The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

two words - "Cabinet Scraper" Once you learn to use one you will ask yourself what all those pieces of paper with sand on them are for. Joking aside the cabinet scrapers are a great way to clean up hardened (cured) glue and will also replace sand paper in many instances leaving a very smoo...

Doug, if you see Ricks post you are correct, however IF he wants to be able to replace the outwale then he should use screws. I used screws under my outwales to hold the inwales because I had a special case. The design of my canoe was a stitch and glue construction with two forms glued in which also...

John, Could you explain the PVC "C" clamps. Cheap and effective sounds good. Tom Sure, Take a Length of 4 Inch PVC pipe (available at Lowes, Home Depot, ect...) and cut it into 2 inch wide lengths. Take each one of those and cut once across the 2 inch width. When done you have a C-Clamp w...

Good point about the replacement made easier. He could still epoxy the inwales and screw them in place through the outwales with out gluing the outwales in place. hopefully his SS screws are long enought. :thinking In a case like that you could then make plugs to cover the screws on the outwale whic...

For what it's worth, I plan on using SS screws from the inwale to the outwale,along with some thickened epoxy, then plugging the holes with matching plugs. I have not made up my mind about scuppers yet. 16' Prospector That seems like a lot of extra work and expense for no need. If you screw into th...

I see no reason you can't, I did and they work just fine. I did how ever use epoxy thickened with fumed silca so it made a real nice paste did the same for the inwales but used a short screw from the outside into the sculper blocks to act as clamps and for positioning. the Outwales I just used a lot...

Neglected to say the wood I used was Red Oak. I striped it out of 1x8 finished boards and then sanded to final size using my Fence and a 12 inch disk sander (Don't have a thickness planner) on my Shop Smith Have no problems with the strength of the joint and the scarfs are dead center of the bend on...

Scarf them. I recommend cutting the scarf across the narrow edge of the strip. This will give more gluing surface than a cut across the thicker part. Here is a pic of mine ready to glue with an 8:1 scarf. The strips are 3/8 x 3/4 the 3/8 edge is on the top. http://www.errington.org/Images/uploads/sc...

Finally got it launched on Labor day. Started on Memorial Day weekeknd. S&G construction, not sure what wood makes the ply core but it is very blond and cheap at Home Depot. Had no voids. The wales are red oak and the seat frames and mounting braces are also the same Red Oak. I used 10 oz 4"...

NO on the silicone lubricant. These stirps are to be coated with epoxy and one would have to believe in the strong possibility of silicone contamination. Silicone and Epoxy do not go well together.

AN 80 tooth is way too much for ripping strips. That is more of a crosscut blade where finish of the cross cut counts or the rip is such that you have almost no side pressure of the blade against the wood such as when you do a final trim to size. When ripping you wind up with too many teeth contacti...

I haven't worked with Ash yet but did work with Red Oak for the first time just a few weeks ago. I also had some burning mostly when I had to pause to re grip the wood and it had a chance to rub the blade for a second or two. It is imperitive to always use the sharpest of blades, (Carbide tips are a...

E-bay purchasing may look economical but don't forget to factor in the shipping costs of your e-bay purchase. quite often that will take a good deal and turn it into an not so good deal. Wood is heavy and can be costly to ship using normal shipping practices of E-bay. OTher shipping companys that ca...

Even if you get an air cleaner to keep dust in the shop down, get a resparator that is suitable for fine particles and make sure it fits right every time. Also safety goggles are a good thing too. I discovered after a night of sanding on wood or epoxy that my eyes were always dry and scratchy even t...

Every Job should be dry run to see if you need additional help or need to figure a way to do it using clamps, better planning , or a different method. Large jobs that can be done by one but better by two are anything involving large pieces of cloth like the layout and layup of the cloth to the hull....