Paul, something you said didn't sound quite right to me, so I wanted to ask if you could check what you wrote before Addison starts cutting his strip and winds up with the same problem Ross recently encountered on his Wee Lassie. You said:

Ideally you would want the final strips to have a grain pattern with the growth rings roughly parallel to the wide side. If you can obtain that by ripping and resawing your stock, then do so.

I was under the impression that one wanted the strips to have growth rings perpendicular to the wide side. Which is why the flat-sawn lumber commonly available is so good for cutting strips. I took a look in Nick's book and saw a diagram on page 36 that seemed to confirm this. I found similar advise in Ted Moores' CanoeCraft book.

Mike