4 new teak stocks arrived today

[jtkwest]

i found a guy on ebay selling teak laminate stocks pre straightened and ready to route, i ordered 3 at custom sizes 60" long, (1 1/2" ,(40mm) wide x 1 3/4" ,(45mm) tall for 350$ with shipping. he gave me the 4th free as a sample for the north american teak,(which is WAY cheaper) and it is heavier than the asian teak for sure and a little darker.,(it is the one on the right ) they are perfectly straight and only took 2 weeks to get here. i think it was worth it. the teak alone would have cost almost that much alone. plus all the epoxy and labor and time to straighten it. i think next time i will get the cheaper wood stocks, it actually looks better than the more expensive stuff, or at least as good. if heavy is good,(i'm not sure about that) vector marine products is the name of the ebay store. he make other stuff too, check it out!

 

[Tin Man]

That's a good deal. Just make sure that you understand what "North American Teak" is, and isn't. This is from a post on another forum:

"American Teak is the trade name for thermally enhanced hickory. Domestically harvested hardwoods, like hickory, oak and others, are kiln dried to 0% moisture content. Then in the same kiln they are impregnated with chemicals and stains which raises the moisture content to about 4%. The overall process makes the wood appear and perform like exotic hardwoods such as teak, ipe, etc. The thermal process was developed in Europe and has been used there to produce decking that performs and looks like more expensive exotic counterparts. I think of it as being similar to applying Smith's Penetrating Epoxy to your wood but the thermal process gets the sealer all they way through the lumber and seals at the cellular level. Dimensional stability is increased 2 to 3 times that of regular exotic hardwoods. In addition to the above differences American Teak is 1/4 the price of teak, is sustainable and is easy to work"

Not to say that it isn't the cat's meow for a speargun. I'm very interested to hear how it cuts, and your overall impressions when you are done. I've thought trying some myself.