Thread: looking at building a timber strip kayak, just a few questions

righto, it's almost time to start this project

i have all the timber needed
including a hell of a lot of strips of jarrah, american oak, blackbean and black wattle, which i will cut down to veneer thicknesses to limit their weight factor,
the base timber will be spanish cedar- sorry whitewood, but i don't have the spare cash at the moment

the glue being used is WestSystem 105 Epoxy resin with 206 slow hardener

very nice considering they guarantee it will work with the fibreglass sheeting

" I have all the timber needed
including a hell of a lot of strips of jarrah, american oak, blackbean and black wattle, which i will cut down to veneer thicknesses to limit their weight factor,
the base timber will be spanish cedar- sorry whitewood, but i don't have the spare cash at the moment"

No worries. Do what is best for you. Hope it turns out OK and your happy with the result.

Originally Posted by Chikoroll

righto, it's almost time to start this project

i have all the timber needed
including a hell of a lot of strips of jarrah, american oak, blackbean and black wattle, which i will cut down to veneer thicknesses to limit their weight factor,

Howdy chikoroll,

Getting into heavy swings and roundabouts territory with this decision unless I am misunderstanding your purpose.

If it is a first time project stick with the standard thicknesses or pretty close. They are standard for a reason ... because it makes the building process reliable and relatively troublefree.

An odd bit of veneer here and there won't hurt anything but if you are substantially building of the heavier timbers you mention you will possibly be disappointed with the result.

Build the boat as close to standard as you can afford and incorporate a little bit of the heavier timbers in the detail.

Best wishes
Michael

ah, should have mentioned, the veneered strips will be inlayed after construction, when i sketch out the purdy design (some strips will be in the construction, but not alot, trimmer and 1.5mm depth will do nicely for the inlays.... i'll toss up whether to do some hardcore marquetry when the time comes

the strips of american oak, american cherry and jarrah are currently @ around 2m x20x8 (offcuts) and individual strips are weighing in at 20grams, so hardly noticable, when you consider they will be 1.5mm's thick, they will be slightly over 2 grams each... :P that won't put me into a puff

Ah .... thought that as a possiblity ... sounds MUCH better! Will look classy too.

Best wishes
MIK

Chickoroll,

Good luck and ensure you post lots of progresspics.

So if I understand correctly, you'll be using one thickness of strips for the 'base layer' to build up the kayak, then using veneers of the other woods (at 1.5mm thick) for the inlaid design?

What did you decide on for the main/base wood? And how thick will these strips be? More than 1.5mm I guess...

Just interested in your process as I'm about to start mine. I'm using 3.5mm thick strips of western red cedar - a bit thin, but that's what I have, and I won't be basjing it around much.

Do you have pics of the final design you worked out? I went back through the posts but couldn't see one?

Regards,
Darren

there is a design posted up (in that kayak builder program thingy) a few pages back

i'm using 6mm thick spanish cedar, in 20mm strips
length is whatever i can get out of them (avoiding knots)
the joins in the length will have a 30mm overlap section to guarantee an excellent joint
the joins from each strip will be 6mm bead and groove

i will cut up 300 strips - no idea if that is enough, but i will make a router table and set it up, then never adjust it again (just 4 beams of the spanish cedar- still 160 beams remaining)

the veneer work will be inlayed with a freehand design using the trimmer with a straight cut bit in it

rough idea of how to do it...:

1. make the router & trimmer table, (i have 1x 1/2" router bit for the cove? half, and 1x 1/4" trimmer bit for the bead half), hence making it a dual carrier table), the sections of the cutters means the router will be mounted below, but the trimmer will be mounted on the fence, this will allow a single pass, attached is a rough sketch of the 2 router/trimmer bits, they match up perfectly and are @ 6mm's (the picture will give you an idea of why i am setting it up this way)

bonus of this method rather than using the spindle moulder, is i get a router table also
...this won't be an option if you don't have the machinery to spare...keep an eye on ebay

