I thought I would throw in my two cents after the great experience I had putting these things together, as well as share thoughts and differences about building with hardwood.

First, congrats to Nick for a great book. The best DIY craftsman book in any genre, as far as I'm concerned. Only differences I have are related to different practices/tools for working with hardwood.

I bought the book and plans for the play and sk from Nick, most of the supplies from Newfound, and a few odds and ends from Defender. Both Nick and Newfound were very helpful, and did not seen to mind my frequent panicky calls. Total cost for the two boats was about $1275, including an amazing amout of sandpaper and tape. The wood was free :.>

Total time for the boats 424.5 hours. Breakdown: 27.5 hours for milling, 12.5 hours for forms, 195 hours stripping, 30.5 hours on combs, 50.5 hours planing/sanding wood, 74 hours glass, 24.5 hours finishing, 10 hours paddles. I'm not including the 30 hours I spent trying to get pictures up on the site :.> The first half of the job seemed to take fairly large chunks of time, but the second half was more like an hour or two per day.

The part of the job I had dreaded, the glass work, was a piece of cake. Newfound sent MAS slow, and I used 4oz on the deck and 6 0z on the hull. I just followed the directions.

The part of the job I thought would be easy, the comb, turned into alot of work, and did not come out as well as I had hoped. I hot glued a 1/16 x 3"x 8' piece of ash along the inside of the cockpit opening, then on the SK I lapped that with 1/16x3" face grain cherry in and out. The play, which is the one I'm not thrilled with, I laminated with multiple layers of ash until it was an inch or so thick ( and probably 4 lbs). I did not want a spray skirt on the play. The laminations of ash were easy. The cherry bent ok if I prebent it overnight, and loaded it up with hide glue 15 minutes before lapping it on. I think the water in the glue helped it bend. Even so, I had a 50% bust rate. Cost of working with face cherry. I was reluctant to use steam or water due to possible color shift. All the species are from the same log, and book matched when possible, so I didn't want to risk fading.

I thought I was smarter than the book, so I used B&C pieces for the shear joint in the SK. I could already see that was not working too well, so when stripping the play I just glued it all together then ripped it with the Razor saw. This worked better, but I think I'll try the book method next time.

I think I've landed firmly in the camp of plain, vs B&C strips. I would much prefer to spend an extra minute with the block plane on each piece than spend hours on the router table. Routers and table saws scare the willies out of me.

In my shop, I probably use the band saw 10 times as much as the table saw, but cutting the strips worked like a champ on the table saw. I used a thin kerf (about 1/16") 7 1/4" ripping blade with stabilizer, no splitter or holddowns, and cut for the better part of a day. (I do not advocate this technique, but it works for me. I stay scared, and I think that fear is good around that saw). I jointed and planed a few scraps I had, and it turned out being 3600+ feet of strips ranging from 9/16" to 1 1/4". I kept them in sequence off the saw and taped them together to keep booked.

I figure with the fence set at a fat eigth (I can't figure out which tick mark is the 32nd) I was getting 9 strips out of every 2 inches of board width. I only had to joint mid-board a few times. If I had to go buy hardwood at Woodcraft or somewhere, I think it would take about 20 board feet, or (2) 1x10"x10' pieces, to do one boat. Not too bad at $5. per bd ft.

Tools. Pretty much right along Nick's list. I'm nuts about Sandvik carbide scapers, mostly the 2" one for the boats. I made a little miter box to cut strips that worked fine. If you're buying new, and think you might ever work with hardwood, I would recommend passing on the Stanley block plane ($40) and upgrade to the Lie-Nielsen 601/2 12 degree plane ($140). Out of the box, the Lie Nielsen will plane ANYTHING, even figured eln end grain. It's steel is harder, thicker, and tougher than the Stanley, and you won't have to buy a shapening jig to sharpen it.

About sharpening: Here's my technique, for what it's worth. Get a coarse diamond, and a two-sided 1000/6000 Japanese waterstone. Always keep the waterstone in water when not in use. Flatten both sides of the waterstone on the diamond. Then, on the diamond, flatten the back of the iron or blade until the entire cutting edge is fresh (This can take a long time the first time, especially on cheap tools), then flip over and do the bevel. I put my forefinger on top of the blade so my fingernail in on the stone, and pull toward me. When done, flip the iron over and make one or two passes to debur. Repeat this for the 1000 and 6000 grits. Finally, with the 6000 grit, put a 1 or 2 degree microbevel on the blade by simply making a few passes on the bevel with it lifted a tad, then debur.

