Big teak logs at Robbins.

At £15,000 per cubic metre inc VAT, what would the yield be for say 10mm thick teak decking boards?

If it was 50% wastage sawing it down that would work out at £300 per sq m of decking.

There is of course the risk that it's all soggy mush inside.
 
A while back, I found a nice teak plank under a heap of less interesting stuff in a local woodyard. They apparently had forgotten about it and wanted very little for it. It provided enough 6mm thick strips after sawing to give a rather nice deck on a small classic. Lotsa epoxy with graphite filler to get the look, but eventually the effort was rewarded with a good sale.

Edit: Forget the 50% wastage. Bandsawing the over 60mm thick plank was minimul. My local guy (minus a few fingers..) ran it down on his big bandsaw, alternating with the planer. So, one planed face, the other sawn. Just right for glueing down.
 
Last edited:
"Robbins Timber purchased the two logs in 1996."

I wonder what they paid for them, what they'll fetch... and what the ROI will be.

Robbins sold me a couple of fat teak planks a year or two back, ostensibly from some material imported to refurbish the 'Cutty Sark'. They're probably worth more than my pension, now. ;)
 
It would be a crime to rip logs like that up into decking strips. But finding wide stuff is always going to be a problem, For example my 1905 Saunders launch had covering boards with the longest curved section approx 20ft long, to get the 6" width out along the edge of the deck it must have come from a plank approx 24" wide.
 
Keith 66 said:
It would be a crime to rip logs like that up into decking strips. But finding wide stuff is always going to be a problem, For example my 1905 Saunders launch had covering boards with the longest curved section approx 20ft long, to get the 6" width out along the edge of the deck it must have come from a plank approx 24" wide.
Click to expand...
Not boaty, but I've always been amazed by the floorboards in the link blocks at Ickworth House, near bury St Edmunds. The corridor curves gently, and the floorboards follow the curve, just as teak strips do on a deck. But the corridor is much longer than our boats - maybe 30m? And the floorboards are around 10cm wide. I've often wondered how they did it - the wood seems too wide to steam and bend, but the wastage from cutting the curve would be enormous.
 
Back when that floor was laid wastage wasnt such a consideration if you had the money, teak was still plentiful & other woods too. Where today would you find some Canadian rock elm if you needed some, answer is you wont.
Last winter i was lucky enough to be able to buy a lorry load of teak floorboards that had been removed from a building about 30 years ago, I got approx 2 tons of timber & had a fair old job cleaning the pitch & denailing it. It has solved my teak problem for the foreseeable future!
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Not boaty, but I've always been amazed by the floorboards in the link blocks at Ickworth House, near bury St Edmunds. The corridor curves gently, and the floorboards follow the curve, just as teak strips do on a deck. But the corridor is much longer than our boats - maybe 30m? And the floorboards are around 10cm wide. I've often wondered how they did it - the wood seems too wide to steam and bend, but the wastage from cutting the curve would be enormous.
Click to expand...
I've stood and gazed in wonder at those floorboards. They are curved, and follow the curve of the corridor, they must have been steamed! It defines the word "craftsman".
 
Ooh. That is rather special.

Fairey Marine boats sold in the 60's and 70's mostly had teak deck, laid on ply, each plank about 2" wide, swept to follow the gunnel and notch into the king plank.

They sold a lot of part finished boats and price lists showed kits of ready steamed teak planks to lay a deck.
 
Greemble said:
I found this one.
And this, too.

They're right, serious woodworking here.
Click to expand...
Indeed - the woodwork throughout the house is quite amazing. It was the doors that I first noticed; absolutely perfect slabs of mahogany. The builder was a) pretty eccentric (in other words, he was mad but rich!) and b) built the central part of the house to receive and entertain royalty in the 18th century. There is a boaty connection; the brother of the builder was an RN Admiral and had successes in the 7 Years War.
 
I wonder how thick that floor is? easier to bend if its thicker but as said i suspect it was steamed to get that curve.
I have a 16ft Dinghy to restore, believed to be a 1930s 16ft National or similar, when i got her she had a swept laid deck of spruce planks 1 1/8" wide nibbed into honduras mahogany king plank & covering boards. Trouble was over the years it had all been planed & sanded down so much that the edge nails used to assemble the deck were half filed away, It looked so awful i had no choice but to rip it off. I saved the covering boards & will be redoing it one day!
 
Many years ago, a friend worked at a local University where they were refurbishing a lab. All the original 1930's teak worktops were skipped and I went and filled my Citroën BX estate and just about got home - the front wheels had only enough grip on the road to drive slowly as they were so heavy. Provided new worktops for our kitchen, several jobs on the boat etc etc. Still have a few small bits left over.
 
Post war many labs were fitted out with Iroko worktops particularly in the 70's.
Many of these have been ripped out. I have lost count of the number of threads on uk workshop forum where somebody has acquired a pile of "Teak" lab benches & wishes to confirm this or sell it. They never seem to like being told it is Iroko by me or anyone else! I have worked a lot of Iroko over the years & like the stuff, But Teak it is not.
 
I did liberate some teak chemistry bench once in the 1970s: lab fitted out in 1890s being demolished. That was certainly teak. Top surface looked awful, but planed down by maybe under a millimetre the wood was perfect.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Captain Crisp
Hatch 'garage' lid rebuild advice...
Replies
4
Views
181
PCUK
P

Share this page

Top