I am building a boat.

I am having a some difficulty locating a lumber yard that has 2 1/2 " thick oak stock. I have called 4 lumber yards already. Nada. :-(.

I need a piece of stock in that is in the range of: 2 1/2" thick, 5" wide and 38" long. I can mill it down to 2 1/2" thick. But, it cannot be "green".

I need a build a stem. It needs to be dry. Otherwise, I will dry in place and my boat will never go straight. :-(.

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance for your valued feedback.

Tight lines!

Boulter Plywood in Somerville supplies a lot of boat guys...if they can't get it they might be able to lead you to the right place.

Look on craigslist up here in Maine. I've seen what your looking for listed a couple times.

Did you try Downes and Reader, Holt and Bugbee or the Gerney's Saw Mill in East Freetown? It is on Chase Road, he is the cousin of Heritage Woodwrights (also was o Chase Rd....but closed a few years back) He deals in hard wood. Another is Willard Kiever (spelling?)

Thank you for tips!

I may have a piece of rough stock that you can mill flat probably been drying for twenty years. When I get back to the shop I will let you know
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As an aside pallet supports often are clear hard rough hewn pieces of oak and maple. I have milled them down to reveal some beautiful straight grain pieces of wood
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Get thinner stock that is more available and laminate it up with some West or MAS epoxy then mill it down to size. It will actually be stronger.

the thing to do is, look for some comm. oak window sill. I think you can get it up to 3" thick. I left about 14' of it at the truck stop just over the line of RI & CT off I-95. Look out back behind the food marts, it was under some blue tarps.Don't ask and I wont have to lie to you.

As an aside pallet supports often are clear hard rough hewn pieces of oak and maple. I have milled them down to reveal some beautiful straight grain pieces of wood
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Hey that is where I get all my darter stock, soft maple.
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Hey that is where I get all my darter stock, soft maple.
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Oops sorry for revealing the secret! 😉

Not that I knew it
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Fish360...Great to hear you are building a boat. Pretty sure with all the good suggestions you will find what you need for your stem.

I launched my boat this year after two years of building and it was a very rewarding experience.

I would like to hear more about what boat you are building if you wouldn't mind sharing.

Visited your Blog today, well written and illustrated. Will you have your boat building documented there as things develop? Good luck with the project.

Bob M

Get thinner stock that is more available and laminate it up with some West or MAS epoxy then mill it down to size. It will actually be stronger.

this is the way to go..

You'll have a hard time locating any red or white oak thicker than 8/4 that's kiln dried; I've been told it's too difficult to keep from case hardening in a reasonable amount of drying time and the demand isn't enough to justify running a drying cycle longer. Laminating is the way to go.