sitka spruce

Blah, blah, logging, blah... getting back to the point of this thread...

Wow! Ron, the flybaby seems to have taken a very serious hit. I'd say the
pilot was lucky to get out like he did. Stall-turn or turn-stall?

I've been watching videos of a friend-of-mine's Wright gliders flying at
Jockey's Ridge. (Still waiting on funds for my own trip up there with my
1902.) His glider seems to flex about the same way mine does when it smacks
something. Almost like its made of rubber! I've had a few moments over the
past two years that "should" have broken a spar, but never did.

Here's an interesting side-note though. Many of the undercarrage parts, and
certainly all of the wingtips on Wright machines are made of laminated white
ash. The early gliders also used steam-bent white ash ribs. This wood is
extremely strong, but also very heavy. Fortunately for me, its fairly cheap!

I havn't tried laminating any speuce yet. Could it be used to make 4" radius
bends when ripped into 1" wide x 3/32" thick strips? Early Wright wingtips
have a nearly rectangular " [ " shape. I'm also currently debating the
constructon material used in the hip-cradle of the '02. I used a 2 piece
design made from laminated ash. Since then, I've descovered that this design
is prone to failure and should have been laminated into a 1-piece shape.

Harry