Hello Bubbles,

Please do not use Sitka spruce or Alaska Yellow cedar. I won't bother to lay a big environmental trip on you about these woods. But I do believe as an Alaskan, an ecologist and a small boat freak that there is an extreme contradiction in cutting down the finest trees in Alaska to use for kayaks! This is especially true when builders demand clear, full length strips, etc. that are from the very best trees.

Two points I would like to make. 1) Spruce is much easier to work with than cedar. Cedar spilts much more readily than spruce, is more brittle and is more difficult to glue. That is why they used spruce and not cedar in wooden airplanes! Cedar dust is much more toxic than spruce dust. 2) Functionally, when it comes to building stip planked kayaks, etc., all species of spruce are interchangeable. So---go down to your local lumber yard, pick through their spruce 2X4's, 1X6's, etc., for the clearest ones you can find. Store them until they are good and dry. Cut out the knots, etc., scarf up whatever length planks you need, and cut your strips out of these. Build your boat. In a year or two your spruce boat will darken to an incredible golden yellow that will dazzle anyone whom looks at it. The scarf joints will bear mute wittness to your craftsmanship and that you chose to tread lightly on our forests. The boat will also only cost a fraction of a cedar or Sitka spruce boat.

Smiley Shields