'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

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Alacrity
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'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by Alacrity »

Does anyone know what wood Jack Broom used for the 'blonde' bits on the wooden decked Brooms. I need to match some up & I have no idea what it is. :( see (rather poor) picture for what I mean.
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Re: 'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by BroomBroom »

How about... Columbian Pine?
For no other reason than a) I know Jack Broom used it and b) it looks a little like pine in your pic.
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Re: 'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by Rapier »

Assegaai would know...looks similar to oregon pine. Plus another pic...
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Re: 'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by se7en »

I think you'll find its Obeche ( I'm not sure if thats the right spelling) its a good quility med/hard wood , we use it in laminated rudders,

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Re: 'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by chriscraft »

Hi Geoff The common timber used in this situation is obeche it looks very similar in grain pattern to mahogany but its blonde in colour in its natural state, century boats used this , Chris craft went down another route, they beached the mahogany then stained it then varnish. I tried this on davids capri a few years back with some success, the method was as follows, sand surface then wet down and sand again, apply 2 part bleach and peroxide system be care ful to follow instructions dont puddle or allow to run as the marks will come back and bite you in the bum later! dont be alarmed the part A will turn the wood black this is normal , but you might try a bit of scrap first. in theory this should lighten the surface enough, however it did not for me and I found a strong application of oxalic acid did the trick, agian dont puddle or run even a wet thumb print may grin through later, when dry neutralise with water and dry, light sand dont sand through the oxidised surface,now apply fiddes light oak grain filler allow to dry 24 hrs light sand and start your normal varnish process, is that 24 or 26 coats? wet the floor and for best results do it naked with a friend (female of course) cheers David
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Re: 'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by Alacrity »

Thanks for all your help fella's, I think I will try the obeche route first David, as it's too cold for your other method + the female may object! :(
Mercs are like women, no 2 are exactly alike. That's what testing is about. In general it is safer to test motors and props than women!

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Re: 'Blonde' wood on wood decked Broom's

Post by lonestar »

Before you dive in and use a crappie piece of pine I would suggest that you reconsider David's advice to use bleached mahogany or irrespective of the colour of the wood I think you will find yourself replacing it again in a few years. The use of blond wood as a styling detail was first done by the likes of Century, Chris Craft and Stan Craft, non of which used pine due to its unsuitability as a decking material. When we originally restored Poncelette some 20 years ago, the blood wood was perfect and this was done by using 2 part peroxide (available from F. T. Morrel) and oxcilic to get an even tone. The wood used should also be straight grain,a s ribbon grain has darker streaks which make it even harder to even out. Once bleached correctly the wood looks as if it is too light, but as it is varnished it takes on the lovely golden colour.

As a side issue, the whole boat was bleached once wood replacement was complete,(although the blond bits got more) as this allows the new wood to be locally matched back to the original wood and then used overall to get an even colour, which looks similar to a pale manila envelope. The correct colour is then added by staining, as you can make light wood darker (Redder/Browner) but it is impossible to make dark wood lighter, therefore avoiding a finish that looks like leopard.

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