and order the pre-done stuff. But I'd really like to do it myself-- that's where the fun is, right?
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
I'm going to start building a strip-planked kayak as soon as I can get some materials together, but I'm having trouble locating any decent cedar here in Central Florida. I would prefer to build with western red cedar and one of the lighter cedars... atlantic, northern white, don't care which. I've checked some lumberyards in the area, found by searching at the Western Red Cedar retailer search site (http://wrcla.org/purchasing_cedar/retailers.asp), but they didn't have anything clear. One guy told me he thought he may be able to order some stock better than what he had, but it wouldn't be clear, and he really didn't think I should build a boat with it. The boards I did get a look at were ok, but had many knots, such that it would be very difficult to mill many strips that were knot free.
I still have a couple places I want to call tomorrow that I found on Woodfinder (http://www.woodfinder.com/)-- Namely, Chipmunk Hardwoods in Edgewater (www.chipmunkhardwoods.com (http://www.woodfinder.com/listings/redirect.php?id=1501)) and Alva Hardwoods down in Labelle (www.alvahardwoods.com (http://www.woodfinder.com/listings/redirect.php?id=10521)) to see if they have anything that might be useable. But either one of those is a bit of a trek for me, and I'm considering that I may need to have some wood shipped to me.
So I'm looking for some advice. Specifically, if anyone has any info on the following questions, or anything else useful, I'd love to hear it:
-- Anyone know of a good source of cedar (or any other suggested wood) in Central Florida? I can get decent pine all day, but I'd rather not add the weight to the kayak.
-- Anyone have a reliable source to mail order from that I can have shipped to me? I'm pretty hesitant to order sight-unseen, but I may have to, and if anyone could recommend someone, that'd be great.
I realize I can order pre-milled strips from CLC and other sources, but these run $0.50 a foot-- or around $500 for the 1000' or so I'm going to need. I was hoping buy wood, and mill it myself, for less than half of that, which I don't think is unreasonable. If I have to get it shipped, I'm hoping to keep it around $300 total... if it gets to around $400, I'll just go ahead and order the pre-done stuff. But I'd really like to do it myself-- that's where the fun is, right?
Any suggestions?
Thanks!