12. Cayuga Lake in Winter

As seen from my dock, on Feb 26 2008, during a light snowstorm.
Click on the thumbnail.

Six more weeks of winter?

11. Trimming to a line

Life gets busy, progress gets slow, but I am still working steadily on my canoe.

According to the instructions, when laying the strips gets difficult, when I reach a point where they twist and don't want to lie flat, I strike a line where they do want to lie flat, and trim to that line. So, with a sigh, I cut into the strips I had laid, again, as I did at the tumblehome edge.

The most trimming happens at the ends. So, for the last few strips on each side, I could have used shorter strips. If I had read ahead a little bit, I would not have used my finer, full length strips.

I have been a little reluctant about this step. Yes, after trimming down to this line the next strip went on more easily. However, the strips are still vertical at the ends and horizontal at the beam (in the middle) Having said that, I'm still going to follow the directions closely. Just take a look at my last post (#10) to see what Mr. Schade can do .. so I will follow his instructions.

Here are the tools I use for trimming down to a line; chisels and planes.

This wooden rabbet plane belongs to my father and has a wonderful patina. It is more difficult to use than the modern plane, and more difficult to adjust, but it's blade is full-width (the definition of a rabbet plane?) With it, I am able to plane next to the forms. The forms get in the way of the other plane I have.

This picture shows the stamp of a previous owner, a "C. Nelsen"
A much fainter stamped impression reads:

Ohio Tool Co.
Columbus

The number 11 or perhaps a roman numeral 2 is also visible.

10. The Professional Version

Nymph was spotted at the Wooden Boat Show last year, according to a friendly forum member, who provided this lovely picutre.


This is what a professional can do. And how about that paddle?

The dark cloth inside is carbon/kevlar + epoxy, which I am not planning on using. I'll be using S-glass + epoxy.

9. More Strips

I've added a half-dozen strips since my last post.

Trimming to the tumblehome edge and beveling the next strip to match was difficult, and took a long time, but now that I'm past that point, the strips go on quickly.



Next: I'll put on another half-dozen strips before I switch to the other side.

8. Laying Strips

After some delay swapping blades on the bandsaw, I now have a whole stack of cedar strips and I've begun laying them on. I've been impatient to get to this point, and I'm excited to be making progress again.

The cedar was expensive, by the way. I just got my heart set on it, but a cooler head might save some money buying another species.

Shavings from cutting bevels

Close up of staples.

The strips are stapled to the forms. Here I'm using a bit of cardboard in-between so that removing the staples will be easier later. [Edit: Later, I gave up on this. The staples are easy enough to pull without the cardboard] You can also see masking tape holding the strips together while they glue.

7. Choosing wood for the strips

Over Christ Mass, I've been researching the wood I will use for strips. As usual, the Wooden Boat Forum was very helpful. Based on their suggestions I came up with the following priorities.

1. Do not use the following:
   • very heavy or weak wood
   • highly resinous wood
2. Preferable qualities
   • Clear (or close to it)
   • Long and straight
   • Workable
   • Strength to weight ratio
3. My needs
   • Not too expensive
   • Available in central New York state

Everyone seems to agree that Western Red Cedar fits these priorities most completely. Many other woods were suggested, but I can get WRC and it is within my budget.

The best quote I have found for WRC is $0.79 / lin. ft. or, for my project, about $90.

I hope to buy the cedar early next week. I'll either buy my dad a thin-kerf blade for his table saw, or try to use our neighbor's bandsaw (which I hear is pretty nice, with a good wide band)

6. Laminating the Inner Stems

Have you ever heard the phrase "from stem to stern"? How about "stem the tide"? Well, both phrases stem from a boat's stem. (sorry, I couldn't resist) To "stem the tide" is to sail fast enough to make forward progress against a tide.

On a boat the stem is the foreward edge of the bow. A canoe has a "point" at both ends, and so has a stem in the bow and in the stern.

Traditionally, the stem of a wooden boat would be made from one piece, but I will laminate mine from 1/8" oak strips my dad had sitting around from about 20 years ago. (see below and right) Oak seems like a good choice because it is strong and attractive. The author of the wooden boat article chose cedar, but leaves the choice up to the reader.

The author recommends using a waterproof glue, like polyurethane glue. Gorilla Glue is a common brand here in the US.



The strips will be clamped to the stem forms. I have cut 2" holes to accommodate the clamps, and taped the edge of the form with masking tape to protect it from the glue.

Gluing six 1/8" strips gives me a 3/4" thick stem. Use disposable gloves for this! You'll be glad you did. With the strips glued together, but not yet set up, I bent them around the stem form, and clamped them down. The strips complained a little bit as I did this, but I don't see any cracks, and I think it'll be OK.


Unfortunately, I only have enough clamps to do one stem at a time, so I'm taking a break while the glue sets and posting this.