: I'm in the 7th inning stretch right now, in my Storm LT build. Considering my
: 'wood butcher' classification, it appears to be turning out okay! And this
: forum has been an immense help; good community here.

: But after spending months picking through the 'wood' selection at Menards,
: Home Despot and Lowes, and finally selecting wood that, frankly, was still
: marginal - and making that work, btw - I happened upon a large lumberyard,
: in Rapid City, SD (of all places) that has a very nice selection of
: various hardwoods/ specialty woods.

: I'm pretty enamored of African Mahogony and Purpleheart for 'accents'. And I
: really liked the Spanish Cedar that they can order in. I don't recall the
: prices - I think it ranged from $5 to $7 per BF, but they asked me to
: leave after I started drooling on the nice cherrywood they had. I envision
: a hull of SC, accented with AM and perhaps set off a bit with a light
: color, maybe poplar or basswood? Same for the deck - I think I tried 'too
: hard' on the first stripper, it looks a bit busy. A nice, uniform color
: and simpler pattern would probably look better.

: For your info: www.woodstocksupply.com

: Always interested in comments and edjumakashun.

Just remember that woods like african mahogany and especially purpleheart are wildly heavy and both are very hard woods that don't bend well. Also have to remember with purpleheart that once cut it'll turn a tan color and takes a day or so to turn purple again. (it's kinda a big surprise when you cut it the fist time ) Unless you don't mind a very heavy kayak, you can only use a tiny amount of these woods for trim.

Bill H.