List of Hardwoods for Building a Pirate Ship Playhouse Part 1
In order to construct a first-class DIY pirate ship playhouse, it is best that you utilized a mixture of hardwoods and softwoods. On this page, you’ll discover an overview of the different types of hardwoods that you can use to build the playhouse. As stated in the article’s title, this is just the first part of a series of articles concerning this subject. I’ll be covering more hardwood types in the upcoming series of articles, and softwoods too!
Alright, so what’s a hardwood, you might ask? Well, that’s what they call timber of all broad-leaved trees (as opposed to needled trees which produce softwoods). In general, hardwoods are not only harder than softwoods, they are denser as well. Of course there are some exceptions. Provided below is a list of representative hardwoods along with their characteristics.
ALDER HARDWOOD
The color of Alder wood is white to pale pink or brown when you first cut it. With exposure though, the color changes to bright orange-brown. Its texture is very fine with absolutely no distinctive figure to speak of, and for a hardwood; it is actually pretty light – relatively speaking. In terms of strength as well as density, it is moderate – definitely not that durable. Alder definitely won’t hold up to outdoor use and its ability to resist shock is low, thus it is best used for building small items such as door handles or furniture for your child’s pirate ship playhouse.
Alder dries easily with some shrinkage, particularly in the black and grey European varieties. Red Alder, the American species, has low shrinkage. You can saw the wood without any difficulty and a good finish can certainly be attained as long as the tools are kept really sharp. It rotary peels producing good veneer. Alder veneers are these very thin sheets and you have to use rotary peeling in order to obtain them. The log is turned on a large lathe and thin sheets are peeled from the circumference by a very sharp blade. Alder can be found widely in the Northern Hemisphere and the tree usually grows to modest height on wet sites.
APPLE HARDWOOD
Alder dries easily with some shrinkage, particularly in the black and grey European varieties. Red Alder, the American species, has low shrinkage. You can saw the wood without any difficulty and a good finish can certainly be attained as long as the tools are kept really sharp. It rotary peels producing good veneer. Alder veneers are these very thin sheets and you have to use rotary peeling in order to obtain them. The log is turned on a large lathe and thin sheets are peeled from the circumference by a very sharp blade. Alder can be found widely in the Northern Hemisphere and the tree usually grows to modest height on wet sites.
APPLE HARDWOOD
Though generally more important for its fruit than its timber, the apple hardwood provides a very fine-textured wood suitable for a number of special uses. The grain is distorted or spiraled, and this is usually the case due to the fact that the trees tend to grow in an irregular manner. Both wild and cultivated varieties produce similar timbers that are a very pale pinkish brown in color. Apple is a slow-drying wood and will warp or split on occasion. If you want it stable to be used as part of the components for your DIY pirate ship playhouse, you first need to season it properly.
Hard, strong, and noted for its toughness, apple hardwood saws well, but you should be aware that it is very hard to split and hard to work, especially where the grain is irregular. It can be machined to a good finish and is receptive to stains and polishes. It turns exceptionally well and carving the wood to fine detail is absolutely possible. Some special commercial uses are shuttles, golf club heads and wooden screws. It is attractive as inlay and is often regarded as “craft” wood because it is available only in small pieces.
ASH HARDWOOD
Hard, strong, and noted for its toughness, apple hardwood saws well, but you should be aware that it is very hard to split and hard to work, especially where the grain is irregular. It can be machined to a good finish and is receptive to stains and polishes. It turns exceptionally well and carving the wood to fine detail is absolutely possible. Some special commercial uses are shuttles, golf club heads and wooden screws. It is attractive as inlay and is often regarded as “craft” wood because it is available only in small pieces.
ASH HARDWOOD
Ash, which is common to northern climates in various parts of the world, has long been considered an important wood. The tree often reaches remarkable size and was referred to in an ancient Norse mythology as “the tree which held up the heavens”. The timber has a pinkish cast when first cut, but pales to nearly white on exposure. The wood is distinctively ring-porous in nature, which means its conspicuous growth rings are marked by large, open pores necessary for rapid spring growth. The well-marked rings appear as lines on radial-cut surfaces (those cut lengthwise from the center of the log) and broad, irregular bands on slash grain surfaces (also cut lengthwise but farther from the center of the log).
The good thing about Ash hardwood is that it dries readily and moderately stable, or very unlikely to shrink, swell or change shape once you have it dried out. If treated, it is suitable to be used for building outdoor playhouses. It is a strong wood, noticeably tough and shock resistant. It works well, turns easily and is especially good for steam bending, a process whereby wood is steamed until it becomes flexible, then bent to the desired curve or shape and allowed to dry. The weight of the wood can vary among species and according to growth speed.
Ash is used where toughness is the number one priority in such products as tennis rackets, hockey sticks, baseball bats and in other sports equipment. Garden and construction tools often have handles of ash for the same reason, and furniture is another common usage. It is also ideal for building a rugged pirate ship-style playhouse.
Continue to part 2
The good thing about Ash hardwood is that it dries readily and moderately stable, or very unlikely to shrink, swell or change shape once you have it dried out. If treated, it is suitable to be used for building outdoor playhouses. It is a strong wood, noticeably tough and shock resistant. It works well, turns easily and is especially good for steam bending, a process whereby wood is steamed until it becomes flexible, then bent to the desired curve or shape and allowed to dry. The weight of the wood can vary among species and according to growth speed.
Ash is used where toughness is the number one priority in such products as tennis rackets, hockey sticks, baseball bats and in other sports equipment. Garden and construction tools often have handles of ash for the same reason, and furniture is another common usage. It is also ideal for building a rugged pirate ship-style playhouse.
Continue to part 2