Red Oak vs White Oak in boat building

Leo Voisine

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East Freeetown, Massachusetts
Looking at this guys videos on boat building is simply awesome.

I just love his explanation of the differences in the different species of oak.

This easily demonstrates the reason WHY we should use White Oak on exterior projects and not Red Oak.

It is amazing to me that this stuff was known many many decades before I was born.

 
I really enjoyed his series on building the TotalBoat work skiff on the YouTube. IIRC he used a mix of red and white oak for that project and explained it away by saying that he didn't design the boat to last more than 30 years.
 
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Roy Underhill had a demo where he blew bubbles in a bucket of water through a 12" long piece of red oak. I think that was one of the more dramatic demonstrations I've seen (but can't find it now..).
 
Roy Underhill had a demo where he blew bubbles in a bucket of water through a 12" long piece of red oak. I think that was one of the more dramatic demonstrations I've seen (but can't find it now..).

Yup. Used to do the same thing when I was teaching. Dramatic demonstration of open celled wood.
 
Roy Underhill had a demo where he blew bubbles in a bucket of water through a 12" long piece of red oak. I think that was one of the more dramatic demonstrations I've seen (but can't find it now..).

Yup. Used to do the same thing when I was teaching. Dramatic demonstration of open celled wood.
 
My dad built a beautiful boat out of oak and 10,000 brass screws. It was gorgeous and everyone admired it---including the men who brought a crane up from the Ship Yards at Long Beach so we could move it. Once launched we used a General Sherman tank for a life boat.

I guess that is enough heavy reading for today so I'll just say, "Good night and have a wonderful life."

Enjoy,
JimB
 
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