For Sale: VERY RARE TEAK BOARDS

[peter loveridge]

this is a very good price, it it was nearer I'd buy both pieces. African Mahogany not the same thing at all. Iroko similar to teak but not as oily and hard to get

[CF32907]

Originally Posted by Captndave1

These two boards are old growth teak. Not a lot of boards of this size available any more. They are first cut, never used for anything before. Retail for teak is $44.99 per board foot for smaller pieces, so this is a fair price for hard to find sizes.

I don't know where you shop CaptDave, But myself, CaptVince by teak in most shops that sell it in Tampa, not to far from Lakeland, sell it from $25- $28. a board foot. Now you do have an extremely long pieces, so I would expect to pay a premium, but in my unvarnished opinion, $45. a foot is a bit much. Capt. Vince Rakstis, Ret. MS

[Dougtiff]

Any Mahogany does not come even close to Teak, as far as rot resistance , and anyone who works with boat building timber, sure as hell can tell the difference, i have owned two Teak built Sail boat's, and one African Mahogany,[present] the Mahogany is a constant upkeep [rot] issue, unlike a he Teak boat's, i had in the Tropics.

[fireman182]

Originally Posted by Dougtiff

Any Mahogany does not come even close to Teak, as far as rot resistance , and anyone who works with boat building timber, sure as hell can tell the difference, i have owned two Teak built Sail boat's, and one African Mahogany,[present] the Mahogany is a constant upkeep [rot] issue, unlike a he Teak boat's, i had in the Tropics.

I've personally never heard of a boat made of teak or African Mahogany.

What kind of boats were they?

While teak may be great, there was good reason traditional wooden sailing ships and boats were made from other wood types.

The Swedish warship Vasa built between 1626 and 1628 was made from Oak. It is one of the best examples of preserved wooden ship in the world.

The The Khufu ship, build in 2500 BC found located next to the pyramids was made of cedar.

Not a single ounce of teak to be found.

I personally don't subscribe to the myths that teak is god wood.

I think there's good reason plywood is the number 1 boat building wood material today.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by fireman182

I've personally never heard of a boat made of teak or African Mahogany.

What kind of boats were they?

While teak may be great, there was good reason traditional wooden sailing ships and boats were made from other wood types.

The Swedish warship Vasa built between 1626 and 1628 was made from Oak. It is one of the best examples of preserved wooden ship in the world.

The The Khufu ship, build in 2500 BC found located next to the pyramids was made of cedar.

Not a single ounce of teak to be found.

I personally don't subscribe to the myths that teak is god wood.

I think there's good reason plywood is the number 1 boat building wood material today.

For one Cheoy Lee many years ago made boats with all teak hulls.

Yes there was a good reason traditional sailing ships were not built with teak. The main reason is where a lot of ships were built like the UK and the US they didn't have teak available but used the locally available wood. Same for the Khufu ship in Egypt.

The Vasa and other old wrecks that survive hundreds of years with minimal rot do so because the wrecks were in anaerobic and/or extremely cold conditions that prevented the rot, not because the wood itself was resistant.

Teak is excellent for many applications but not all. Like they say, use the right tool for the job.

[fireman182]

Originally Posted by skipmac

For one Cheoy Lee many years ago made boats with all teak hulls.

Yes there was a good reason traditional sailing ships were not built with teak. The main reason is where a lot of ships were built like the UK and the US they didn't have teak available but used the locally available wood. Same for the Khufu ship in Egypt.

The Vasa and other old wrecks that survive hundreds of years with minimal rot do so because the wrecks were in anaerobic and/or extremely cold conditions that prevented the rot, not because the wood itself was resistant.

Teak is excellent for many applications but not all. Like they say, use the right tool for the job.

You're right! I just found a few articles about the teak hull cheoy lee boats from the 60's.

It is interesting that even with locally sourced and easily imported teak, cheaper labor costs, Asian and South East Asian boat builders still did NOT choose teak as the primary choice for wooden boats. Same as the US and UK boat builders of old traditional sailing ships

I agree conditions for the Vasa played a huge role in its survival. But in a nut shell that's anything ancient. From the Giza Pyramids to Pompeii.

