The plywood patterns were cut out slightly fat so that they each could be sanded to the exact dimensions of the chalk board pattern, using a hand belt sander. Note the chalk board pattern is clamped tightly to the plywood station  to make certain there is no movement. As I have said, the stations MUST be exact.  No room for error here.

    Stations all done.  AGAIN. . . note all the centerlines. There are two of each pattern except for station 5 which is center.  i.e., 1&9 are alike, 2&8 are alike, 3&7 are alike and so on.  You should also put the name of the canoe and the station number on each pattern and station to eliminate confusion later should you build something else. Remember, a year or two down the road you may not remember.

       First begin installing the stations using C clamps only, making certain the centerlines match perfectly. Note the tight string for aligning. When station is in perfect alignment I installed three 1 1/4" X 1/4" lag bolts into the 2X4 cross piece to install each station. Not wise to use nails. Lag bolts make it easy to remove later when hull is finished and a much cleaner job. When all stations are installed, before adding any strips you must cover their edges well with masking tape. I used two and some had three layers. Worked fine. This tape it to keep the glue from coming through and causing your strips to stick to the stations. I used some duct tape on the sides of my bow and stern stems and discovered later it was a mistake. Had a problem removing stems from the hull when turned over. Best to only use masking tape.

  Before anything else, you need to make sure all of your strips are exactly the same in thickness AND in width.  I found this out the hard way.  I had to make more strips later and it caused me problems so had to throw some out.  NEVER AGAIN.  As my shop building was taking form, I got lucky and saw an ad in the paper that a local professional woodworking shop was closing. I was able to purchase this sweet Rockwell-Delta 6X12 and his 2HP Grisly shop vacuum system at a reasonable price. Though I had to completely overhaul and restore the plane first, it sure came in handy when I began making my strips. In the future I will make ALL strips at the same time with extras.  NEVER again as I go.
FYI - Delta and several other companies now are selling 6X12 portable planes in the neighborhood of 350.00 Not as stable as this old gal but satisfactory for your purposes. This one weighs right at 600 lbs.

  Obviously there are several ways of cutting strips.  Some use a table saw and some use a band saw thinking they are saving money by not wasting material the width of a saw blade. Frankly, the band saw way is OK but in my opinion, way too time consuming unless you have a humongous saw,  large blade and lots of power. Though I have a good band saw, (not powerful enough to cut strips fast and the table is way too small) my time was more important than a few dollars saving. Here I'm making my strips after running the board through the plane.  I admit however, working on this small Craftsman 10 inch saw with a small table was a hassle. (Even with lots of adjustable roller supports, of which I have six) So about a third of the way through my strips I purchased Craftsman's large professional table saw with all the bells and whistles.  What a difference it made. Sooooo much nicer and much quieter.  Larger table and thinner kerf blade made a big difference.  Only major problem I had, (and still do) is that I have no room in my shop for it so have to keep it outside, well covered and with a good protective coat of WD and inspected for rust several times a week.  Now that the stripper is done, my priority is to get my shop equipment back inside.

  8' Red Cedar on left, 10'Aromatic Cedar on right. Didn't make enough of either so had to make more.  That's where I got into trouble. Make more than you need, all at the same time.

    Before beginning scarfing, (A woodworking joint allowing you to make one long cedar strip out of shorter pieces) the strips should be bead and coved. However, this is not set in concrete. My guess is you could do it either way. However, which ever way you chose, bead and coving your strips is a very time consuming chore but must be done. Some builders use a separate bit for each, some use what is called a double stacker. After researching , reading reports from other builders on both I decided I would try the double. It took some trial and error testing and some time getting used to it but I finally got it down pat. The good part about the double is that once you set it, you don't have to make any changes in router position.  It remains locked in the same position for both the bead and the cove routing. The bead is done with bare table, with no spacers. The cove is accomplished by adding or removing wood strips to the router table. In my initial testing to get the exact height needed, I added strips of computer paper under the bottom wooden slat then drilled and tapped my router table (it's heavy aluminum) and added four screws to hold that board and spacers tightly in place. See next photo.

  Note there is also another wooden slat on top of the one screwed down and another outside which also keeps the inner board tight.  There are also two short pieces across both of these which are tightly clamped to further eliminate all movement, with some great deep adjustable clamps I found (of all places) from Big Lots - a local discount store that sells cheap merchandise. I later looked for these clamps in other stores but they were the only ones who carried them.  So with my setup  . . . (without the wooden slats)  I made the bead and by adding the wood (and paper shims) I could make the cove.  Which type bit you use is merely a matter of choice. There really is no easy way of doing this task. (My opinion) However, once again, if I ever build another stripper, all strips will be done at the same time so all will be exactly alike.

      Photo of scarf joint sanding jig.
Random setting. Suspect it is somewhere around 30 to 35 degrees. Never bothered to check it.  Not that important. I began using it after all strips were bead and coved.

        Unless you are using full length boards which are far less time and trouble, you have to scarf the strips to get the final length you need. I had to use shorter boards and scarf since I couldn't find decent quality long cedar boards locally.  This was the first scarf joining jig I made. I would not use this type again.  After making most of my strips on this jig and later discovering I had trouble with many of them not being exactly the same width, I cut and re-scarfed what I could and threw out those I could not, using them to make more cove protectors etc.  I discontinued using this jig and built another which worked far better and had far less problems.

