Thread: Obeche wood ???

howdy

Triplochiton scleroxylon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The weight is nice. The question is how straight the grain is. Cedar could be OK for the seats except the grain wanders everywhere so that a split along the grain will start on the lower face and follow the grain at an angle to the top face.

Sometimes you can avoid this failure mechanism by putting glass tape on the underside of the seat crossbeams.

Best wishes.
Michael.

We used this extensively for boat building in South Africa. It is very lightweight but quite strong. It has a nice straight grain and planes nicely. Not as lightweight as Paulownia though. It has a lovely golden yellow colour, similar to hoop pine. We used it for framing, spray rails, laminated with other timbers in daggerboards, rudders and masts. I had a few masts laminated with Obeche and it worked very well. The best looking Fireball I ever saw use Obeche extensively.It was a very light and fast boat that won the Nationals.

It is stable enough to use without laminations as well. I built a Sprog rudder blade with a profile almost exactly like the GIS blade. It was an experiment that was hugely fast, but unfortunately illegal at the time. It did not warp, even though it was made from a solid plank.

Thanks Mik and Bruce. It sounds like you've had some experience with Obeche Bruce, with good results. I think I'll go ahead and buy some. You've given me an idea to make my center spreader. I have a piece of beech here which is fine grained and would go well with the Obeche.

Kev.

I forgot to mention that the Obeche we used to get often had numerous pinholes from a type of borer that likes the taste of it. However, I doubt your imported stuff will have this problem as likely it would be rejected by your customs control. The good stuff is always exported leaving the rubbish for the local market.

Hi guys, Always hunting after light weight timber - any clues as to a source in Australia?

Originally Posted by Still Smilin'

Hi guys, Always hunting after light weight timber - any clues as to a source in Australia?

You would need to find a specialist timber supplier. As Obeche is used extensively for musical instruments, you should be able to find a supplier that supplies for this market. Have you searched these forums?

Otherwise, a suitable substitute for your requirements might be Paulownia, which is readily available here.

The Obeche I'm buying here is finished pieces for sauna seats. They've allready been machined and are quite exspensive but it's a really nice looking wood.

Kev.