As summer was turned off a couple of weeks ago with the end of daylight saving, the construction of a Great Auk was started today. At the end of the day I have a 2"x4" strongback sitting on newly built stands with forms sitting on there loosley. As this is my first project, I was pretty impressed to see something that sort of resembles a kayak at the end of the day.

A month ago I drove a few hours to visit Jim in Mt Maunganui. He has a built a great example of a Guillemot expedition single. It looks fantastic with a Killer Whale inlaid onto it. To actually see a finished product is a lot better than a few photos in a book as well as some good first hand advise. One of the other advantages was Jim "gifting" me his left over cedar and spruce strips for a small token of appreciation.

I have been unable to purchase suitable Bead and Cove bits so will be building using planed edges. Jim did this as well, the finish was good and he assures me not difficult. Also I am going to try and go for stapless construction as the holes to tend to show a bit. I guess I will be going back and re-reading a lot of Spidey's advice.

Tomorrow will be aligning and fixing the forms and possibly ripping the rest of the cedar strips.

Simon