I know that white oak used to be used sometimes for planking in Scandanavian
clinker construction, and made for hell-for-stout but heavy hulls. It would
make for a rather heavy dinghy, and the planks would likely require steam
bending at least at the bow. You might consider Alaskan yellow cedar for the
planking; it's light and strong, and I wouldn't call it brittle. Port Orford
cedar, if available to you, tends to split lengthwise down a considerable
length of the plank if something happens to it to cause it to split, but
Alaskan yellow has more interlocked grain and damage remains more localized.
White oak is great for the keel timbers and stem, green white oak if
carefully chosen for clearness and grain runout would steam-bend quite well
for the frames. Another good choice for the steam-bent frames is locust. In
your dreams, you'd find a white oak natural crook for the stem and transom
knees. White oak, on the other hand, doesn't like being wet all the time,
and a keel of white oak might take some damage from rot if water is left in
the bottom of the boat a lot. A superb keel timber is purpleheart, but it's
extremely difficult to work with hand tools and even heavier than white oak.
Some folks like to get out the sheer strake from Honduras mahogany, both for
strength and for appearance. Mahogany is also a good choice for the transom
and transom framing, the stringers for the thwarts, and the thwarts
themselves. Teak floorboards, perhaps 5/16" thick in order to take the
slight bend, could be left altogether unfinished so as not to be slippery
when wet, but would not deteriorate from exposure to weather. If you should
use mahogany for the sheer strake, you may have to steam-bend the part of
the plank that takes the bend at the bow. By the way, avoid so-called
Philippine mahogany - it's not a true mahogany but actually a type of
tropical cedar and is a totally inferior boat building wood.

As to white oak species, as I've sometimes heard said, "White oak seems to
grow on a lot of different kinds of stumps." The species you're after is
quercus alba.

Hope this helps,
Tom Dacon

"Al" wrote in message
om...
I've just got a quote back from a company on planking stock. The
White Oak came in at around £20 cheaper (negligible) and therefore
price is not a consideration. The HMSO Handbooks of Hard and Soft
woods make the White Oak sound like a very good material, particularly
with regard to bending with a downside of a tendency to dull tools and
variability in quality dependant on the precise species and
environment. It made the Cedar out to be a rather brittle material,
although easy to work, although no precise mechanical properties are
available in my edition (1957 reprinted '60).

Appearance is a secondary consideration to strength in this
application and ease of working. Which would you consider to be the
better timber to use for a 9foot stem dinghy expected to last a while,
given that this is my first foray into traditional construction?

I would also be grateful if suggestions could be made about suitable
centreline materials, again, strength and suitability being primary to
appearance. Leather suggests a mixture of Mahogany (Utile is
available), Iroko or Oak in his book "Clinker Boatbuilding" but I'd be
interested in other's opinions.

Thanks for your time and suggestions.

Al