: I've built several s&g kayaks, which have been very successful, structurally
: & design. However I only attempted scarfing ply on the first. A couple
: of the scarfs failed during building, so I backed them up with a ply strip
: epoxied across the inside of the join, which is what I did with subsequent
: boats. Not pretty, but strong.
: Is scarfing such thin ply practical, and does anyone have any ideas for
: prettier scarfless joints?

: The other problem is that when I cut ply with a power jigsaw and fine toothed
: blade, the surfaces are damaged along the cut with lifted fibres/splinters
: which have to be sanded off.
: I'd appreciate any ideas for clean cuts on ply.

: My first visit to this excellent site, can't understand why it took me so
: long.

Dave,

I scarfed 1/8" lauan plywood 8:1 without problem. I stagger stacked four layers with the bottom leading edge right at a sharp corner on my workbench. I marked the heel of the cut on the top layer and used a sharp block plane set for a shallow cut. You just have to be careful when the bottom-feathered edge gets thin. I tortured the heck out of the plywood with no failure.

Stack your panels outside face to outside face and cut them proud with a fine-toothed blade. Then use a block plane to cut to the mark. The splinters will be planed off, the cut will be more accurate and both panels will be exactly the same to make a symmetrical boat.

Dave