I'm not going after work - I'm into avoiding it as much as possible, espcially now that social security is picking up the tab for my Kaiser health insurance!

This was just a passing thought. I'm happy with my SOF and am unlikely to build a wooden boat. I happened to run across this small operation that buys and mills WRC logs. They seem like nice folks and I thought that if there was a demand I'd suggest they consider offering making strip sets when they weren't busy with something else - especially in winter (there is real winter in some places in California!).

Let's see - am I figuring this right... $425 for 55 - 18' 1"x1/4" would be $7.73 each for .5 board feet (assuming 3-1/4" strips per inch to allow 1/4" for kerf). That'd be US$15,455 per thousand for the material. If this Yreka outfit is getting $900/MBF for 1x6s that'd be another 17.2X markup, less labor costs (nothing if they're waiting out the winter anyway)...

On the other hand, maybe the field of vendors is already over-crowded... There's probably a high profit margin in buggy whips too...

: It depends on what market you plan to go after. On the high end is Noah's in
: Toronto. They ship all over. Their strips have approximate color match and
: are bead and cove. A bundle of 55 such strips (enough to build a fairly
: long canoe) is about $425 US plus shipping. Shipping something that is
: more than 18 feet long is probably quite expensive and limits the appeal.
: Also there is a lot of waste in cutting strips. For every 2-3 strips there is
: one strip reduced to sawdust which isn't worth anything.
: A lot of builders shy away from prepared strips because of cost but it
: certainly speeds up the process.
: Your people might be able to find a nitch in this market if they can sell and
: ship for less.
: I'm not familiar with the west coast but I'm certain that there are folks
: selling strips in the Seattle area. Check them out.
: Charlie