Hi Ann You might want to relax a little and read a couple of other books. You can mill the lumber on a large band saw mounted on railroad tracks. You may find a saw like this at a lumber yard or a log cabin manufacturing operation. Unless you have a kiln, it will take about a year of air drying in a warm dry environment to get the wood down to the 14% moisture you want to have before you begin building. Please be patient, it takes a lot of effort to build a boat only to have it destroyed by bad materials. Look for Gilpatrics book on canoe building. I would also recommend using some other additional kinds of wood for accent strips. Boats built with one type of wood can be a little dull, speaking from experience.