: I am just starting my build of a guillemot and unfortuantely the 2x4 i bought
: for the strongback appears to have twisted along its length! Any
: suggestions as to what would be a good course of action to take would be
: appreciated.

You could use a corkscrew for a strongback, if you could find one long enough. What you need are good reference points which are stable while you mount your forms and put on the first few strips. Afteryou have a few strips on the forms, they will start to support the forms, and you won't be relying so much on the strongback.

Since a long 2x4 can be fairly expensive--and I'm sure you won't want to turn it into firewood, put two alignment lines on the board you have and use it as it is.

The easiest way I know of to put a nice straight line on a strongback is to get two nails and a piece of string. Hammer each nail in about one inch deep, close to the ends of your 2x4. Stretch a string between these. You want the string to touch (just barely) the 2x4. Now get a can of spray paint (any enamel will be fine) and lightly "mist" paint over the string. Hold the can about 2 to 3 feet above the board, and aim it into the air, parallel to the board, and in line with the string. The paint which sprays out will fall down on your string by gravity. A light misting will do. Mist along the entire length of the strongback. If you can see ANY color on the wood, then you have used enough paint. With a quick drying enamel you should be able to remove the string in half an hour. You will see the shadow of the string--a beautifully straight and true line--surrounded by your mist of paint. After you have done one side, rotate the wood so an adjacent side is facing up, move your nails to this new side, and repeat the process. In this manner you will have two perfectly straight lines quickly applied to your strongback.

When you set up your strong back one of the lines will be on top, and used for centering your forms. After you attach legs to your strongback 2x4, run a string along this line again and be certain that you haven't bent it. Weighting down the feet of the strongback, or nailing them to the floor will keep this straight. You can also leave the string in place to double check. The other line will be on a side. Set your strongback so this line is level, and use it to get all the forms to the correct height. You don't want to keep a string in place on this line, as the string will sag slightly in the middle and give you a false alignment.

When you cut your forms you will need to make a hole in them so they can fit on the strongback. Since a 2xc4 is actually 1 1/2 by 3 1/2, make this hole at least 1 3/4 by 3 3/4 so it has 1/4 inch of extra space to play with. You can buy packages of shims (narrow wedges) at most hardware/homecenters. Look in the department where windows and doors are sold. Most of these are 1/4 inch thick at most, and should be ideal for using for centering your forms. Insert the shims with one pointy end coming from each direction, so that they wedge agains each other. Use 2 pairs of shims for each form, one pair on each side of the form. YOu cna get a lot of clamping pressure to hold your form in place by just hammering the wedges together. do this while you set up your forms. Then go back and make the arrangement more secure by using screws to hold the forms rigidly in place.

You can of course cut your own wedges from scrap stock. If you have ripped your strips already you will probably find that you have quite a few shorter pieces which broke off at knots, or perhaps didn't quite make it up to the correct thicknes. These are excellent sources for materials for making shims and thin wedges. Construct a tapered jig (write back if you need more info on how to make one of these) and turn some or the strip materials into wedges which are about 6 to 9 inches long. It is nice if they are all about the same length and have the same taper.

Hope this helps

PGJ