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3-2-1 Build
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Subject: 3-2-1-Build with White Oak
The 3-2-1 Build — three things you didn't know, two projects worth building, and one question for you.
This week: White Oak
August 1812. USS Constitution traded broadsides with HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia, and the British shot hit her hull and fell into the sea.
A sailor shouted that her sides were made of iron. They weren't. They were oak: dense live oak framing (a member of the white oak family) under a skin of white oak planking.
The nickname "Old Ironsides" stuck. More than two centuries later she's still a commissioned ship of the U.S. Navy, the oldest one afloat.
The story goes that someone noticed the oak beams in horse barns had turned a deep, even brown, and that the ammonia rising off the stalls had done it.
It's a real reaction. Ammonia fumes react with the tannins in white oak and darken the wood all the way into the fibres. No stain, no pigment, no blotching.
Woodworkers still do it on purpose. They seal a piece in a tent with a dish of ammonia, wait a day or two, and get a warm, aged brown that looks a century old. White oak takes it better than almost any wood because it's packed with the tannin that drives the reaction.
In Athens, Georgia, a white oak stands on a small plot that, according to local legend, was deeded to the tree itself in the 1830s: its own land, a few feet in every direction.
The original fell in 1942. The town grew a new one from one of its acorns and planted it in the same spot in 1946.
They call it the Son of the Tree That Owns Itself. As far as the town's concerned, the land is still the tree's.
A bath mat that dries in minutes instead of staying soggy for days. It's 22" × 19" (S4S stock), eight slats over three cleats, with a ½" gap between every slat so water drops straight through.
There's no glue anywhere. Every crossing is a stainless screw, pre-drilled and countersunk, so nothing can let go in a wet room and each slat can swell and shrink on its own. Rubber feet under each cleat lift it off the floor so the tile dries too.
The trick is to finish every face, edge and end before assembly, because the spots where slats meet cleats are impossible to reach afterward. Three coats of teak oil or marine spar varnish and it's ready for the shower.
White oak is the plan's top pick for water, and quartersawn stock gives you ray fleck on every slat. It's a weekend build and an easy first project.
A 42" × 22" vessel-sink top that floats on hidden steel brackets. It's 1¾" thick, with a face-glued apron that brings the front edge to 3½" without needing a solid slab.
Four boards are edge-glued in two halves, then joined and flattened to about 21½" deep. Glue the fifth board under the front edge for the apron. Bore the drain (about 1¾") and faucet (about 1⅜") holes halfway from each face for clean exits. Slotted bracket holes and a ⅛" gap at the wall let the top move about ¼" through the seasons.
Seal every face, edge, end and hole with 3–4 coats of marine spar urethane. The plan calls white oak the classic choice for bathroom use. Note that it's built for vessel sinks only, not undermount.
What's the hardest part of buying lumber for you: finding it, choosing it, or getting it home?
Hit reply and tell me!
Until Friday,
John and the Knotty Lumber Co. Team
P.S. White Oak is in. Five boards, one pack, enough for every plan above.
→ Shop the 4/4 White Oak Five-Pack
→ Shop the 8/4 White Oak Five-Pack
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