Cutting the Stringers Oct 10, 2011

The Whitehall requires (4) .75 x 1.5s for gunnels and inwales, (6) .75 x .75s for stringers, and (1) .75 x 1 for the keel. Because they are so thin and are under stress, they need to be knotless. Knotless wood is damn hard to come by. I've had some success in buying overlong 2x10s and 2x12s and ripping around the knots as much as possible. If knots are in the way, they need to be scarfed out.

Cut plan from a 2x10

I found a 16' 2x10 of Doug Fir. It cost $14 but was gawd-awful heavy, weighing in at 94lbs. These boats are supposed to be light, so when I was at the coast, I found a 16' cedar 2x8 that weighed only 23lbs. It did cost $74, but I'm pretty sure it'll be worth it.

I used rip these on my tablesaw, but that's pretty dangerous. Wrestling a 100lbs, 16' board through a spinning sawblade is just asking for a horrific injury. I thought I'd get a guide for my circular saw and use that. I wanted one of these:

an el cheapo for $12, but I couldn't find them at two local hardware stores, Wal-Mart, or Lowes. But Lowes did have one of these:

A Craftsman Accu-Rip - accurate rips from 1/16" to 24", fits most circular saws - even my POS Skil. Sure, it cost twice as much but . . .

. . .it was worth it. I ripped both boards - the water-laden Doug Fir and the crispy dry cedar - in just minutes. Every cut was exactly the same - and the whole process was as safe as could be.

There's one of those damn knots.

See the problem? Couldn't even support its own weight.

I'd cleaned the garage before starting this, and ripping just the Doug Fir netted me 10lbs of sloppy wet sawdust (gallon of TiteBond II shown for comparison.) The board was as green as green could be - moisture beaded up on the cut surfaces and you could wad up the sawdust like a snowball.

The next step was to cut out the knots and scarf the sticks back together. Scarfing went easy - an 8:1 scarf on a 3/4" board is 6" long, and when overlapped, you lose 3" in the length of the board for every scarf.

Gluing the scarfs together did NOT go easy. The dry cedar went fine, the TBII joint is stronger than the wood and they came out a treat. The sodden Doug didn't go well at all - the glue never cured. Too much water in the wood. It'll take months to air dry - in fact, it probably won't air dry all winter because of the relative humidity. My $14 investment in the Doug Fir was a bust.

Weight Comparison:

Before ripping, the 16' Doug Fir 2x10 was 94lbs and the Cedar was 23lbs. I ripped (8) .75 x 1.5s off of each (which I will further cut into the needed .75 x 1.5s, .75 x .75s, and .75 x 1.) These (8) sticks weighed in at 54lbs for the Doug an 20lbs for the Cedar.

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