The Lie is this sharp out of the box, and I only had to sharpen it once during both boats. The blade does NOT like cleaning up hardened epoxy around the comb. I learned to use a microplane or coarse sandpaper for that.

I used a Dewalt downcutting laminate blade in the jigsaw to cut hatch and cockpit holes. Works good, lasts a long time. No tearout.

Major hardwood difference: I faired almost entirely with a friend's belt sander, as opposed to the fairing board, which was going nowhere fast. Four hours with the 80 grit belt on each boat. Kept it moving.Then at least six hours each boat with the 5" 60 grit in the Dewalt 423 ROS, followed with 80 grit on the deck. Left it at 60 on the hull.

Glue: mostly titebond, with Gorilla at the difficult ends and hide for the cockpit laminations. Next boats I may consider using titebond II below the waterline, just in case.

Joining the deck and hull: My vote for the most helpful hint from this board was (I think) Rob Mack's idea to tack with hot glue the 3" glass tape to the hull before taping the halves together. The joining was so easy, and I have no doubt the the interior seam is completely sound. Without a front hatch in either boat, I don't think there was a chance of rolling it out well.

Finishing: In my furniture, for the past three years or so I've only used tung oil or Sam Maloofs oil brew. The downside or the rubbed finish is that it is time consuming, labor intensive, and really highlights blemishes in planing og sanding. On the other hand, it is less toxic, doesn't require much of a dust-free envirnment, and makes a thin and beatiful (I think) build on the wood. I had been turned off by the polys because of the dust, the mess, and the thick build. I was kind of uncomfortable with the big pile of used foam brushes.

So, I experimented with the boat. I used 2 1/2 qts flagship 2015, and bought foam pads, a $12 badger brush, and a $9 China (hog) brush. I was shocked by the results. Both brushes put on much thicher coats with no brushmarks or runs, while the foam pads left runs and brushmarks. I put 5 coats on the bottom, 6 on top. Coat #4 on the top was a disaster- I failed to completely tack cloth up all the sanding nibs, and they made a mess. Pretty mech cleaned up by #6. I'll be more careful with tack cloth in the future. I am a convert to the China brush. The recent issue of Fine Woodworking had a article about brushes.I used yogurt cups and salsa jars, and pretty much reused everything.

Safety: The house has a built-in vacuum in the basement which has an air exhaust outside the house, so I just put a hose in the epoxy/finishing section and you could not tell in the rest of the house what I was doing. The sanding of the glassed boat, prior to finishing, I did outside. I'm guessing that little pieces of sanded glass are killer on the lungs, and I did not want that stuff near the house.

Wood: I'm lucky enough to have a couple of acres with trees and a sawmill, and neighbors and friends who call me when a tree blows down. Nick's forms had the waterline marked on them, so I used Black Locust (specific gravity .70) below the waterline and a mix of cherry and walnut (sg around .50) on the deck, with a few pices of ash. My thinking was to put as much weight on the bottom of the boat as possible to help with stability and strength, as well as use what I had. Paul Jacobsen had suggested that I use 5/32" thick strips to avoid a major weight problem, and it seemed to work. Never having built a boat from cedar or redwood, I can't make a direct comparison, but the wood was reasonably workable up to 13/16" or so in width. The 1 1/4" pieces were very handy, though, in the bottom and on the deck in the straight areas.

I think it worked, although I need to get some more time in the boats. The Play weighs 38# fully equipped (minus bulkheads) and the SK is 39#. I wasted several pounds in the play with the beefy comb.

Looking at the undersides of the boats in the basement, I was a little worried. The Play looked like it would track better that the Guillemot, and I knew there had been some comments about the Guillemot's tracking, and some have fixed skegs. I was particularly careful during planing and sanding to leave the entry and exit of the keel as hard and sharp as possible.

Well, on the water, I was relieved. No, I was ecstatic. The Play is a dream. Only complaint is the low freeboard, but I have nothing to compare it to. I won't be taking it out fishing on days when there is a small craft advisory, though. I think I may take some water over the side. It handles beautifully. The SK was also great, with the advantage of greater freeboard and slighter driftier. There was only a 10 kt breeze, so I can't say much, but my instincts are that it tracks exactly the way I want it to. As an ex-fighter pilot, I'll take turning ability over go straight ability any day, as long as it's contollable, and it seems to be. I'll have a better idea in October.

