The teak lumber was purchased in Vickory, Ohio (near Castalia) from Homestead Hardwoods. This is the owner "Bob". I got him to wait after hours, on a Friday, on Memorial Day weekend, to sell me the material. This will explain his lack of nomination for this years Mr. Personality Awards. However he was gracious enough to pose, sort of, for the camera. He does have the corner on the market. I have been to many a lumberyard in my career as a carpenter and I have never seen anything that comes close to this place for exotic and other hardwoods. Along with teak of course, he has abundant choices in four species of Mahogany (Philippine, African, Honduran and Sapele (ribbon stripped). And many more. Check it out at homesteadhardwoods.com. Another great attribute of Homestead Hardwoods is that it is only about 20 minutes from my marina! Which is good when you realize you didn't buy enough damn material.
This shot from across the warehouse shows only one of the approximately eight racks of lumber in stock.
This is one of many a bin of exotic plywood. Going to a lumber yard and finding ribbon stripped mahogany plywood is as good as finding strippers at the corner tavern, LOL.(sorry ladies)
INSERT DRUM ROLL PLEASE
AAH,,, THE TEAK. This cart is the pile of gold it takes to do the job (less three pieces that were some how missed on the first trip). Selecting the teak was a much less stressful operation than I envisioned! The material is sold as "5/4 FEQ". Search as I might I can not decipher this (FEQ) nomenclature. It is definitely NOT plain sawn, but I have my doubts if it is actually true quarter sawn. Never the less, the grain pattern is 95% or more vertical. Good enough for me! In the rough sawn state which it is examined before purchase, one has to use a bit of edumacated guess work. The cost to finish the lumber for a thorough examination would be ridiculous if the particular boards were culled out and put aside. You can get a good idea of the color particularly if you are outside in the sunlight. And for the grain you can check out the end grain of the board which is not very telling in a 10' board. Expecting to be able to scrutinize much more than that is probably being to picky anyway (unless you plan to trailer your 38' to Tahoe in August).
Upon arrival at Gem Beach Marina, we found our beloved money pit still asleep in the storage barn. A bit of pissin' and moanin' to the ownership and I got them to get a couple of my yard buddies to come in on Saturday morning and move her to the shop!
Okay, so I riled up the lumberyard owner, ticked of the marina dudes and spent way to much money. But, finally the old girl is moving forward.
Rob and Tom rolling her on the gurney, back into surgery.
This is a fun way for me to look back at my progress or lack there off. I hope you enjoy a look at how it is all going down. I am alot further along than this post will show. I will have to add more later.
Yours Truly, Christian B. Wadeaminuteshouldn'tIbeinthewaterbynow!