2. make the centre-beam from several pieces of 100x16mm chipboard (must be rigid)
3. make the shaping templates, and tressels/saw horses
4. cut all the strips to length, avoiding all defects
5. bead and cove the strips, 40 strip intervals to avoid the
6. start layering them on, mixing enough glue, but not too much - what's the best clamping method? nailed to the templates, then masking taped down in the spacings and then slice the tape out of the groove?.... but then how would i get it off the templates... and it leaves ugly nail holes...hmmm...any suggestions?
7. highly dilute some PVA and wipe it onto some butchers paper, wait until tacky, then layer the butchers paper onto the outside carcass
8. sketch on the designs
9. trim it out
10. sand off the paper
11. lay in the inlays
12. sand it up
13. lay on the fibreglass sheeting and spread on the westsystem evenly
14. apply another coating of the westsystem
15. attach all the extra's
16. brag, gloat, and then swear as it sinks in the test drive


7.

just had a look back in the sketches, and noticed, the link is dead....so here's a fresh copy

it's the one posted up by anewhouse,

Sounds like a plan, Chickoroll.

Sequence of building seems fine, pretty much how I'm doing mine following Nick Schade's guidelines. Love the idea of the double router table, I'd always thought about something like this to do bead & cove at once. Let us know how it goes.

As for clamping strips on, there's a few different ideas/opinions. Nick Schade (Guillemot) uses a staple gun, as it's faster and doesn't mean leaving each strip to dry before removing clamps. Holes are tiny and aren't really noticeable from more than a few feet away. Apparently quickly hitting them with a steam iron swells the wood so they almost close up.

Fishing line is another option - it was explained in an issue of Wooden Boat a little while back. If you don't have it, let me know and I'll try to scan and email it to you. Basically attach line to the form, wrap around strip pulling in and against fixed strip, then cut off when dried.

Or just go slowly, clamping each one as you go. No holes, but often means only one strip per side per session.

Plans look good. Should paddle well from the shape/look of it. Thanks for re-posting.

What's the plan for the rest of the spanish cedar? Another 40 kayaks?

Good luck with it all!

Regards,
Darren

did a stocktake on the decorative strips today....results.... i have a fair bit
none of the spanish cedar (the base material) is included yet

also started on the router table, a few more things need doing to it before it's finished (such as bearings, wingnuts for the trimmer backboard, and making the slide work)


now for the list of what i have stripped up:
minimum length of each inclueded strip are 1.5metres
Jarrah
20x15 ~ 20metres (40 metres@ 20x6)
12x6 ~ 90metres
Blackbean
10x6 ~ 110metres
20x4 ~ 10metres
22x10 ~ 25metres
American Oak
30x6 ~ 20metres
20x15 ~ 45metres (90metres@ 20x6)
2x20 ~ 30metres
American Cherry
20x6 ~ 20 metres
Wenge
10x6 ~ 10 metres
Rosewood
20x15 ~ 3 metres (6metres @ 20x6)

Another option in keeping the strips together is to use the method shown by Rob Macks at Laughing Loon. He uses a hot glue gun as well as staples to build his kayaks.
Slavo

righto, i havn't posted in a while, and i havn't done much either, got some other jobs on the go, and it's been too damn hot after work

attached is the final router jig, and how it joins up
there is 0.04mm's of variation... not enough to care about

well...i have been cutting a ....few.... bits of timber into strips (i did cut...some... spares for the next project though- 11metre viking longboat, stripbuilt construction method

lengths are 2 metres for ease of handling, just make 100mm overlapping joints to eliminate weak points


this is what 8 hours of ripping gives you- at a guess, close to 800 strips

....just think... next comes the routering of every strip- now you will understand why i made the jig to cut both sides in a single pass

moulded 100 strips in 30 minutes (stopped then to let the router and trimmer cool down)

pics of the router&trimmer jig setup