I used white pine for the inwales on my stripper and now after a few years of use, there is a little bit of regret. There are a few chips in it when a hard object breaks away a corner. The thin L-shaped and rabbeted ash outwales OTOH are holding up fine. Saved a pound or two with this combination.
WRC has seemed soft and brittle when being bent, when compared to other woods. But so is white pine... the 16' length snapped when I was trying to bend it to fit the slightly high ends of the stripper. Scarf...
Initially I had some doubts that a white pine inwale would be strong enough to hold my weight on the seat bolts. A simple test to see if WP would hold up my butt safely plus body weight...
- glue a sample piece of inwale to a small piece of 3/4 inch plywood.
- clamp the plywood tight in a vise, drill and insert the carriage bolt.
- attach a chain to the bottom of the carriage bolt.
- add some weight to a loop in the chain, insert foot, apply body weight and see if the bolt/inwale will pass the test.
It did, so I can say that I've overbuilt the weight carrying capacity of the seat and inwale by 4X... engineers overbuild by 6X but I was never smart enough to be an engineer, and their rowdy antics always put me off anyways. Enjoy the build.....
WRC has seemed soft and brittle when being bent, when compared to other woods. But so is white pine... the 16' length snapped when I was trying to bend it to fit the slightly high ends of the stripper. Scarf...
Initially I had some doubts that a white pine inwale would be strong enough to hold my weight on the seat bolts. A simple test to see if WP would hold up my butt safely plus body weight...
- glue a sample piece of inwale to a small piece of 3/4 inch plywood.
- clamp the plywood tight in a vise, drill and insert the carriage bolt.
- attach a chain to the bottom of the carriage bolt.
- add some weight to a loop in the chain, insert foot, apply body weight and see if the bolt/inwale will pass the test.
It did, so I can say that I've overbuilt the weight carrying capacity of the seat and inwale by 4X... engineers overbuild by 6X but I was never smart enough to be an engineer, and their rowdy antics always put me off anyways. Enjoy the build.....
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