new tiller

Some extra details in your bio and we might know what boat we are talking about. From the dimensions I'm guessing the 300 mm is the curve. Teak is always nice and I personally think a tiller should look good as its one of the items your in close contact with when sailing. The reality though is very little interesting timber is freely available these days. We are limited to treated pine generally and occasional some Oregon is available. Maple is even hard to come by. Bunnings have some stuff in small sizes and your choice really comes down to the finish you require. If varnish I would laminate your choice of timbers in a frame with the desired curve. Several layers of 6mm in alternate tones, Tasmanian oak, Chinese fir, maple, that sort of thing. Oiled finish, treated pine looks looks surprisingly good. You will need a jig and a few G clamps and go for it.

Start by looking at these and see what takes your fancy, Turpentine, White Beech, Tallow Wood, Crows Ash, Black Bean, White Cypress, White Mahogany, Forest Red Gum, Red Bloodwood, Grey Box, Carbeen (Morton Bay Ash), Chengal, Grey Gum, Narrow Leafed Red Ironbark, Gympie Messmate, Satinay, Tassie Oak

Some glue better than others, others take varnish better than others. They all have their own little peculiarities as to how they like to be worked, but in terms of mechanical strength they are all good. there are of course others that would also suffice.

Don't build it out of one piece of wood, instead do as Ramona suggested and laminate it up from several layers, that way all the fibres in the wood will follow the load path.

This thread might be useful: "What timber for Red Witch rudder?"

Spotted Gum is a very well known and used boat building timber, it works well and glues well. Jarrah has a shorter grain structure and doesn't bend quite as well as what spotted Gum does, so as long as the bends are not severe you can do it. Both timbers finish well and take varnish well.

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claverton said..

Thanks loose change, appreciated. I have no knowledge of timber. Just saw a piece of western red cedar for sale that I could get milled. Do you think this laminated with spotted gum might be OK?

If it's a dinghy then western red is fine but as the steering loads increase you would want something a bit more substantial. I would stay with those varieties similar to what I posted closer to the top of this page, nice solid hard woods known for their strengths.

Thanks Morningsun, I need to select the timber fairly quickly would be a better choice of words. Got the jig made, tiller head's being built next week, just need to do the tiller. I'll do it in 5mm laminates of spotted gum and one of the other timbers loosechange has recommended. So looking forward to taking out the steering pedestal which imo is a silly idea in a currawong 30.

Ramona
Swadlings at Rozelle usually stock Spotted Gum. Bought a nice piece from them a little while ago to make some hand rails for the cabin top. I'll laminate it in two types of timber, just haven't decided on the second type.

Some of those timbers are somewhat oily in nature and would benefit from a good wash with an acetone soaked cloth to ensure the glue stays stuck. Also remember to only use enough clamping pressure to bring the timbers together, you don't want to squeeze all the glue out and have a dry joint.
I would glue them one at a time, that is, glue the first two and wait for the glue to go off before gluing the third piece and so on.

For what its worth, Spotted Gum is no longer referred to as Eucalyptus Maculata, rather, now it is Corymbia Maculata.


Boatin:-

Spotted Gum, the heartwood is pale to dark brown, Sapwood to 50mm is distinctively paler but there may be a zone of intermediate wood which may be a complicating factor. To put it simply I guess ..... it's brown ..... you choose which shade of brown.

Bought timber for the tiller today. Ended up getting Tallowood and Tassie Oak. Thanks for all the invaluable advice on this Loosechange. I noticed the Tallowood is quite oily so will take your advice on the acetone. These two timbers don't look to be hugely different in colour with the Tallowood being a tad yellower than the Tassie Oak. So the two difference in colours between the two when laminated will be more subtle than stark. I just need to dress the timber tomorrow and then get cracking. I think I'll put the tallowood on top as it's grain looks a little more interesting than the Tassie oak.

Why not go to a timber recycling yard and get some old floorboards, studs beams etc. They used a lot of nice timber in the old days as it was so plentyful. Red cedar wood look good laminated between different hard wood and the h/wood would add the necessary strength.

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LooseChange said..

claverton said..

The blackbutt was a lot harder than the spotted gum and is good timber for blunting router bits and plug cutters.

You think that's bad, don't ever try teak, that crap has such a high silica content that it will kill any cutting edge you ever had.

Yes I called it crap, Teak is so boring it looks like plastic, next in my boring line is Huon Pine that stuff looks like real plastic.

Huon Chief will be on the slips shortly. Wander out and have a look. Beautiful piece of Huon pine!

Here's the first two of layers Tallowood and Tassie Oak glued up in the jig. I made the jig out of four pieces of particle board (to give enough thickness) cut out with a jigsaw and glued together. I'm planning the strips of timber down to about 5mm by hand which was the most time consuming part.

Thanks Cisco, I like it when you talk dirty. Ramona very kindly sent me piccies of his tiller (we have the same boat) which gave me a good indication of the shape I needed.

The previous photo is from a few days ago. It's all glued up now, and just waiting for the stainless steel guy to finish the tiller head and check the fit to that before I do anymore shaving, which will be minimal & keep it plain. Will probably just run a round over router bit around the edges and do a U shape on the end of the tiller.

Itching to get it on so I can pull out the pedestal steering wheel etc (anyone want a wheel steering set up?). I've got a Pacific Windpilot vane ready to go onto the transom once I install the tiller.

I had another jig but the turns in it were too tight and couldn't get the timber to bend without cracking them, & I wasn't about to start steaming, so whipped up a second jig with gentler turns. It's about 45mm thick by 85mm wide and about 1170mm long and it's very very strong, thanks to LooseChange with his great advice on timber selection.

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claverton said..

thanks to LooseChange with his great advice on timber selection.

Aww shucks, I think I'm gonna be blushing anytime now

On the on going saga of conversion of my Currawong 30 from wheel steering to tiller steering, here's the new tiller head I've just had made up. The metal guy has done a beautiful job milling it.