Hmmm, a piece of wood. There are so many kinds. I'll talk to the guys in the Traditional Seafarer's Society and see what we can come up with.

If memory serves you do some fancy lathe work so length isn't an issue is it? You'd rather have a chunk instead of a plank? My duffel bag is 36" long so, depending on what else I bring I could fit a pretty good chunk in it.