So, if you're sitting on the fence, go for it. If my experience is any guide, about 250 hours should do it. Only big difference for hardwood is thiness of strips and sharpness of tools, and don't forget to bring the belt sander.

So with my whopping experience of two boats under my belt, let me stir the pot a bit.

Initially, when I read Nick's book and he emphasized the strength of the epoxy/fiberglass over the wood, (and this has also been expressed on this board) I thought, "What's this? The oak-bottom boats I used as a kid were that weak? The cherry kitchen table that stands up to all kinds of abuse is that weak? What gives?"

But then I realized that this is cedar and redwood that was being disparaged, so I relaxed. And when I finished stripping the halves of the Guillemot, I thought "Screw the epoxy! These things are so stiff I'll just varnish them and off I go!" Really, they felt good, even at 5/32" thick.

All those hours with the Sanders, my mind churned, trying to coalesce some feelings about wood strength, and how it might apply to kayak building.

My references for the following rantings is Hoadley's "Understanding Wood", Popov's "Mechanics of Materials" (an old engineering text i dug out), and my experience building with, milling, and floating on wood.

Growing up on the eastern seaboard, hardwood bottomed boats were common. White Oak was a favorite, I suppose for it's strength, density, and rot resistance. The first USS Contituion (AKA Old Ironsides) was built of thick solid live oak which made a ping pong game out of cannon battles. I'm not aware of softwood being used in the hull of boats, but it certainly was in the decks and superstructures. Pretty common to see oak hull with white cedar deck, beautiful.

The mechanical properties of wood that I think are of importance in the hull (and I emphasize hull becase the deck is not as critical for a few reasons) are strength in compression perpedicular to grain, E (Young's modulus, loosly defined as stiffness), and fspl ( fibre stress at proportional limit, or the bending stress prior to permanent deformation).

A kitchen floor made of white pine (440 psi compressive strength) will suffer high heel damage well before one of sugar maple (1810 psi). The kayak implication is a much lighter rock ding can cause wood deformation and susuquent glass separation in a wood with low compressive strength perpendicular to the grain as compared to a wood with higher compressive strength.

E. Let's say I have a 2x12 floor joist made of sugar pine, E 1,200,000psi. Under a given load, it will deflect nealy twice as much as a 2x12 of, say hickory E 2,200,000 psi. not much surprize there. But lets take the 2x12 (of any wood) and double it's depth, ie, replace it with a 2x24. Now the deflection is only 1/8th of the 2x12. That is, deflection varies as the cube of depth. Well, this has interesting implications. If I use 1/8" thick strips in the hull instead of 1/4", (same wood), the deflection will be EIGHT Times as great under a given load.

fspl. The wood is bending, bending, giving it's all, it's about to deform. Which wood will take a greater stress to deform, black locust (fspl 12,800), or W Red Cedar (fspl 5,300)?

So for trditional boat building, I would probably pick for the hull a wood with high compressive strength, big E, and big fspl. Like white oak or black locust.I'm thinking, though, that a kayak hull needs something else. I still want the high compressive strength and fspl, but I wonder about E.

If I have a hull which can deflect easily, I think maybe I get some big advantages. First, by delecting, I don't run up on my compressive strength limit and cause a skin separation. Second, and more importantly, deflection allows the inerior layer of glass to deflect, thereby developing strength in tension. (For grins, E of steel is 30,000,000, aluminum 10,000,000, and I think epoxy/glass is around 10,000,000 also, but don't quote me on that).

So, how do I get the hull to deflect easily while retaining comprssive strength and fspl? Well, start with cedar, go to 1/8" strips. E is now 1/8 origial 1/4" cedar. Replace cedar with locust or white oak or some other competent hardwood, and E is now 1/4 of the original, but I've added the high compressive strength and fspl for, perhaps, a better performing hull? Whatcha think?

At any rate, it is kind of scary where the mind goes when using a random orbital sander in 8 hour shifts.

In closing, thanks, Nick, for this board, and thanks to all of you for freely sharing your wisdom while I lurked.

George Nakashima said something to the effect that a piece of lumber can only have one perfect use, and it is the job of the woodworker to find the beauty and utility in that piece of wood. Looks to me that a number of you do this routinely. Mike