Meranti - any good?

[lesweeks]

I've been offered some meranti window boards, cills and the like; not particularly long but good thickness and usable widths. It's tempting to use some to replace the rotten under-deck pieces (around the bitts etc.) on the 1912 yawl I'm restoring. Anyone had any experience of the stuff?

 

[Tranona]

Google it and you will get good description of its properties from various trade sites. Commonly used for doors, sills etc, but very variable in terms of density and colour. Reasonably durable, but not suitable for underwater. Would think fine for interior joinery. Have used some in the past, works well, good surface finish that takes stains and varnish OK. Not sure about high load structural properties.

Hope this helps

 

[Peterduck]

Meranti [a.k.a. Phillipine mahogany] is a commonly-used building timber here in Australia. What is sold is a mixture of a wide range of species within the genus Shorea. [ a bit like selling "pine".] Basically, the darker the timber [it can be darker than mahogany] the better. It is fairly durable. The pale stuff resembles balsa and should be treated as such. Check also for straightness and twist; I've seen some funny shapes which started out straight.
Peter.

 

[Forbsie]

I'm pretty sure that my carlins were/are 3"x3" meranti and certainly look as new after 10 or 15 years.

 

[Captain Coochie]

I've heard it called a paint grade hardwood before . I use it if people want hardwood external joinery but dont want to pay for oak . As long as it's not sitting in water i think it would be fine .
I used Meranti for the staicase on Seaspray /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif still makes me chuckle that one .

 

[lesweeks]

Thanks for the comments.
I'd Googled Meranti but couldn't quite make it fit with the piece that I had in my hand, but Peter's description of the pale, balsa, looking stuff fits! I'll be careful and selective with the gift horse.
Les

 

[Seagreen]

[ QUOTE ]
the 1912 yawl I'm restoring

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh do tell. What's her name and provenance? Pictures please.

 

[lesweeks]

Thanks for the interest!
D'you remember the massively successful 'Let's see them' post back on 16th Feb? Well, there's some pictures of White Cloud on the fourth page, five posts under your own. She's rather smaller than yours! (32' overall). Originally built in Teignmouth for a Col.Golightly.

 

[Captain Coochie]

If it's Balsa type it could be Laun ( spelling /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif ) Loo-arn is what we calls it in landan tarn /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Laun is sort of pink and meranti is light brown , Sapele is darker brown and the better timber out of all three . You can also tell just by picking the timber up . Laun is very light , Saplele is heavy .

 

[Seagreen]

Oh aye, just looked up the pics on the post. Lovely shot of her sailing. Are you taking her back to the original or are you modifying her to suit?

 

[lesweeks]

Over the years she's been 'got at' a bit and so it's difficult to tell where the original ends and the mods begin - at some stage a toilet was added and bulkheads moved. However, the hull, deck & rig will be as true as possible, the terrible 'dog house' added at some time has gone and now the cabin will be raised by just a couple of inches and made a little longer to allow for a tiny galley and a nav station. After advice from our forum friends I'm going to ply and glass-cloth the decks. Enough to keep me going for a while!

 

[howardclark]

I used Meranti as trim and seats on a cedar strip dinghy I made a couple of years ago and did a little bit of research at the time. Resistance to moisture appears to vary considerably with the species, so mine is glassed in or varnished thoroughly. Where I used stainless fasteners it discoloured to black in short order. Brass or bronze seem not to be a problem. Very easy to work and the grain comes up beautifully. Very light weight- hence reference of the others to balsa.

 

[Seagreen]

Well best of luck. Be nice if you could post up some pics of your progress from time to time.

 

[oldfrank]

C annot R eccomend A P urchase. Maybe OK to paint. Absolute pig to get a decent varnish finish. OF

 

[DownWest]

I used it for all the hardwood other than the keel structure (iroko)on my 15ft Whilly Tern. Looks good under ´pox/varnish and nice to work. Also recommended, with oregon pine, as the general use timber on my new epoxy/ply 21ft. Cutter. I found a local supply of the `darker´type. As said, the pale is not a lot of use.
Andrew

 

[misty56]

LOL I had one of my longwinded replies ready then I saw that....sez it all.

For the specific job suggested, replacing timber round the bitts where the deck is likely to work I would want something of known durability. Personally I'd probably use oak, which I always have, or iroko if I was buying.

 

[lesweeks]

Thanks for all the comments - today I've replaced all the pieces around the bitts and the mast etc. with .......... iroko.
I'll keep the meranti 'in stock'.
Les