Thin stock - stability

[Oliver Colladay]

I am in the process of building a new wood body for a child's wagon (antique Radio Flyer style, ca.1940), and am debating the best way to make the stake-body railings. The rail slats must be thin and light, but strong and stable. The originals were 1/4" x 2" x 36" long, and were made of oak, but they have seen the end of their days. It is obvious the original maker had some trouble with the stability of this thin and long stock, as the longer 36" pieces are each bowed or twisted, and don't properly fit the wagon anymore.

The wagon body is silvered quarter-sawn red oak, but the railings will be painted red, so species and color is of secondary concern.

I had debated a few options:

1. Find some nice straight-grained oak or ash, and just mill them from that. In fact, I thought I had some straight 8/4 ash for this purpose, milled many years ago, but it appears to have been used on another project.

2. I do have a bunch of white oak remnants, already milled to 1/4" x 2" for flooring, but it is not very stable, and tends to move and twist with changes in the weather. I had considered laminating pieces of this with complementary reactivity (bowed in / bowed out), and then jointing and planing it back down to 1/4" thickness, but I suspect I'll have stability problems.

3. Plywood in 1/4" thickness (5-ply Baltic Birch?) would be very stable, but not very strong.

4. Try riving some oak or ash, then joint and plane it to size. I suspect riving the pieces from from straight-grained 8/4 stock would make for more stable slats, but is it worth the trouble? Riving straight sections longer than 36" may not be easy, from any species.

Any advice on the best species or techniques to provide the best seasonal stability for this 1/4" thick stock, while maintaining the high strength required for the abuse they'll likely see, is much appreciated.

[David Thompson 27577]

Use quarter sawn white oak, that's been properly dried. Mill it straight and flat.

Because it's quarter sawn, movement will be almost nonexistent. And because it's white oak, it will resist decay from weather and wetness. Oh, and white oak is quite strong.

[Jeff Duncan]

Is this going to be for show or use? If it's going to be used then you may also want a wood that will be somewhat decay resistant as it could be out in the elements. The white oak suggestion is a good one, rift would also work as well as the quarter sawn. Some other woods that would fit the bill and be a bit easier for painting would be mahogany, fir, or spanish cedar.
good luck,
JeffD

[Oliver Colladay]

While quarter-sawn white oak is dimensionally stable with respect to swelling and shrinking across its width, I did not expect it to be any less likely to twist or bow. Are you sure this is the case? I had figured I'd have to resort to riving.

Thanks!