> Hi All- I have started the West Greenland boat fromn a video by Bob
> Boucher. I am looking for a source of fresh-cut white or red oak; precut
> into the sizes specified in the plans. I don't have easy access to a saw
> to cut the stock myself. Does anyone know of a source of precut rib stock?
> I have searched on the net, but didn't come up with anything. Thanks in
> advance for your help. Jack Gilman

As I see it, you have TWO problems, and that is without counting the ever present problem of cost.

The first is getting the wood. The second is getting it cut to size.

How many pieces do you need and how big are these pieces supposed to be? it might be good to solve the problem of cutting the wood by buying a saw. for cutting a few pieces you could use a handheld circular saw. Most come with a rip fence that is of marginal quality or worse. You can easily make a much better guide. Sears has circular saws in the $60 or under category. If that is too much money, and the job is small and you dont mind going slow, you could use a sabre saw. I've seen those as low as $19. Ask how much it will cost for someone to create the pieces for you, and you may jump to buy a saw.

You are probably going to need some kind of saw just to cut these things to length. A handsaw will work for this.

You mentioned that you want GREEN wood. Your local lumberyard will have dry lumber. Somw will be air dried, other will be kiln-dried. If you need to steam this, Try it with a scrap first before you buy a lot of wood cut to size. some kiln dried woods do not steam bend very well.

If you really need freshly cut wood, the only way to get it is to find someone who is cutting living trees. Go through your local phone book and look for tree trimmers and tree removal companies. Ask them how they dispose of the trees they cut, and tell them why you need this kind of wood.

The ones near me cut down a tree, and shred the branches. The trunks, though, are cut into pieces on the ground, and sometimes hauled to the street and left at curbside for anyone who wants them. Any you can carry away is free firewood. What you want to do is find a site where these gys are cutting down a tree, or trimming off thick branches. You want to ask the foreman if he would cut a hunk a bit longer than the length of the ribs you want. By me they'll cut it to any length you ask, as long as you haul it away right then and there, without making a mess.

These guys are in business. Some haul the wood away and sell it as firewood. Offer them a deal. For a suitable, negotiable fee you should be able to find a tree trimmer near you who will save a suitably sized section of any species you want, and deliver it to your door. It may take a few days.

Once you get it home, split it with wedges into halves, and then quarters. You can use wedges to split off rough pieces, but they will have to be planed or sanded or both to get them to size.

Do you really need oak? If you can use cedar, you can buy split cedar for fence rails at a lot of home centers. You can cut it to approximately the length you need and use wedges to split this to the rough size. Finish it up with a plane. Cedar is suposed to split pretty evenly and easily. A lot of ribs for native Indian canoes were split from stumps of wood with nothing more than a 'crooked knife" I don't know if oak would be so obliging.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson

Hope thi helps