My canoe construction project had got to the point where I was gluing the half planks together to form the full length strakes used to construct the canoe body.
These two planks being glued side by side give a better view of the curvature that needs to be accurately maintained right through the joint
All of the planks were glued before the weekend and I was looking forward to cutting the rebates in the bottom edges to manage the overlaps that create the lapstrake effect. Both days were cold – the thermometer showed 2C and there was a strong North Easterly wind – no idea what the temperature was taking the chill factor into account but it was most unpleasant in our big barn where my workbench was set up ready to start work. The doors needless to say faced North and I needed them open for the light. Still – this was my opportunity to advance the project, so with gritted teeth...
It might seem odd for me to say that it was a bad thing that my first run with a router along a piece of test plywood went well. In fact it went swimmingly – like a hot knife through butter and with a perfect 9mm wide rebate just 1.5mm deep. So that made that decision – the router it was for this job even if this was the first time I had used it. The reason why the test run was not great was that the first real plank I rebated fought tooth and nail. I was not ready for the variability in the grain of the plywood layers as I advanced down the plank. I learned though and learned how to deal with the feedback from the router. Like everything else this was skill to be acquired.
I also had to cut the “gains” at the end of each rebate – allowing the planks to be drawn together at the two stems. I found that a combination of a small rebate plane and a sanding block was best for this final step in the shaping of the planks.
I had to drill 1.5mm holes every six inches along every edge of the bottom planks and along the top edges of plank sets two to four. I used the little jig advised by the book to assist in placing the holes accurately and drilled through each pair of planks together.
My simple drilling jig and the routed rebate along on plank.
The next step was to start stitching the planks together – but first I needed at least 300 short pieces of copper wire. I could not locate bare copper wire anywhere in my locality so set about stripping the plastic insulation off metre after metre of 1.5mm electrical wire. My younger daughter helped in clipping the lengths to around 10cm while I risked injury stripping the plastic coating using a Stanley knife. She watched “X Factor” while she clipped and I watched my thumb.
The weather forecast for the next week showed temperatures dipping below (and staying below) zero. This persuaded me that I would have to manage the next phase of the canoe construction in my office – which I could heat enough to keep from shivering too violently – and even warm up to a comfortable level when I next need to apply some epoxy resin. Of course, that makes lofting the bulkheads and decks problematic – perhaps I can borrow the kitchen table for that task – well maybe.
I extended the width of the two metal trestles I had to a tad more than the planned width of the canoe by drilling through the top bars and screwing some softwood to the top edge. I set these up and draped the first two planks (those that will form the bottom of the canoe) over them. I say draped because all five pairs of planks were very flexible and difficult to handle even allowing for my caution when moving them - I wanted to avoid (even more) accidental damage that might be difficult to repair.
I used the copper wire to stitch the two bottom planks together along the keel line. I then opened out the two planks and flexed them a little to get the two edges to butt together. I then fetched the next two planks to stitch to the first two. Offering them up got me very worried as the next two planks seemed too long. I hastily re-checked the lengths of both plank sets against the plan offsets – but they appeared to be in order. Even allowing for the fact that the next two planks were going to have to follow the curved edge of the bottom plank I could not see how I would not end up with too much plank at one end of the canoe. I re-read my bible (“The Canoe Shop” by Chris Kulczycki) – and there was a hint that this inequality would be evident at this stage. Also on close inspection, one of the pictures in the book showed an overlap between the first and second planks during the stitching process. Relieved? Well a bit – I decided to reserve judgement.
Once I had got part way through stitching the first of these planks to the bottom pair I felt the project change. The planks started to stiffen up as they took on the curves and the whole thing began to feel like it might become a boat. It might sound silly to say it but the canoe was starting to take on a life of its own.
A number 3 plank waiting to be stitched into the canoe.
Stitching on a plank involved drilling a hole just above the rebate opposite each of the pre-drilled holes in the adjoining plank. With a little twist the 1.5mm copper wire passed through the 1.5mm hole. I could then use some long nosed pliers to pull the wire through and to apply an initial twist or two to complete each stitch. I pressed a small piece of plywood to the back of the plank where I was drilling the holes to minimise any damage to the outer ply as the drill broke through – added the possibility of drilling into my fingers I suppose but (so far) no spectacular blood letting.
No comments:
Post a Comment