Cedar Strip Canoe Build...

...here is a Lee Valley link to the router bit we were using (two identical bits, at different heights), and it cuts a cove and bead like this (stole the image from Lee Valley) --- I'm referring to the small image in the bottom right of that picture. The idea is to make it so that the strips of cedar nest into each other like that.
View attachment 80628

So...set up in your "double router table," one of the routers is climb cutting, right?
 
Will you paddle it down the Thames, or go farther afield?

I expect we'll at least try it on the Thames. But after that it depends on who ends up with it. We're planning to raffle it off.

(personally, I would like to get a nice carbon fiber unit, since those can come in at around 35lbs which is much lighter for portaging for this poor sap with a bad back.)


So...set up in your "double router table," one of the routers is climb cutting, right?

Yes, exactly. I was concerned about that also, but the featherboards were set so tight that the strips were under control the entire time.
 
Photos from Jan 18 (First day of the group build)

Team one was working on the stems.

Here is one of the canoe stem forms. The inner and outer stem pieces are being glued (laminated) into shape around the form with lots of clamps. The inner stem is pine, the outer is cherry. There are three (or four?) pieces in each. We glue them both at the same time. There is packing tape between the inner and outer stems, so we don’t inadvertently glue them together.


Team two was working on the strongback. Yours truly was in charge of that team. Here we are already done the build. (Sorry, no progress shots.) This is a pretty elegant design from the “Canoecraft” book. This is built from two sheets of plywood, to make a 16 foot long strongback. Two pieces are ripped at 12” to make the top. Five pieces are ripped at 8” to provide the sides. (There are four outer sides, and one piece is ripped in half and used to build the bridge section to connect the two 8ft sections together. This is made clear in the book.) Then a bunch more are ripped into (roughly) 8x8 pieces to make the inner ribs — the whole strongback is like a torsion box, though without a bottom. And the remaining scrap is enough to provide pieces to build the legs.


Team three was stuck outside as that was the only way they’d have enough room to rip the 18ft cedar boards into strips.


It was a pretty mediocre portable table saw, so they had to work hard to make sure that they were getting nice consistent thin strips out of the procedure.


Here I am as we are starting to fasten the forms onto the strongback. There is a form piece set every 12” down the length of the strongback. You start in the middle with form #0 and work out from there. This is a symmetric design, so after #0, all the other forms come in identical pairs. So it would look like 6-5-4-3-2-1-0-1-2-3-4-5-6 from one end to the other.


An overview of the shop from one corner. We have the 3,2,1,0 forms in place and are working on the #4 forms in this photo.


And a photo from the opposite corner. We’re now setting the pair of #5 forms onto the strongback. On the right-hand bench you can see one set of stems clamped and drying.


That was pretty much it for day one. We could not add any more forms onto the strongback as the ends were being used to form the stems.
 
so then you had the other router set to take the back side off after the frnt side was profiled or did you run them threw on two setups?

Larry,

Here, I took the photo that I had of the chip-encrusted router table and edited it a bit with GIMP to try and explain this better

router-sketch.jpg

You can see the one router bit in the photo. That is the first router table, taking the cove cut.

Then I cleared away the sawdust and drew some green blobs to indicate the rough position of the second router bit. That bit is adjusted to take the beading cut. On that bit, the board is passing BEHIND the bit, so as Jim said, that router is taking a climb cut.

The cedar strip is fed through as indicated by the brown coloured line I drew. There were two feather boards screwed to the fence, and three feather boards screwed to the table, holding the strip in position.

Is that clear now?
 
Art Larrys not the only one with a router bit question. I always thought that this was the pair to use ?
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=30155&cat=1,46168,46174

16j4201bh.jpg



Thought this would make for a better two router setup. I guess in woodworking there are many ways to skin the cat so to speak.

Any reasons for your choices? that we might learn a difference.
 
another tip i have read about in canoe posts is the manufactured I beam construction joists make really good sides for the strongback. Less flex. Not sure how valid this is given how our floors on our old house used to spring. Can anyone in construction game comment?
 
Any reasons for your choices? that we might learn a difference.

Simple, it wasn't my choice... :D Not to be flippant, but in a sense I'm also a newbie here. My buddy is the one who has built a canoe before.
(I have read the Canoecraft book, and I helped him one day about 8 years ago laying fiberglass on the bottom of his canoe, but that is it.)

The other router bit was the one he had from when he built is previous canoes, and he just went out and bought a second one so that we could try the two-router setup.
I'll ask him to see if there is some other reason here.
 
And I asked my friend and it was mostly economics. He bought the other bit years ago - it was cheaper to buy one than two. If he'd planned on a two-router setup from the get-go he might have bought those. Also, the radius is larger so the cove side is less fragile.
 
another tip i have read about in canoe posts is the manufactured I beam construction joists make really good sides for the strongback. Less flex. Not sure how valid this is given how our floors on our old house used to spring. Can anyone in construction game comment?

I'd guess that you didn't have adequate bridging between the joists allowing them to twist under load, they may have also been spaced too far apart (24" vs. 16"), or your wife's cooking is just too good for you. ;) :D
 
Ohhhh boy - I am getting inspired already.

I need to remodel my house - and instead I am getting inspired to do something I just cannot do right now.

Boy - it sure do look good though - I am JEALOUS.

WHY a canoe though? Kayaks are so much better! Oops - did I say that?
 
WHY a canoe though? Kayaks are so much better! Oops - did I say that?

Hey, I'm Canadian. Canoes are in our blood... ;)

And seriously, a canoe is what my buddy suggested.

But I will say that I have played around in kayaks, and they sure are fun. But I find a Canoe to be more practical for my situation. In ONE canoe I can fit two adults, camping gear and food for five days, AND one or two small children. Try that in a Kayak.
 
...In ONE canoe I can fit two adults, camping gear and food for five days, AND one or two small children. Try that in a Kayak.

That'll fit in a 2-man kayak, assuming you put the kids in flotation vests and tow them behind. They'll love it...just bobbing along, shooting the rapids like a boss! :D
 
I did that once. We were riding pretty darn low in the water though! (Could have been all the beer we brought though...)

Probably...

Here is me near the end of our 2012 canoe trip (two of the four canoes in our group, most similarly packed.)
alg2012-1.jpg

(no beer. we pumped and filtered the lake water...)
 
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