I begin this tale by describing the materials. The plan calls for Western Red Cedar or suitable substitute. Home Depot currently has a stack of "Premium White Wood" studs in both 2x4 and 2x3 dimensions. It's pretty straight grained and light weight and although it's fairly knotty, the knots are mostly very small and tight. I feel that the nature of the construction and the usage will tolerate these knots.
 |
| "White wood" that is some sort of spruce/pine/fir. I guess pine. |
I bought 2x3s originally planning to rip them into 1x3s. I changed my mind and ripped them the other way, creating 1x2s which actually left less waste and spanned a greater area when arrayed as an assembly. The darker end pieces are red oak which matches what I used in the centercase's mating surfaces.
 |
| Rudder staves lined up. |
Once I laid out the dagger board staves, I traced the outline of the final shape to try to relocate some of the worse defects into the areas to be cut off. That's when I noticed one of the staves had a split in a place that couldn't be avoided by repositioning.
So I went back to the wood pile and pulled some other off cuts, including a couple of strips of douglas fir which I think might add a touch of strength as well.
I then brought all the staves into the garage for a dry run of the gluing setup. After I post tonight's blog entries, I'll mix the epoxy and create the blanks overnight.
[UPDATE: I didn't get to the epoxy until the next day.]
One big reason for tackling these parts right now is because I want to make sure my center case is sized correctly for the board. I don't want to have to crack it open later if it turns out the board is too thick or thin.
Next up: something actually on the critical path, the stem.
No comments:
Post a Comment