Batten?
Batten?
This might be in the wrong place but Where do I purchase a batten? I have been looking around for one and can not find one. I have been using a piece of 1/8 thick wood. I would like to get one for the sheer lines.
It would appear that you already have one. Your 1/8" wood should work nicely. I have a fairly long flexible metal ruler that I used for my forms. For all of the work on the shears, etc. I used a long strip of wood that was 3/16" x 3/16". This came from when I made my strips and ended up with a strip too thin (I was using 1/4" on the boat) so I rip sawed it in half again.
The best battens I have found - much more flexible, and more durable than a wood strip, albiet, much shorter-Go to the toy store and buy a cheap kite - the little fiberglass sticks used to frame the kite make great battens for lofting forms. You are limited by the size of the kite, but lofting a curve for station mold only takes about 24 inches of batten. All the kite sticks I have found are made of plastic and can be bent to an S curve without breaking. They are also small enuoght in diameter to be held down by a common thumbtack. I have lofted 3 of the boats in Canoecraft using the tables of offsets and a kite stick.
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- Posts: 23
- Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:48 pm
- Location: Wiarton Ontario
plexiglass
I use a strip of plexiglas to draft the molds. If you are actually lofting out a boat full size clear cedar works great. Cross-section would depend on what kind of curves are required.