sources for sitka panels

[Ron Nossaman]

>Ron
>Wher are you getting your sitka panels from. I have used many but my
>supplier at soundswood in Idaho has become unreliable.There quality has been
>exc. till now but the line I have to stand in is too long.Have tried just
>about every supplier out there  and am now considering finding my own wood
>source and make my own BUT, I don,t want to!.Rick wheeler at Roseland Piano
>is willing to make boards for the trade but then there,s the supply problem
>there to. We even have a cousin in B.C. who has a mill but so far has not
>been able to fill my order.Sooo I recently ordered western white panels from
>north hudson which is really a canadian version  engleman .They are nice but
>as you say trying to stick to one formula has usually been the best. Anybody
>else have a reliable supply of panels/wood to share? Wow spread
>sheets,graphs you are a true R.and D. geek proud to know you.Would enjoy a
>face to face sometime my typing is toooo slow.Going to reno?I,ll buy the
>coffee.Thanks Dale


Well now, don't we learn something every day! It was my understanding that
North Hudson's panels were Sitka. My my my, the plot thickens. This makes
me wonder if the spruce I'm using for rib stock, obtained elsewhere by
random chance, is really Sitka. Since the ribs are doing the bulk of the
work, I save up most of my anality for them and adjust (hopefully)
accordingly for panel stiffness and density. I do deflection tests on rib
stock to determine if the MOE is in the right range, but I honestly haven't
been too anal with the panel other than sending them back when the grain
density is twice what I specified and waiting another 6 weeks to get back
to the project. Since the last time this happened, I've been in the market
for a source too. I'd considered Rick, and Del still makes panels for sale
(unless that's changed), so there are still options. Ok, another question,
since this has come up in a round about way, does anyone still ship panels
in spruce crates? North Hudson's crates weigh 100 lbs, and are made of some
otherwise useless screw snapping doglegged hardwood and are tough to tear
down without endangering the panel inside and/or shedding blood, and only
fit for burning afterward. This is especially interesting if I have to
re-crate the panel for return after I've gotten a look at it. About the
only thing I can use from North Hudson's crates is the cardboard for my rib
scale pattern. Seems like an awful price per pound to ship firewood halfway
across the country. Those old Posey crates were nice, and yielded shim
stock, among other things.

Yep, I'm going to Reno. Going to attempt to survive doing a bridge design,
building, and postmortem diagnostics class. If I live, I'll probably need
at least a coffee.


Ron N