> Hi All;

> Well, after all the great advice on this board, I guess I'm really
> building a kayak now. I bought the boards, set up the strip cutting jig,
> and produced enough beautiful strips for 1-1/2 kayaks, if I don't screw up
> too many of them during the building process . . .

> For a novice at mass ripping as I am, it took 3 hours of cutting and an
> hour of setup (4 hours total) to produce the 0.235" (average,
> 0.230=0.240" overall) strips. I was shooting for a fat 3/16",
> and like to plane and sand a lot. :-)

> You can view the results at http://www.dbeweb.com/kayak / and select
> "cutting strips."

> Next comes scarfing a few dozen together, and then milling the cove and
> bead in the hull strips. Piece of cake, it's all downhill now! For all the
> other newly hooked posters, try it - - you'll like it.

> Best Regards, Spidey _____ Spidey:

Thanks for showing your pics. I reviewed your paddle-making sequence last month and will probably use your method. I was impressed by the dowel innovation to ensure an aligned paddle and feather angle. Regarding the cedar you stripped in these current photos (they're loading ever so slowly onto my monitor so I haven't gotten a good look) did you encounter many knots? I have been looking around for cedar sources among the big commercial hardware stores and only come across boards that have a fair amount of knots. I have yet to start a stripper (but will begin one in about a month when my S&G gets the boot out of my basement woodshop) but I anticipate that knots will be the bane of the strip-making process. I haven't heared/read much about knots on the BB. I only hope that the good quality lumber yards in my area can offer me something better than what I've seen at the likes of Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

What are others' experience with knots? Do they render a strip useless in that portion? Best to cut out and scarf onto another healthy length?

By the way, outside your garage looks like Florida. Where abouts are you located?

Paul C.