New canoe

Welcome to the new Bear Mountain Builders Forum - an interactive internet service we provide to encourage communication between canoe and kayak builders
Post Reply
User avatar
Danny Turner
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:05 pm
Location: N.Ireland

New canoe

Post by Danny Turner »

Hi everyone. I`m just about to start making my 2nd canoe. It is the same design as my first which I started 6yrs ago. It took me 3yrs to complete for one reason or another. I`ve just had the plank of WRC ripped into strips. These strips are not planed but rough sawn, unlike the strips for my 1st canoe which were planed. Have any of you ever attempted building with unplaned strips, hopeing for the sanding process do the job near the end?

I would love to hear what results were had and how it compared with the planed strips. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v427/ ... %20Turner/

Danny
Ireland is a land of calm lakes and slow rivers but with no strip canoes upon them.I intend to change this and make it my resolution to do so.
sedges
Posts: 325
Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 5:37 pm
Location: georgia

reasons for planing

Post by sedges »

IMHO the only reason for planing strips is if they are not uniform thickness. If your sawing process is good and strips don't have waves and thick spots planing is a waste of time. Planing does not eliminate much sanding. You still have the glue drips and fairing of the hull to do so all those planed surfaces get sanded anyway.

That said, if you had these strips ripped with the intention of planing them they are thicker than you want and you need to plane then down to size anyway. The decision to not plane should have been made before they were ripped.
Ben
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2009 11:51 pm

Re: New canoe

Post by Ben »

I plane my strips for one reason alone. I bead and cove them, and planing them first gives me much more consistent results on the router. With 1/4" thick strips you have quite a bit of lee-way. I own a planer, and it takes less than an hour to set it up and feed them all through. If you are beading and coving, consistent strips give you a more consistent feel on how fast you should be feeding them because your featherboards aren't getting hung up on the high spots.
User avatar
Danny Turner
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:05 pm
Location: N.Ireland

Re: New canoe

Post by Danny Turner »

Thanks for your comments. I do have a router and will have a planer by Thursday. Although the strips have been ripped farely close to the 1/4 in I still think there is sufficient excess to allow me to produce a good finish.
Anyone any suggestions for the wood to use for the accent strips? I used maple on my last canoe but vowed never again. It`s pretty hard in comparison to WRC and the grain goes all over the place. Would sitka spruce be light enough in colour to produce the right contrast? All coments gratefull received.

Danny.
Ireland is a land of calm lakes and slow rivers but with no strip canoes upon them.I intend to change this and make it my resolution to do so.
User avatar
Glen Smith
Posts: 3719
Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada

Re: New canoe

Post by Glen Smith »

If you want a light color for the accent strips, basswood is a very good choice.
Snowman
Posts: 233
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 6:21 pm
Location: Gatineau, QC

Re: New canoe

Post by Snowman »

I have used spruce, pine, and even some very dark contrasting WRC strips that I had. If you are after a light colour, do you have any eastern white cedar? I stayed clear of hardwoods for reasons that you have already noted. I have never tried basswood.
Snowman back East
User avatar
Bryan Hansel
Posts: 678
Joined: Fri May 14, 2004 6:36 pm
Location: Grand Marais, MN
Contact:

Re: New canoe

Post by Bryan Hansel »

I've used pine and eastern white cedar with success. Both seems easy to sand when surrounded by red cedar.
User avatar
Danny Turner
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:05 pm
Location: N.Ireland

Re: New canoe

Post by Danny Turner »

I like the idea of the basswood.Trouble here is getting my hands on some.My present supplier who happens to be on the opposite coast from me, does`nt have any in stock. For a hardwood it`s a good weight and ferly easy to sand. My search goes on. Thank you folks. I will undoubtably be on the forum again as I progress (begging for help) with my latest venture.

Danny
Ireland is a land of calm lakes and slow rivers but with no strip canoes upon them.I intend to change this and make it my resolution to do so.
User avatar
Denis
Posts: 313
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 8:11 am
Location: Lakefield, Ontario

Re: New canoe

Post by Denis »

If you are using basswood I would suggest scraping it as level as you can before sanding

Denis

bee :laughing n there done it, had to scrape it again lol
alick burt
Posts: 255
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:41 am
Location: united kingdom
Contact:

Re: New canoe

Post by alick burt »

Hi Danny
I would just have a good look at your strips and check them for consistency on the thickness.I am also on my second canoe which I have built using sawn strips and I made plenty of spares so i could select out the best most even ones to use and save the others for the short pieces.
Have just glassed the outside.finally got my1.5m cloth from E.C. fibreglass after months of searching and waiting.They currently have it on offer until the 11th at £4.75 per m plus p&p and vat.(came to 66.02 for 11 meters for me) and if you are a song of the paddle forum member you can get a 10%discount by mentioning paddle when you place the order by phone.They wouldn't give a discount for larger quantity even when I offered to buy 100meters!
regards
Alick
User avatar
BradRob
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:12 am
Location: Grayling, Mich.

Re: New canoe

Post by BradRob »

Here is a thought when mixing hardwoods with softwoods for accent strips. I have had success with making strips buy gluing the harder wood up with the cedar. If i use the cedar as the outer edge and the hardwood in the inside i now have a piece of hardwood sandwiched between 2 pieces of cedar. The cedar edges of the strip get milled with a bead and cove edge. This makes faring much easier. I take a piece of hardwood 1/2 thick by 2inches and glue it in between 2 -1/2 inchx 2 inch pieces of cedar (1/4 inch boards will give you a 3/4 inch accent strip instead of a 1/1/2 inch strip). i then plane the strip down to remove the glue and then rip into 1/4 inch thick strips, Plane each strip and bead and cove the cedar edges.
Post Reply