Aside from Basswood’s ease of cutting with a spokeshave, what is it about that wood that makes it so popular for stringers? Is it that it is a relatively cheap and abundant hardwood? If a new type of wood was to be presented that had the same cutting ease as basswood, but twice the resistance to wear, 90% less shrinkage, and more than twice the bending strength, would it be of interest? The wood I am mentioning also checks all the boxes for sustainability. I’m of course asking from a purely technical perspective. The only real way to find out if it is any good is to surf it.
Interestingly, basswood was used for Viking shields and it’s also very popular in guitar making. The name is one of many for the wood of the linden tree. AKA tilia.
It has virtually no grain, is light in weight, and is very uniform in density and resonance. That makes its performance very predictable in many applications.
Thanks for the input guys, all very interesting. So if I have something that cuts easily, is ultra-lightweight, and is unbelievably strong then in theory it should be acceptable. One thing that intrigued me about the opportunity for stringer improvement was the need for consistency and repeatability. It could be argued that if you lay up a bad stringer, or if the grain isn’t right, then that board might be dud (or magic board as is the case sometimes). I’m proposing a material that is engineered to be repeatable every time - though I realize that added value would only matter to perhaps a small percentage of buyers.
Anything that an be milled in longer lengths, knot free, and accepts glue and resin is acceptable. It’s pretty hard to get a 10 ft length of clear knot free wood nowadays. Bass wood is light, clear of voids, straight, and predictable. That’s another reason why Cedar is a good choice, you can get it in long void free length, and it looks old school when laminated up.
But this is Swaylocks…some one should see what happens with a Teak stringer.
Once upon a time, long long ago, I made a three stringer board for a surfing buddy, using BLACK WALNUT as the stringer material! Never again, only that one.