The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

I didn't think your post was whiny at all John. This is a great group to talk to and get ideas and some motivation to! Some great and interesting work has been posted here and we're hoping to hear from you and how you progress. So start taking some pictures and let us see 'em.
Ed...

Hello John. I know that cold projects can be a source of guilt and aggrivation. There is an educational paradigm which says: 1st decide that you really want to do some task. 2nd, work on the project the same time each day. 3rd, dedicate a specific amount of time, say 1/2 hour. 4th, the work or study...

All you proponents of Polyurethane (Gorilla, etc) might be interested in the Fine Woodworking test appearing in the August 2007 No. 192 issue. Compared to Type 1 (waterproof) PVA glue, Polyurethane only produces 58% the strength of the Type 1 glue. It proved weaker than even liquid hide and hot hide...

Terry, I've used 1/2" MDF since I started building Cedar strippers. It stays absolutely flat and it takes a pencil line beautifully when tracing out the templates. I build stapleless and cut a 1/4" x 1/4" clamp groove about 3/4" from the edge. I use a router to cut the groove. Th...

Terry, not to be sarcastic in any way, my dentist once told me to only floss the teeth I wished to keep! I guess what I mean is just how much effort do you wish to place on getting the foundation set for your build which you'll be looking at for possibly the next year. This is a photo of how I mount...

Sboutang, one USA supplier of high grade cove and bead cedar gets $.60 per foot. This amounts to over $750 to build a 16' Prospector plus freight. I mulled this over for each of my 3 canoes and for me the time saved and quality of material was worth the extra cost. I even had gone so far as assemble...

Hi Armand, It sounds like you have an interesting project ahead of you. Getting the lip cut off the gunnel in the first place might prove a challenge. I would echo what Greg said about using maple. One never knows how the grain is going to behave. I agree that Mahogany would be nice wood to use and ...

Danny, I put some pictures of my Abenaki up for viewing. http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a237/ealger/Abenaki/ I paddled a 16' Redwood Laker for years before building the Abenaki. Although the canoe is beautiful in the water, I wasn't impressed with the stability. It threw me into the lake twice be...

Danny, on my Abenaki I used Mahogany for the inwales. I tapered the last 30" of the inwales from the 3/4" at 30" to 1/16" at the stem end. If you are using Ash for the inwales and are not planning on a taper, then you'll have to steam the inwales, no doubt. To help hold up the en...

Ah Ron, I see now. That gives me an idea for closing in on the bottom of my Prospector.
Thanks.
Ed...

Ron, are your 1/8" walnut pin strips cove and bead or are they flat edged? If they are flat, then you must have cut off the cove/beads from the mating strips.?
Ed..

Tim, it is a bit of a challenge to sharpen the crescent blade alright. I hold the blade with my fashioned wooden holder and swipe the blade over the diamond plate in a rolling motion. The motion is kind of like you would use to sharpen a pocket knife. If you're able to get a keen edge with 600 wet/d...

Tim, I asked the question, here in this forum a while back, how to sharpen Pro-Prep blades. The blades are stainless steel and don't take to sharpening as to quality HS chisels. It was suggested that I use diamond flat plates to sharpen the Pro-Prep blades. I bought a dual sided large diamond plate ...

HMG Coma Berenice Bright for exterior and HMG K-Type Matt for interior.
Ed..

http://www.newfound.com/varnish.htm

Mac, herring bone is really cool looking but can be a pain to implement. I've found that I could only begin the herring bone after the leaving the stem area where the hull began to flatten. Glen mentions that the herring bone will reduce the pronounced keel-line; it's the nature of the herring bone....