Hi Paul,

I just got a copy of "The Australian Woodworker" october issue. In it there's a article about a bloke who brought a cedar log at a timber auction. He DID pay about 4 grand for it, but it DOES have a diameter of about five feet, and it IS about 20 feet long. He also said that he got some smaller logs for 10 or 20 dollars each. I'm not sure if you need old growth timber for kayak building, if that's the case the smaller logs probably wouldn't be that good.

You might want to get a copy of this magazine from your local newsagent as it also has lots of ads from suppliers of aussie timbers, they'd have to be cheaper than $650, which sounds like a hell of a lot even for oz prices. Who gave you that price?

There a lots of places that would HAVE to be cheaper, IF you know where to look. Feel free to email me if you want to swap notes on local suppliers of kayak building materials (I'm in Sydney by the way).

Paul.

> In most of the material I have read, including Nick's book, the timbers
> recommended are Western Red Cedar, and other species from Northern
> America. These are all prohibitively expensive here in Australia. At least
> on my budget. Enough Western Red is A$650.00, just over a weeks pay. Most
> of the timbers we have commonly available here are very heavy(most of our
> hardwoods won't float), but heaps strong. Most of our softwoods are harder
> and heavier than the hardwoods I've worked with from Nth America. In order
> to save weight, how thin can you go with the strips? If the timber has
> enough strength, could I safely go down to 4mm (5/32")? I realise
> that the timber is there to space the inner & outer layers of glass
> apart to gain strength, how strong does the timber have to be? There is a
> species available as an experimental crop called Paulownia. It is
> extremely light, about .28 specific gravity, but very soft, something like
> balsa.