Sometimes, luck is on your side. While waiting for my trailer to be registered so I could head to a warehouse for Oregon pine, a friend mentioned a retiring carpenter selling his entire stock.
It turned out he had some beautiful, well-stored beams, which I managed to buy at a decent price. Initially, I thought they wouldn't work because they were only 3.6 meters long, and my longest parts needed 4.5 meters. I also worried that the annual rings weren't aligned well, fearing I'd have to cut diagonally and waste a lot of material.
However, after consulting with Serge Pennec, the designer, my concerns were put to rest. He clarified two key points:
- The 4.5-meter longerons could be glued together from multiple pieces—a technique called "Schäften" in German.
- The direction of the annual rings wasn't critical enough to require diagonal cuts.
With a little help, I soon had the beams in my workshop.
The only material left to source before I can start building pieces is epoxy. I've already got the plywood, Oregon pine, and both XPS and PVC foam.