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I plan on cutting my own strips for my canoe but am a little conflicted over surface planing. I should start by saying that I don't own a planer, but do have a decent table saw and router w/ table. Has anyone had success purchasing 3/4" stock and simply ripping 1/4" strips off of it without planing the boards first? Did anyone not plane and later have trouble routing or fitting strips?
If you can't already tell, I'm trying to save a little money here. Pre-milled strips are a little pricey and since I already have a saw and router, cutting them myself seems reasonable. As long as I don't need to spend $300 on a planer ('cause then I might as well buy premilled strips).
If you purchase planed boards it is easy to obtain good quality strips without the need for a planer. I use a Freud Diablo thin kerf 7.25" saw blade in my tablesaw and I do not need to plane my strips. Some builders actually use rough boards, cut the strips with a Freud Diablo blade and get rid of the rough edges during the B&C routing operations. I haven't tried that one yet. I have a surface planer so I purchase rough boards but as I said, I no longer plane the strips.
Lot's of people (even those with planers) just rip the strips and route the bead and cove. The planer is convenient and handy for a lot of operations, but not essential.
Now that we are past that...have you run out to the tool store and bought some yellow "Board Buddies?"
I used a 50 year old table saw to cut my strips from 3/4' stock, then routed the B & C with a homemade router table setup. Take your time and set your saw up as true as you can before you start, and with featherboards or "board-buddies" you can do a great job. Get a blade for the saw that cuts a very narrow kerf to save waste. Like Glen said, the routing will effectively plane the strips to the same width.
For a complete discussion on making strips that are equivalent to the commercial product, see my web site, http://michneboat.com. Scroll to the bottom of the introductory page and click on My Web Site, then Builder's Corner, and scroll down to Making Strips.
I second Glen, but I use a 10" thin kerf blade.
I have never planed my strips, they will be planed (so to speak) when you router them.
I have only ever used rough lumber.
hzjanczewski, what do you mean by "3/4" stock"?
(A dressed board)
If that is your thickness?
You will, in all likely hood, end up with fairly thin (1/2") strips.
Which is ok, but fairly, thicky to work with in lengths.
All the best,
Doug
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"Some people hear the song in the quiet mist of a cold morning..... But for other people the song is loudest in the evening when they are sitting in front of a tent, basking in the camp fire's warmth. This is when I hear it loudest ...." BM
If you are losing that much thickness from your 3/4" stock, you are taking too much wood off with the router. The routing process should not really make the strips significanly narrower than the stock you started with.
You guys with your fancy table saws. Bah humbug. I've used a circular saw successfully for 3/16" wide strips on my current kayak. Don't worry too much about the strips; as long as their the same width you'll be fine. Even if you're off a little bit, it's nothing that can't be solved with a fairing board and 60 grit paper.
I ripped 5/16" thick strips on my bandsaw, from 1X 6 X 16 ft. clear cedar boards (these are actually dressed at the mill to 3/4" thickness). Then I thickness planed them to exactly 1/4". I did this to ensure I got accurate beads and coves on my router table set up. From some of your replies, I gather this is not a problem even with rough faced strips (ie: after ripping your strips with a circular or table saw). It wasn't any problem to run my rough strips through the thickness planer but if its an unnecessary step I guess I would eliminate that next time.
The problem a lot of people run into when using a bandsaw to rip strips is uneven thickness which then requires the strips to be planed. Obtaining even thickness strips with a bandsaw is possible, just a bit more difficult than with a tablesaw or even the circular saw once you're used to the technique.
Some builders seem to meet more success with one technique than with another, I say experiment with other techniques. You might discover one that works even better for you.
Check out this thread on the kayak forum.
Oops, obviously that didn't work. There's a pic about 2/3 of the way down this thread of Kurt Loup's circular saw with a guide strip. There was a more detailed post somewhere but I can't find it now that describes cutting strips using a circular saw and guide, great link with pics. Whoever it was said he used a thin kerf blade ?Diablo? and cut all his strips in a very short period of time, didn't have to plane because the strips were so uniform. I think it was on the Wooden Boat forum, but can't find it with a search. Anyhow, check out Kurt's setup, it's basically the same thing without the detail. http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Build ... ead/123739
Last edited by KARKAUAI on Wed Oct 12, 2005 9:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
I have ripped many miles of strips on my trusty Rockwell(Delta) 14" band saw. I rip them right at the desired width and have never had to resort to thickness planing. I use a 3/4" wide blade with 0.025" thickness. 3 or 4 tooth per inch chisel tooth. The wide blade is captured in the kerf and is not allowed to wonder. Planing for finish is a waste of time since all surfaces will be sanded/scaped to make them fair. Planing for uniform thickness should also be unnecessary if ripping set-up is done carefully regardless of the machine used.