The Khufu ship in Egypt, didn't have the same conditions as the Vasa. It was a vastly different environment in ancient Egypt than compared to Stockholm. Thousands of years of difference in building techniques, wood preservation, and technology

The Titanic wreck is only 107 years old. It won't survive another 2500 years like some wood boats have. Solely because of the conditions it exists in.

Would we say steel is inferior to wood because of example of rotting wrecks and rust holes in poorly maintained 1980s Bruce Roberts boats?

I certainly wouldn't say my teak bowsprit platform was better because it would rot less in ideal conditions than African mahogany in IT's ideal conditions.

At the end of the day its not a 2500 year investment. It only needs to last 10 years and I'm happy.

I did after all, replace the teak platform because it rotted. Any quality wood will last given the proper care and maintenance. I could have probably squeezed another 2 to 3 years of life by going with another new teak platform, but on the other hand I could also buy 8 or 10 more African Mahogany platforms for the same price.

Teak platform cost for my boat, $1400 factory built
African Mahogany cost for my boat, $100 built by me.

Teak really is a cosmetic novelty and the prices certainly entertain this idea

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by fireman182

I've personally never heard of a boat made of teak or African Mahogany.

What kind of boats were they?

While teak may be great, there was good reason traditional wooden sailing ships and boats were made from other wood types.

The Swedish warship Vasa built between 1626 and 1628 was made from Oak. It is one of the best examples of preserved wooden ship in the world.

The The Khufu ship, build in 2500 BC found located next to the pyramids was made of cedar.

Not a single ounce of teak to be found.

I personally don't subscribe to the myths that teak is god wood.

I think there's good reason plywood is the number 1 boat building wood material today.

I have a 37 ft strip-planked teak on white oak frames yawl. Now you have heard of one.

I remember 18 ft long 16 inch wide 1 inch thick clear teak planks being delivered to our house on a semi-truck in the mid 1960s. Stenciled on them was in black paint was "Product of Thailand." At the time they were using elephants to drag the teak out of the jungle.

Teak has many excellent mechanical properties including rot resistance. The decks of early aircraft carriers were made of teak.

[danstanford]

The oils in teak protect it much better than any other wood except maybe White Oak when exposed to weather. Just take a piece of teak that looks as grey as barnboard and you only need to sand off the barest amount to get back to good teak. Do the same thing with red oak and you will find the discoloration and weathering right through the piece and you cannot save it.

[valhalla360]

A 20ft board has some added value due to rarity (go look at 2x4 boards pine boards at your local home improvement store, the costs generally go up exponentially with length) but then again, most modern boats are using teak for decks and trim pieces, so how much demand is there really for a 20ft board? You need to find a special customer with a special need for a really long piece of teak.

I'm really surprised there hasn't been a minor industry breaking down old boats to extract the teak (like they do with old barns). As has been mentioned, a little light sanding and even a heavily weathered teak board is like new.

The square riggers of the 1700's and the ancient river barges were not made of teak because the great teak forests of the UK Midlands and the African Sahara were logged out centuries before by cavemen to make durable rot resistant toothpicks.

[Dave9111]

If you want to get a reference price, call Paxton Lumber.
They were "the" place to buy hardwoods in Cincinnati when I lived there.

They won't be the cheapest, but they can get just about anything that is legal.


https://paxtonwood.com/about-us/

[limte]

From experience working with teak and mahogany for both interior and exterior use (both for boat use and other uses), I can attest that both are very pleasant to work with. Although they are hardwoods, they are significantly easier to work, particularly with hand tools, than white oak, and neither has the staining problems that can occur when white oak is in contact with moisture and metal.


Compared to teak, mahogany is much less rot resistant, and will take considerably more care in preparation and finishing, and unlike teak, which may be left unfinished for exterior use, it will certainly need to be finished to protect it from moisture.


Mahogany, depending upon which part of the tree it is sawn from, and how it is sawn (flat cut, quarter sawn, etc.)can be an incredibly striking wood when properly finished.



As anyone who has had exterior teak or mahogany on a boat realizes, any finish product will eventually fail, and moisture will work its way underneath the finish, requiring removal of the finish and re-finishing, often with much prep work involved. With teak, even after several years of neglect, removal of the finish, sanding, and perhaps bleaching stained areas, will generally suffice. With mahogany, similar neglect would probably lead to significant damage to the wood.


Regards,


Bob S