Originally Posted by
Sumbloak
The paulownia could be quarter sawn anyway. Turning a flat sawn 8x2 into quarter sawn strips for a mast wouldn't be hard. However, the example video you linked showed an effect caused by longitudinal shrinkage of juvenile wood, which is something that will happen regardless of how it is sawn. Is paulownia susceptible to longitudinal shrinkage?
And the thing about three layers is that you are then putting the high modulus stuff on the inside, which is a waste if you are trying to optimise the weight.
Re plywood: it's a waste of time on a mast. The boom is loaded differently.