Good strips gone bad

Ok so its not all fun and games.... this is what happens to strips when the boards you buy are wet and frozen and stored outside at your local lumber yard... I swear they were all straight and pretty when I milled them....

Cheesy?

Here is one end of a Greenland style paddle I made for a door prize at the SDCKA annual meeting/conference. Do you think the hand lettered web site is cheesy?

Almost there....

Just kidding, I have way to much to do. Here is a sneak peak at the Greenland style paddle I'm working on, going to finish it with spar varnish.

 
And the hull is complete on Canoe#2!

Baby its cold outside...

But things are warm and running in the shop this weekend. I am almost, but not quite, finished with the hull of canoe #2. Just a couple more strips to close it up and then on to fairing, sanding, scraping, sanding, sanding, sanding...

And just for fun, I am carving out a Greenland style paddle from a cedar 2x4 to give away at the annual conference of the South Dakota Canoe and Kayak Association.

New Year Update

I haven't taken any new photos yet this year but wanted to post a quick update. Now that the holidays are over its time to get some serious work completed. First up is the Queen Charlotte overhaul, deck glass, cockpit glass and graphics is on the to do list for that one. Canoe #2 is about closed up, just a few more strips to go, although I do need to mill those strips (I hate it when I underestimate what I need). I do have the fiberglass on hand for the canoe but need to order epoxy.
The annual meeting/conference of the SDCKA is coming up fast and I plan on donating a Greenland paddle or two as door prizes.... I suppose I better get them made right?
And other fun stuff... While on vacation, I met a guy named John who makes super awesome electric violins... check out his site at http://www.jordanmusic.com/ He is defiantly providing inspiration on my next generation of electric ukulele....

Block Plane

I will tell you that there is no better tool for trimming and fitting cedar strips than the lowly block plane. As we start to fill in the bottom of the canoe, we need to fit the bottom strips to those on the sides. The easiest way is to scribe the angle on the strip, hog off the excess with the band saw and then true up the edge, trim and shape a bead to fit in the cove of the previous strip. 

Besides cedar smells so nice when you plane it.

Getting closer

Canoe Two is getting closer to completion today as the bottom strips are started. The sad part is that I don't know if I have enough strips on hand to finish up the hull. I started with the same amount of boards as canoe one... oh well, it wont take much time to mill up the final strips if I need them.

 

Canoe Two Update

Continuing to install strips, just a few more rows to make it to the waterline. Its kind of cool how each boat takes on a style and life of its own. On this one the strips are about half and half, light/dark. So I started with the light ones first, filled in the wedge with darker strips and now am blending from light to dark around the water line to all dark on the bottom. I'm not much of an artist but I think the effect will be pretty cool once I get the fiberglass all whetted out..

New Acquisition

Here is a project for spring, a 16 foot roylex canoe from The Blue Hole canoe company in Tennessee. I believe this one was constructed in 1986. The hull has some major dings and scrapes but I haven't fond any de-laminations yet. As near as I can tell, this was setup as a white water boat, with the surface damage that it has I would love to hear the adventures this boat could tell.

This project will have to wait for spring. My intention is to make any repairs necessary and set it up for small water fishing. But for now its to the rack to wait out winter....

End gaps

So how do you fill in those end gaps anyway?
If your first strips follow the curve of the bow and stern you get a cool smooth transition on each end. However as you progress along with each additional strip you end up with a funky weird curve that the strips have a hard time holding. So I like to put on two strips following the curve and then the third strip goes parallel

with the waterline to relieve the stress. This leaves an odd triangle that needs to be filled in. Fortunately with enough fiddling around you can fill in this area with hand shaped strips to fit....

Uke Stand

Messing around with a beat up piece of walnut and the top of an old fence post. Stick in a tool holder and you end up with a pretty nice ukulele stand.

Interior stems

So I get the question a lot, "How do you bend the boards around the sharp corners?" Do I use steam or soak the boards in water or a half a dozen guesses. The reality is quite simple, I use clear oak for the interior stems and do this in three pieces. I rip strips just shy of a quarter inch, apply a liberal amount of glue, and bend them around the end forms and clamp, clamp, clamp. Oak is a nice hardwood but it is also flexible when cut into thin strips. Seldom will it crack or splinter while bending as long as you go slow and steady. These stems give a good surface to glue the body strips to as we start to come up the sides.

Super Awesome Electric Ukulele

Just because some days i have the attention span of a squirrel....
I give you my interpretation of a super awesome electric ukulele... made from a solid piece of walnut about an inch thick. Friction tuners, a handle from a tattoo gun and a passive pickup and a spare piece of aluminum and some fret wire make up the hardware. Finished with a rubbed on tong oil finish, strung up and ready to play!

Fiberglass wet out

Got the fiberglass on the Queen wetted out last night... progress one day at a time..

Queen Charlotte Progress

Finally got the shop cleaned up and the kayak prepped for fiberglass. The white shroud looks pretty cool but the epoxy will look even cooler...

 

The whole canoe

Check out this panoramic of  the canoe mold on the strong back. Keep in mind this is 17 feet long.

Special thanks to the B-man for taking the photo.

The whole thing.

Canoe Prep

I'm setting up for the next 17' canoe. It looks like I found some pretty cool colors in the cedar boards. I used eight 1-1/4x6x10 cedar deck boards to make 104 quarter inch strips. The next step is to put a bead on one side and a cove on the other so everything fits together as they are wrapped around the mold and glued together.

17' canoe, some assembly required

Mold is assembled, leveled and plumbed

Queen Charlotte overhaul

In the shop at the moment is a refinishing project for a 25 year old stitch and glue kayak. This is a Pygmy kit boat that was constructed over 25 years ago. The original design was to only have strips of fiberglass on the inside with a full cover on the outside. The boat received some damage and the plywood did split along one side. The rudder system broke loose from the aft end poor as well.

I have the hardware taken off and repairs are underway. the damage to the aft end is repaired with thickened epoxy poured into the void and will be re-drilled for the rudder. The rest of the boat is ready for another layer of glass, sanded and prepped..

New Adventure

I would like to announce the grand launching of the "Twisted Canoe Boat Shop"! www.twistedcanoe.com

We have finally reached the point where enough people wish to purchase canoes that it is time to get serious and start getting things done.

I intend to use this blog as a shop blog to document the daily progress or lack thereof, of each project as it comes in and goes out. This will also give customers updates on their projects while they are under construction.

17' Tandem Canoe

This is a new venture, half the fun will be trying to figure out how to put it all together and develop a professional web presence and efficient shop.

Stay Tuned!

Catch UP

Ok so things sort of got out of hand there for awhile... the WoodDuck 12 is complete and delivered.

Plywood ripped under pressure

Temporary spacers and bulkhead

The wood duck is a hybrid plan from CLC with a plywood bottom and a strip built top. the choice of wood we used made life very interesting while trying to put the two together.

I had the typical issues when dealing with a new plan. CLC has a great set of plans but I tend to overthink things and make it a bit harder on my self.

Stitch and glue hull

Waiting for the hull to dry

Forms for the strips

Adding the strips

Joining the deck to the hull

prepping for fiberglass

Fiberglassing

Drying the epoxy

 We also used a cheaper material for the plywood, a 1/4 inch luan with an oak face. this caused odd bending and stresses where the designers didn't intend.

Test paddle

Strips were cut from your run of the mill cedar from a big box store and the walnut accent strips I had on hand.

Overall a fun project, the owner is happy and waiting for spring!

Delivery!