So, after 11.5 hours of running 118 strips of cedar through a router table twice, I have completed the milling of the cedar strips that will make up the hull of my boat. You can see 4 of the 5 planks here in finished form. They are bounded together as a plank so I can put them back onto the boat in order. Did I mention I am going to book match the wood? Oh, yeah, only about 100 times to this point.
If you look closely you can see the edges of the strips. The left edge is an indented cove, the right edge is a protruding bead. This will allow the strips to fit together seamlessly on the hull.
It’s time to start creating the transom, or back of the boat. I have laid out a template created by my CNC man on a piece of Sapele. I’ll trace the form then cut it out on the band saw. I cut the shape close to the traced line, then fine-tuned it on a disc sander. The trick to this piece is that the edge has a rolling bevel (a bevel that changes as you move down the edge) to accommodate the cedar strips as they lie over the edge. Once I cut the form out I had to transfer another, smaller template to the other side so that I could determine the bevel. Getting the second template lined up correctly took some doing.
Once I had the transom shape completed I set out to create the edge bevel. To do this I clamped the transom vertically then started to shape the bevel with a hand tool called a spokeshave. This is probably my favorite hand tool. I had never heard of it until I went to WoodenBoat School. And when I went to purchase one, no one at the hardware store had ever heard of it either. This tool is ingenious for its simplicity and effectiveness for shaping wood. I should be able to complete the shaping of the transom in my next session, then I will set about creating the hog (the piece that runs along the bottom of the hull.)
Time to complete cedar strip milling: 24.5 hours.
Total time of project: 35 hours.