Wood grain of Planking Strips
Wood grain of Planking Strips
I am a first timer and having a hard time understanding the desired grain direction on the wood stips. If my 1/4" x 1" wood strips are laying flat (or horizontal) on a table, should the wood grain be horizontal also or verticle?
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Patricks Dad
- Posts: 1476
- Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
- Location: Warrenville, Illinois
In a woodstrip/fiberglass/epoxy canoe the wood is encapsulated, protecting it from moisture so the only significant difference between plainsawn and quartersawn is the way it looks.
If a board lying flat on a table has growth rings mostly sideways, we call it plainsawn, and strips cut from this board so as to have their 1" width come from the thickness of the original board will be quartersawn. Since plainsawn boards are almost always cheaper than quartersawn, this is the most common way to go: you buy the cheap grain orientation, and get the other in your strips.
The quartersawn strips will usually show simply straight grain lines, while plainsawn will show more distinct grain patterns.
Depending on what you want, you can either rip the strips directly from your boards, or go through a slightly more elaborate procedure to keep the same grain orientation as the starting boards by ripping first to the width you want, then turning and ripping strips. The major problem with the second approach in my mind is the need to work with narrow stock so much of the time. The advantage is that the board thickness does not dictate the width of the strip.
If a board lying flat on a table has growth rings mostly sideways, we call it plainsawn, and strips cut from this board so as to have their 1" width come from the thickness of the original board will be quartersawn. Since plainsawn boards are almost always cheaper than quartersawn, this is the most common way to go: you buy the cheap grain orientation, and get the other in your strips.
The quartersawn strips will usually show simply straight grain lines, while plainsawn will show more distinct grain patterns.
Depending on what you want, you can either rip the strips directly from your boards, or go through a slightly more elaborate procedure to keep the same grain orientation as the starting boards by ripping first to the width you want, then turning and ripping strips. The major problem with the second approach in my mind is the need to work with narrow stock so much of the time. The advantage is that the board thickness does not dictate the width of the strip.
Alan
All good advice BUT no one has mentioned sanding... If you have face or flat grain on your canoe strips, the soft lighter color wood will be removed much easier than the harder darker color wood. If the end or edge grain is showing, it will be much more uniform and easier to finish and flatten. IMHO Personal choice but the standard has been to use the end grain boards. I would guess that of all the photo's you see, 90% are end grain and 10% are what ever. You will know immediately when you see a canoe with face grain strips.
Your choice... Good Luck...
Your choice... Good Luck...
Joe "Woodchuck" Gledhill
Garden City, MI
Garden City, MI
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Rod Tait
If you are cutting your own strips, you want to cut them from a flat grain board. The grain will be running horizontal when the wide board is sitting flat. When you cut strips from the edge and lay your thin strips flat, the grain is now running vertical. As mentioned in the previous post, it is much easier to sand and plane a vertical grain board, however some people like the look of flat grain strips.
Most sawyers will mostly try to cut vertical grain boards from the log unless otherwise requested, so finding flat grain boards is more difficult to do.
Most sawyers will mostly try to cut vertical grain boards from the log unless otherwise requested, so finding flat grain boards is more difficult to do.
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Rehd Brown
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:23 pm
- Location: Fresno, California
Concerning sanding:
While it is true that verticle grained strips are nice and possibly sand better, there are those that do like to mix some flat grain in for charactor.
Flat grain CAN be more difficult to keep level, mostly if you are hand sanding, block sanding and/or Power sanding. The softer wood between the grain lines ( can't remember what those are called ) gets sanded out easier leaving you with ripples, and the more you sand, the worse they can get.
In my experience, I've seen ( and done ) folks over sand and produce ripples and hollows even in Verticle grain wood.
For fairing big ( especially round/curved ) areas I recommend fairing boards. I have boards from 12" to 18" and with different grits of sanding material. I make mine approx 3" wide and use belt sander belts, cut at the seam and then sized to the length of your plywood. I also use either 3/16" or 1/4" plywood, usually left over scraps from an S & G boat. I use handles carved from small blocks of wood, or handles from other tools.
Glue the belts on with contact cement ( if you put it on one side only they will come off easier when it's time to change ). I keep 4 or 5 fairing boards around with different grits. While sanding, use the handles to apply pressure for outside curves and push in the middle for inside curves.
The fairing boards cover much greater areas and won't be able to dig down and make hollows or ripples.
Flat-grained strips can give a surface lots of charactor, and some feel that all verticle-grained strips can tend to be a little plain/boring looking. You can create design merely by mixing the same wood using areas of both.
