> Seems like only wood available locally without exlosive costs is pine and
> spruce. (Where I live most houses are built using pine or spruce...)

> Will pine and spruce bend in a nice manner if used for strips in kayak (or
> kayak deck with ply hull)?

> Other drawbacks if compared with cedar or redwoood?

> Jan Gunnar

The Swedish Institute for Wood Technology Research (Trätek) has written a small book (Träfakta) about different types of wood. I will give you av very short summary about pine (Pinus silvestris), spruce (Picea abies) and Califoria Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens).

For a perfect piece of wood, pine is a little bit stronger than spruce. But for practical use, for instance building a house, they are equal. Both are stronger than California Redwood.

The center part is lighter and a little weaker than the outer part.

For pine the density of the top log is about 10% less than the root log. Not so for spruce.

Some density figures (kg/cubicmeter):

moisture 12%

Pine 480 - 530

Spruce 390 - 480

Redwood 350 - 450

The Swedish kayak constructor Björn Thomasson has written a book in Swedish: Kanotboken. He recommend spruce. I quote and translate: "Pine cuold be used but makes the boat heavier without any advantages."

Lennart Berlin