Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: LaurenMWilliams(at)webtv.net (Lauren Williams)
This is some good reading for a multitude of answers to buildingquestions, from soup to nuts, (building, wiring, painting, and muchmore) check it out I think you will be glad you did.Gordonhttp://www.exp-aircraft.com/library/library.htmlThis is some good reading for amultitude ofanswers to building questions, from soup to nuts, (building, wiring,painting,and much more) check it out I think you will be glad you did.Gordonhref"http://www.exp-aircraft.com/library/lib ... __________

Original Posted By: Michael Brusilow
Seems to me that the requirements for aircraft woods go like this:A minimum of 8 growth rings per inch.a maximum grain run out, in the direction of the growth rings, of 16 to1 slope.Radial runout (due to the tree twisting as it grows) is checked bysplitting a piece of wood with the split perpendicular to the growthrings. This runout can also be checked by putting some ink on thesurface of the wood and seeing how it follows the grain. I think thatthe allowable slope for this is also 16 to 1.In addition there are standards for pitch pockets and knots in largertimbers. I haven't seen any pitch pockets or knots in the wood that Ihave gotten for the Pietenpol, so I haven't had to concern myself overthese.Overall, I want the wood for my plane to exceed these standards by aconsiderable margin. For instance, Capstrip that has growth ringsevery 1/8 inch doesn't really impress me as adequate. 16 to 1 grainslope is really pretty steep when you see it. I am critical of every piece of wood that I put in the plane, regardlessof where I bought it. It is a natural product, after all, and thesawyer can't spend nearly as much time inspecting it as I can. If Ican't use a particular piece for it's intended purpose, I simply orderanother one and cut the first one down to use it somewhere else lesscritical.Lauren________________________________________________________________________________