Tooling up for boatbuilding

**Daddles** · 8th December 2009, 06:10 PM

My No 4 plane was bought for $20 or less at a road side junk sale. No brand name on it, thin blade, but I do a hell of a lot of good work with her ... once I'd worked out how to get her sharp. My Dad's good Stanley 4 1/2 hardley ever comes out of her box.

The low angle block plane is a great weapon and will do most of what you want. I bought the Stanley with the non-adjustable mouth.

Buy your low angle block plane first and keep your eyes open for a half reasonable No 4 second hand while you save for a new one - my bet is you won't get the new one because you'll find a good second hand one first.

Don't fret about buying a cheap plane - like the chisel (see later), they'll do a lot of cleaning up of old epoxy and while you can use a good plane for that job, it's nice to have a cheapie to do it - your cheap plane will always have a place in the shed.

Power saws - get a jigsaw that plugs into a power point (and an extension cord). That will do everything you want when building a boat. Mine's a Ryobi and that's plenty good enough. Try to find some 'plywood' blades for it, they make a much nicer cut (slightly finer teeth and a narrower blade). The other saws will do some things better but your jigsaw is the only one that will have a crack at everything.

Buy a Black and Decker Mouse Sander. Cheap, horrid little brutes that do a tremendous amount of damage to irrascible timber and epoxy and last forever - they also fit into some really silly little places. I've tried and looked at other detail sanders but for me, the Mouse is the choice if you've only got one choice. Later, you'll appreciate a real random orbital sander but it's only usefull for open, flat surfaces - buy one when you can afford it and when you need it.

Get a cheap, 1" chisel ... and learn to sharpen it. There isn't a lot of fine joinery in a boat but a lot of cleaning up of epoxy ... which is why cheap is good. You can also hold them vertically to the surface to scrape off pencil marks and epoxy ... which is also why cheap is good. There'll always be a place for a chisel you don't care about (week old poxy springs to mind) so this is one purchase that will never be wasted, even if you buy a good set of chisels.

I bought a cheap, wooden mallet which gets used all the time and which drives me nuts because it's cheap and the head won't stay on the handle but it still does the job and is a better choice for whacking things (not just chisels) than a steel headed hammer. If I'd bought a really good one, I wouldn't be as frustrated as I am and because it keeps doing the job, I'll probably never buy the good one

But just get cheap to start with unless someone wants to give you a present.

A cordless power drill is damned near a must have and you'll use it so much it's worth buying the best you can afford ... with two batteries.

A knife with snap off blades is darned useful and a good present from kids or rellies.

Each one of those purchases will be replaced/upgraded as you get more money and experience however, everyone one of those will continue to have a use as you get better machinery. They're also the heavy day-to-day use weapons so they're a pretty good start.

Richard

**rob540** · 8th December 2009, 07:20 PM

Originally Posted by Daddles

.... My Dad's good Stanley 4 1/2 hardley ever comes out of her box...
Richard

Richard I'm right with you on that. I've got a 41/2 that I never use, same with a #6. I think that for people who don't use a plane every day, the extra width just makes a 4 1/2 too hard to drive. Extra length isn't a problem (I love my #5- same width as a #4 but longer), but wider equals more resistance.

**Daddles** · 8th December 2009, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by rob540

Richard I'm right with you on that. I've got a 41/2 that I never use, same with a #6. I think that for people who don't use a plane every day, the extra width just makes a 4 1/2 too hard to drive. Extra length isn't a problem (I love my #5- same width as a #4 but longer), but wider equals more resistance.

I'm just ansty about using Dad's good plane, which is silly because he gave it to me to use. It's a lot tricker to use than the narrow blade but when it's singing does a very nice job.

I'd love a long plane. We used a No 7 to scarf sheets of ply (full width) at TAFE and that was wonderful - it felt like you had been given bionic arms.

Richard

**m2c1Iw** · 8th December 2009, 10:47 PM

Well advice on tools is a never ending story.

Richard and Rob have covered it but as to saws from my experience besides the power variety I would recommend two.

The first is the cheaper western style cross cut they are chemically sharpened and like a razor. I notice Irwin have a Teflon coated version, great idea no rust and reduce the friction when cutting. You will find this type will cut large radius curves OK in 4-6mm ply and I often use it rather than a jig saw because you can saw close up to a pencil line on ply and because they are sharp very little clean up is necessary.

Second is a Japanese cross cut, I have tried the duo rip/cross and quite frankly don't like them. A dedicated crosscut with a spline will give accurate straight cuts when you want to get a really good joint (dovetails) not necessary for boats but you will appreciate the precision.

Planes, if you find you really enjoy woodworking get a Stanley block for your rough stuff and a LN (Lie Nielsen) or in my case a Veritas adjustable mouth block. The Veritas has a handle option so you can convert it to a small smoothing plane. Most of your boat work will be done by the block. You will need a Stanley style #4 or #4 1/2 as stated for jobs as well but the block will do most things at a pinch. Oh and a #6 or 7 for making you spars and foils but that can come later after you know how to sharpen and wield a plane. The test is if you can square flatten and smooth a rough sawn 25mm x 200mm board perhaps 400mm long by hand you can handle a bench plane.

I think Rob nailed it when he talks about sharpening a plane blade this skill cannot be overstated for achieving good work and the satisfaction that comes from it. For your first purchase buy a Stanley, Record Turner or similar #4 old plane study the reconditioning threads here.
Possibly one of you first boat building jobs will be to scarf some ply sheets so you will use your plane that you have lovingly refurbished early in the build. Then you will cut out some panels so you need a good saw and block plane and beat goes on.

Have fun
Mike

**Rick_Tatum** · 9th December 2009, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by Boatmik

There is a further game you can play with catalogues. Shorty who thought up the whole PDRacer concept was getting grief from his wife about all the boat stuff. So he started looking in Ultralight Aircraft building magazines and catalogues and leaving them lying around.

His wife started to ask him "I thought you were interested in boats?" .... "Why don't you think about building a boat".

Now some 5 years later his whole family have been involved in all sorts of crazy boatbuilding and boating activities. Including a couple of little girls running away with an annual paper canoe building race.

Here are Shorty's girl scouts demolishing the fleet in their blue boat. They had done lots of practice paddling in wind and going around and around buoys.

MIK

Shorty must be a genius

**Boatmik** · 9th December 2009, 02:31 PM

He is. He is.

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