Hardwood Keel Material?

L

Lee L.

Active member
I have always used just whatever I had. Lately got on the kick of the Trex. Now I want nicer looking natural wood keels. I have herd that some hardwoods will eventually split for some reason. Might be an old wive's tale or might be true. What are some materials to look at?
 
What are some materials to look at?
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Spar varnish or Val-oil. Seal it GOOD and go for whatever look you want IMHO. Denser is better, I usually go for scraps of white oak I get from my brother, but occaisionally splurge. Here is some Padauk:

swan036-2.jpg

 
You can get a nicer look to Trex by taking a buffer pad and some rubbing compound to it. The composite deck material has to have the color all the way through. I have some pics I'll post up later.

I recently put down some new oak floors in my house. I used a finish called waterlox. It's a tung oil finish. I guess tung oil was used centuries ago by the chinese to waterproof their ships. I have a small sample packet of their marine finish I'm going to try on some keels. I just use whatever hardwood scraps I can get from my job. Mostly oak and maple and ocassionaly get some more exotic woods from time to time.
 
talk to everyone you know about getting you hardwood. I traded a decoy several years ago for enough 1x teak to last a decade that came off a job site after the job was done.
 
Go with White Oak or Black Locust.

Native Lumber that sinks. It will lower the amount of lead you need to self right.
 
I'm doing an ipee deck this week so I'll have a bunch of 5/4 x 6 scrap. I could put some in a flat rate USPS box and send it to you. Not sure if it would be worth it or not. May end up cheaper just buying some. Let me know if your interested. I'll figure out how much. Luke
 
Thanks for the replies!

Luke,
Thanks for the offer! Let me get a bit of extra funds and I will get with you in PM on a flat rate box.
 
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