Taking care of danta

[rptb1]

My Newbridge Coromandel has quite a lot of exterior wooden bits made of a hardwood called “danta”. There's not much information about this stuff on the web, and I'm wondering how to look after it.

Can I treat it like teak, with teak-related products?

On a related note, I'm about to start building a Hebridean wind vane http://windvaneselfsteering.co.uk/ . The designer recommends American White Oak. Any thoughts about that, or how to look after it once it's made? The pendulum is going to spend long periods submersed.

I don't know much about wood on boats, and could do with a few pointers.

Thanks!

P.S. I'd be curious about the history of why danta is on my boat. I suspect it was just cheap at the time.

 

[sarabande]

If you look here

http://www.americanhardwood.org/har...-guide/species/american-white-oak/?no_cache=1

you'll see there is not much difference between American oak and European oak in terms of physical properties.

Without knowing the dimensions of the wood needed, I'd suggest that good, slow-grown British oak will fill the bill. When you have shaped it up, a thin coat of epoxy, then paint will make it properly waterproof and dimensionally stable - which is the key objective.

If you let me know the dimensions needed I might be able to help, as we sometimes get decent offcuts from the mill.

 

[Tranona]

Danta was popular for a while at the end of the wooden boat building period (60's, 70's) as an alternative to mahogany. West African moderate durability, good for bending (the last Rossiter wooden boats used it for framing) and good even grain.

Treat it as mahogany. For your external woodwork (handrails, rubbing strakes etc) rub down, clean with acetone and coat with International Woodskin for a durable finish. If it has been left bare you may find using oxalid acid useful to take out black spots and get an even colour. It will take conventional varnish, but that is a lot of work on fiddly trim to get it looking good and keeping it that way.