: Don't have much redwood available around here. But I think I have
: read that Redwood was brittle? Yes I seem to remember reading
: where some folks have used Redwood for stringers?

: What is your experience with redwood for stringers on a kayak? Good
: bad or just OK?

It works about the same as Western Red Cedar. Flexes about as much, too. Sometimes it is easier to find clear redwood than to find clear cedar.

Splinters from redwood are worse than from red cedar. They will fester and get infected if not removed promptly and completely. Redwood sawdust is about as hazardous as cedar sawdust.

redwood used to used for house siding, and in some areas you can find houses of a certain vintage being torn down. If you can salvage the siding it is easily cut into strips for boatbuilding. A lot of redwood was not painted, but coated with a clear stain. If you are recovering old wood you'll want to check for any lead-based pigment--usually that's not such a probem with stained wood as it is with painted wood.

First boats made with fiberglass-covered thin strips were canoes, and the materials specified then were usually redwood sheathed with fiberglass. A long time ago (March 1967) Popular Science did an article on building a redwood canoe. I place that as the starting point for the boom in popularity in stripbuilding small boats. The plans for that may still be kicking around on the internet. A copy of the original article is at: http://www.svensons.com/boat/?p=RowBoats/RedwoodCanoe

Popular Mechanics also did canoe plan or two over the yearsand several boat designs showed up in the various editions of their book "The Boy Mechanic". There are a few facsimiles of several editions of this currently in print at a reasonable price. When you look for info on redwood canoes you'll trip over references to these, although they seem to have been built from cedar. go figure.

Wooden Canoe Heritage Association is probably a more reliable historian of these things than I am. Here is a link to the thread about redwood canoes in their discussion area: http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=632

Hope this helps.

PGJ