Oh yeh, I sometimes use a layer of 1/4" cork between the plywood and belt.
Rehd
While it is true that verticle grained strips are nice and possibly sand better, there are those that do like to mix some flat grain in for charactor.
Flat grain CAN be more difficult to keep level, mostly if you are hand sanding, block sanding and/or Power sanding. The softer wood between the grain lines ( can't remember what those are called ) gets sanded out easier leaving you with ripples, and the more you sand, the worse they can get.
In my experience, I've seen ( and done ) folks over sand and produce ripples and hollows even in Verticle grain wood.
For fairing big ( especially round/curved ) areas I recommend fairing boards. I have boards from 12" to 18" and with different grits of sanding material. I make mine approx 3" wide and use belt sander belts, cut at the seam and then sized to the length of your plywood. I also use either 3/16" or 1/4" plywood, usually left over scraps from an S & G boat. I use handles carved from small blocks of wood, or handles from other tools.
Glue the belts on with contact cement ( if you put it on one side only they will come off easier when it's time to change ). I keep 4 or 5 fairing boards around with different grits. While sanding, use the handles to apply pressure for outside curves and push in the middle for inside curves.
The fairing boards cover much greater areas and won't be able to dig down and make hollows or ripples.
Flat-grained strips can give a surface lots of charactor, and some feel that all verticle-grained strips can tend to be a little plain/boring looking. You can create design merely by mixing the same wood using areas of both.
Oh yeh, I sometimes use a layer of 1/4" cork between the plywood and belt.
Rehd
has anyone tried to use scrapers for finishing flat graing wood? Something like this from Lee Valley: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... 10&p=32669
I read that it can give a good finish and I think it isn't as susceptible to flat grain wood problems.
I read that it can give a good finish and I think it isn't as susceptible to flat grain wood problems.
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Rehd Brown
- Posts: 148
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:23 pm
- Location: Fresno, California
Sluggo
Yes, scrapers are an excellent tool. They are more made for a flat surface, so would take a little longer to accomplish the same work here. On a round surface, it cuts in a much smaller width. And you will still need to finish up with sanding. The fairing-boards, starting with rougher grit belts will do the work faster, then move to a medium grit and so on, to smooth it up. Just my opinion, of course. The scraper is a great tool for removing drips and runs in resin. Always good to have around. If I were you, and you have both a scraper and fairing-board, give them both a try and form you own opinion as to which is easier. Each to their own. Both work!
Rehd
Yes, scrapers are an excellent tool. They are more made for a flat surface, so would take a little longer to accomplish the same work here. On a round surface, it cuts in a much smaller width. And you will still need to finish up with sanding. The fairing-boards, starting with rougher grit belts will do the work faster, then move to a medium grit and so on, to smooth it up. Just my opinion, of course. The scraper is a great tool for removing drips and runs in resin. Always good to have around. If I were you, and you have both a scraper and fairing-board, give them both a try and form you own opinion as to which is easier. Each to their own. Both work!
Rehd
Scrapers
Sluggo, the scraper mentioned is a great tool on flat work. The cutting edge requires a lot of attention to get the edge rolled over properly. The edge wouldn't last long if used to clean up glue and epoxy drips.
My tool of choice for starting the cleanup of the hull outside is the ProProp (pro model). The stainless cutting edges are tough and are excellent for glue cleanup and for rough initial forming of the strip joints. From that point its the block plane and fairing boards as mentioned above.
ProPrep makes a crescent shaped cutter which works well for scraping the inside curved hull edges.
Ed...
My tool of choice for starting the cleanup of the hull outside is the ProProp (pro model). The stainless cutting edges are tough and are excellent for glue cleanup and for rough initial forming of the strip joints. From that point its the block plane and fairing boards as mentioned above.
ProPrep makes a crescent shaped cutter which works well for scraping the inside curved hull edges.
Ed...
Ed Alger
A scraper can work well, but generally better for hardwood than softwood like cedar. On hardwood, there would be no need to sand, unless you want to rough up the smooth surface. I have found that some cedar scrapes OK, but other cedar leaves a lousy surface with the same scraper and angle. I used card scrapers on my canoe, and they were the best tools for fairing the hard maple accent strips among the cedar. I didn't bother with the scraper handle. A handplane works well too.
The scrapers used on epoxy are not sharpened with a burr, partly because you need to constantly resharpen them.
The scrapers used on epoxy are not sharpened with a burr, partly because you need to constantly resharpen them.
Alan