              Photos of later jig.
Use a very straight backing board, and also using a straight edge to make sure, tightly nailed to plywood base, the two scarfs are joined with Tight Bond II glue, wax paper is placed under and over the strip to keep from sticking, thin spacer placed on top of the scarf joint and two wedges are placed as shown to keep the two strips perfectly tight to the backing  board. The preset clamp puts pressure on the joint until it is dry, using care not to put too much pressure causing the joints to slip. When I was making a lot of joints in the beginning, I had this board set up to do three joints at a time. Clamps are wood clamps ('break over' type) and are available from woodworking supply houses. What makes it easy is once you set the clamp for the amount of pressure you want, lock it and it remains at that setting for all joints. (More stuff found in my junk bin)

      OOPS! I missed taking the photo of the first strip alone. This is the second. (And OOPS again, I forgot to mention that my paddling friend from Michigan, Al Dasen, came over to give me some pointers on how to start the first strip.  Sorry about that Al ) The positioning of the first strip is critical. It must be exactly the same on both sides. And should be perfectly flush with the bottom edge of each station. The first strip is somewhat more difficult so you begin in the center and work to the bow, then work to the stern. (or vise-versa)  To hold this strip in place properly, first you drill the strip at each station (as you go) with a #30 drill (or 1/8th, this eliminates the possibility of getting a split strip) and screw the strip tight to the station with a small #6 (or close) drywall screw,  (I used 1") I would not use anything less than 3/4"  Remember, you DO NOT want any problems with this first strip.  If this one is off, so will every one of your strips be on that side.
Also, I didn't want ugly staple holes showing so I elected to use multiple squeeze clamps and "L" brackets. The "L" brackets here are twice the size needed.  Later I thinned them down and they worked just as well. (Suggestion from Joe) Also note here that my stem station was located wrong. (I decided I wanted stems both for added strength as well as looks so I had to wing it here. Gil does not use stems in his book)  The stem station should have been at least 3/4" lower than station #1 (and 9). By the time I discovered this it was way too late to change so I had to do a lot of extra work to solve the problem. (Joe's help and advice here was invaluable)  Also, later you will see I converted to a bungee cord and squeeze clamp combo.
Observation:  If I build another I probably will use staples. It is 10 times faster.  With staples (according to Joe) you can lay 8 to 10 strips a day.  With my procedure I could only lay one on each side a day, and let them dry over night.

    The "L" bracket is indispensable. As stated earlier, as shown here it's way too large. Both legs can be less than half this size.  It's used to make sure the upper strip is held tight to the lower strip using a wedge (Item #1) that has a bead on it corresponding to the cove of the upper strip, and lightly driven between the "L" bracket and the strip you are installing.  Then by positioning the other L bracket leg close to the outside of all strips, (Item #2) another wedge is driven between the vertical leg of the "L" and the outside of the upper strip keeping the upper strip tight to the station. This is a must if you are to keep the shape of the canoe perfect.

    As my strips got taller, my squeeze clamps got too short I  purchased longer ones only to discover a short time later the amount of tumble home created a problem with clamping and I soon ran out of clamp.   Also, when I went to the longer clamps I discovered the pressure caused damage to the upper strip coves since they are extremely thin and fragile.  I solved that problem by making and placing "cove protectors"  under each clamp . Below photo shows how they were made. 

    I needed something to protect the top strip cove from damage. By this time I had plenty of scrap pieces of strips laying around. Using a small 3" wood vise, I glued together a half dozen test pieces . . . . . the center piece (with bead) to fit inside the cove of the strip and two deeper pieces which fit over the outside edges and would hold the protector solidly in place on the strip also keeping pressure off the thin cove edges.  It worked so well so I made more and continued using them throughout the laying of strips.

        "L" brackets get tightly clamped to the stations with large "C" clamps. 

        Also note the use of the bungees in both photos. I soon discovered I could use bungees faster and easier for strip clamping.  I slipped a 2" - 1/8th rubber (auto) vacuum hose over the hook on one end to protect the bottom strip it hooked onto and closed the other hook to keep it from tangling with everything. I warn you however, if you use these, when you release the bungees clamp, you must be very careful not to let go of the bungee before removing the protector.
Note:  Should you decide to use the bungee method, purchase all bungees 36" or longer, 42 better.
I began with short ones and as work progressed I had to buy longer, and longer, and longer. Getting all long ones will not only be time consuming, but cheaper in the long run.

  Since I used 2 - 3/16 X 3/4" ash strips for each inner stems I decided to steam them before clamping because of the extra thickness so I built a steamer using a hotplate I had purchased new, still in unopened box,  from a local flea market, several weeks before beginning the shop project in case I needed a steamer later. The tea pot also later came from the same flea market.  The flexible tubing I purchased from a local Home Depot. It worked well.

    After steaming, the strips were clamped in place overnight then temporarily nailed to the bow stem template.

    Showing the bow stem, strips temporarily nailed in place and the accent strips.  FYI -- The 3/4" white accent strips are white pine, the outer 3/4" dark and the center 5/16" accent strips are Peruvian Walnut.  

    Hull almost complete. The outer stems not yet installed. Brownish 4 strips above and below the accent strip are red cedar. The more reddish strips above them are aromatic cedar, (same cedar as cedar chests are made of) and the light color is white cedar

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