The most common wood being used for currachs today seems to be white deal, this is basically pine/spruce. Some sources point to straight grained oak being used for the ribs. And ash also being used in places. There is also the possibility of going local and using red cedar which is way more common in Canada than the West of Ireland and is used for building kayaks all the time here. I have also been looking at douglas fir in the local lumber yards.
Whichever type of wood we end up using the most important thing will be a lack of knots and a straight grain. It is also better if the wood hasn't been kiln-dried as it means when it comes time to steam it then it heats more thoroughly and is easier to bend.
If wood is already kiln-dried then it should be soaked for a couple of days in water to make life easier. We will be doing more wood-bending tests at the weekend with some cedar I picked up today and we'll what happens.
I'll leave you with some art my nephew Eimhin did for me many moons ago...
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