Do you get your sassafras stock from any of the downstate Amish mills?

: Hi Scot-

: According to the tables in Steward's Boatbuilding Manual, Sassafras is the
: same weight as Sitka spruce, but it is much harder and much more rot
: resistant. In my experience it's quite flexible, but doesn't have the same
: structural resilience of spruce. It should make compound bends easier than
: WRC. It glues well. It's kind of grainy, so it will soak up a lot of
: epoxy, but no more than if you were using ash. I'd definitely put a seal
: coat of epoxy on it before I tried laying up any fiberglass. Although it
: is flexible, it doesn't BEND well, so it probably wouldn't work for a
: coaming lip, but then again softwoods don't bend well either and people
: use those all of the time.

: It smells AMAZING when you're working it, and people will come from blocks
: away to see what the smell is. I've used it as a secondary wood in drawer
: boxes for a long time because of this, and because it is so cheap here in
: NW Ohio. It's 1/2 the cost of clear white pine, and doesn't have the acrid
: smell of pine when it sits in a cabinet case.

: I have also used it in building SOF kayaks for stems, stringers, and deck
: beams, and it holds up extremely well and is really nice to work with. The
: color is a neutral brown, but when you clearcoat it after planing it has a
: "shimmery" look I think because it reflects light from the grain
: as well as the surface. If you sand it down to 400 and blow it off with
: compressed air or vacuum it really well to pull out all of the sanding
: dust I'm sure you'll get the same effect. It does turn dark (like most
: woods) a bit quicker than other woods, so if you're fussy about color
: leave a piece in the sun for a week or so to give yourself an idea how
: dark it will get. I've never used it on anything exposed to UV when
: clearcoated, so I'm not sure how that will effect the darkening.

: I really like this wood- it's a great resource in this area. Be sure to post
: photos when you're done!

: m