: Hi Grant

: you're already there, you make your own ply!

: So 2 big questions
: 1/Can you get book matching or 2 continuous turns of veneer 18 feet long by
: 30 in wide?
: Or2/the real big one - Do you get 4 turns or matches of veneer 9 or 10 ft
: long by the same 30in plus or minus???

Hi Mick,

I had to print out your post so I can digest it all over a couple of cold ones.

For starters, I will explain how we do the grain matching for our decks. Depending on species, we can get veneer in lengths of from 7 1/2 to 11 feet. Widths range from 6" to 12". obviously none of these pieces are the size of a kayak deck. So here's how we do it.

Take 4 veneer sheets. These are sliced consecutively from the log, so they are essentially identical in grain. Flip 2 sheets open for the bow deck, and 2 sheets open for the stern deck. turn the bow (or stern) pair end for end so the same grain ends are butted together at the center of the deck. We now have a 4 piece book match (as is often seen on table tops, etc.). However, it is not usually wide enough at the center, but is too wide at the ends. We then trim off the excess skinny triangles at the sides of both ends and flip them around to fill out the center width. These, again will be grain matched. Then it is just a matter of trimming the edges so everything fits together in the mold (gets a bit tricky due to the compound shape) and tape pieces together with release tape (the thin blue stuff from Fibreglast).

Then we just cut two layers of mahogany veneer for the other 2 layers (don't have to match the grain). Cut 3 layers of cloth. Then lay the deck face veneers in the mold, taped side down; lay on a layer of cloth and generously wet out; layer of mahogany veneer and cloth; wet out; last layer of mahogany veneer and cloth; wet out; layer of peel ply and strips of bleeder; lay on the bag and seal the edges; hook up the hose; turn on the vacuum pump; watch it suck as you have a cold one.

Now, to do something similar for the hulls. Probably a bit more complicated, but will think about it. We do the above deck thing for an extra $250 (probably too cheap) but I expect that hulls could get rather pricey. The variety of woods that are available in veneers is incredible. Plus with the 3 layers of glass sandwiched between the veneer layers, the resulting composite is really sturdy and it is only 3mm thick. One could call it a "super plywood". We call it "Glass-Ply".

Now, this is probably not something you would want to try for a one-off, but if someone built a mold for a popular model, perhaps it could be shared like Ross's cradle molds............hmmmm.......

Enough for now.

Grant