stripping

After the strongback was built it was time to start stripping, and that was one of the most exciting moments.In fact it was so exciting that I forgot to take photos, I just kept building it. So this is how it looks now!

Preparing the shop and setting up the strongback

After the strips were milled, it was time to prepare the workshop. That included moving the old manual press and the ruter/planner/circular saw to accomodate the strongback. But first, the strongback had to be built, and built very precisely, as any mistake at this stage would be transfered to the hull shape of the canoe. So a lot of measuring was done to make everything as close to perfection as possible. The strongback was assembled from 3 separate pieces, and then it was set on the ground and brought to level using laser . After that, the moulds were positoned at 30,48cm (12inch) intervals and it was time for striping!

bead & cove

One of the most important part of the building process is the preparation of strips, especially the bead & cove part. It took me more than an hour just to set up the blades on the router to make a god bead&cove. At first there were some failed attempts, as I could not perfectly center the bead&cove, but after some ruined strips i have managed to get the blades positioned properlly. (how well I did will be seen as I start to lay the strips on the moulds)

cutting the strips & preparing them

The first task was to cut the boards into 7,5mm X 28mm strips, 4m lenght. For that I have used a circular table saw, and all the strips were the afterwards run troug the planning machine to an even thickness of 6mm. After that it was time to do the bead&cove. On Friday, I have worked with my father in law, who is a master woodworker, and we cut & planned all the strips in 8h. It was very exciting to see the wood boards transform into thin and flexible strips.

After a long day of work, there was some strips and a lot of wood shavings, which were the resoult of the boards beeing 40mm thick, and that meant that a lot of wood went into dust when preparing 28mm strips.

The build is on the way

After waiting for cedar wood to arrive, and being disapointed when it didn't, I decided to go with locally available spruce. It will add a few (kilo)grams to the final weight, but, it is much cheaper (1/3rd of the price of cedar) and readily available, plus the boat shall be a little stronger. The lenght of the boards is 4m, and they are 4cm thick, so not ideal, but that is what I will have to work with. But other than the dimensions, I am really happy with the wood, very uniform in texture and apperance.