I am going to order a wood spar blank for a J-3 from Aircraft Spruce. If anyone wants to share freight to the Seattle area let me know. On a side note is Aircraft Spruce still the best source?
I am going to order a wood spar blank for a J-3 from Aircraft Spruce. If anyone wants to share freight to the Seattle area let me know. On a side note is Aircraft Spruce still the best source?
Do you not have any good specialty wood supplies near you? Over here I buy my "Good" wood from Condon lumber in NY state, I select the blanks so I get the grain I want and then order the mill cut which is an S3S cut as in 3 of the 4 sides are finished to my dimension.
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Aircraft Spruce is a good source, but it might take a while. I waited several months from first inquiry last year for two sets of spruce spars.
There is a mill in Port Angeles worth checking out. I forget the name but Marty got spars from them and tied them to the roof of his vehicle. Maybe also EdenSaw in Seattle, too. Sometimes they have a good sense of local suppliers.
Vic
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Charlie Longley thanked for this post
You should be able to find some at one of the wooden boat supplies over there. I got a set for a J-3 from Big Sky Stearman, in Oregon, and they were great to deal with. You might also try Lyle Sindlinger at Spar-Craft in Tacoma.
John
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As mentioned above, Marty57 got good wood from a supplier on the Olympic Peninsula. Maybe check with him?
Thanks for all of the advice. I am going to go with Aircraft Spruce. Let me know if anyone else wants to get in on the order.
I have always found Wicks to have better quality wood than Spruce. But I would think being in the northwest you could find it locally before it got loaded on a boat to China.
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Tried to order from Wicks last week and was told that they no longer sold any wood. Dang!
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Check with Edensaw in Port Townsend. (800) 745-3336. Ask for Mast and Spar grade sitka spruce. You will have to get your IA to sign it off as meeting aircraft grade for spars. This is the end of a piece I have 2" x6" X 24' long. free of knots, shake and pitch pockets. You do see a split along the grain line about midway. A forklift was pushing a bundle on the end and split it, turning it into an 18' piece.
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Wayne
Last edited by flybynite; 11-21-2019 at 09:36 AM. Reason: added 2nd pic
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Same
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Make sure that they package them adequately. Years ago I bought two large spar blanks from Spruce. They arrived with dings in the surface. Fortunately I was able to work around the damage since the spars needed to be routed out in that damaged area. At the very least they should be covered with a layer of plywood. Mine was covered with cardboard.
Better yet find out where their supplier is located and go pick them up yourself saving a double shipping.
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Edensaw is about 2 miles from Jefferson County airport, south of Pt Townsend.
It'd be easy to get there from the airport if they had the correct material & you wanted to inspect it before buying.
A guy named Kiwi owns the place (guess where he's from!),
one of their salesmen (Sam) is married to the owner of the airport café here.
They also have a place in Seattle or Tacoma but I think it's just a warehouse.
Cessna Skywagon-- accept no substitute!
Last edited by Charlie Longley; 12-04-2019 at 09:22 PM.
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Rainbow Ron in Moses Lake sells wood spars for Aeroncas. Does he sell Piper spars too?
You can't get there from here. You have to go over yonder and start from there.
I didn't know where he got them from his are ready to install.
You can't get there from here. You have to go over yonder and start from there.
I received 3 spar blanks from Aircraft Spruce today in excellent condition. Around three weeks after I ordered them. Freight was less then $300.
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I talked to Sam from Edensaw yesterday, told him your call was never returned.
"Hmmm.....tell him to call again". FWIW.
He did tell me that they do handle aircraft spar-quality spruce, rattled off the spec to me (10% slope something...),
and told me that most of that material originates from Vancouver Island.
Cessna Skywagon-- accept no substitute!Hardtailjohn liked this post
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