Steaming Makore

[jochem]

Hello there,
I am building a 17 foot daysailer and am at the stage where I need to get timber for my planking. I can get some Makore for a reasonable price but am unsure about it's steaming/bending properties. Has anybody out there worked with it before?

Many Thanks
Jochem (boatbuilding student)

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[PeterStone]

According to Michael Verney in his excellent 'Complete Amateur Boat Building' makore is fair to bend and is used for below water line planking. It would be worth tracking down a used copy of this book if you can - there is a lot of useful stuff in it. I suspect it is long out of print.

 

[cliff]

Do not use the sapwood - only use the heartwood which is pink to reddish brown - the sapwood is lighter.

Heartwood will steam bend nicely but the sapwood will not and tends to be prone to splintering and tearout.

Make sure your tools are sharp and that you have means to resharpen / hone them frequently as the silica content of the wood will quickly blunt toolsteel tooling and will dull carbides tips pretty quickly as well. I would stick to toolsteel tooling as that is easier for the DIY'er to sharpen.

If you come across cheap makore (african cherry) it will be in all likelyhood sapwood and should not be used for boat builting - well at least for the wetted bits.