: Jesper,

: One of the lower priced 12" or so portable surface planers work fine on
: full length strips. Good uniform thickness seems to make the planing,
: scraping and sanding stages easier. Maybe you have a buddy with a planer?
: I live in the San Diego area if that is any help. I have not used Cedar on
: a kayak yet as there seems to be none around here that is fit for the
: fireplace and nothing even remotely suitable for kayaks. I hope to pick
: some up on my next trip to Oregon and Washington. I use good clear pine
: for the main kayak and either redwood or Phillipine mahogany for trim. The
: redwood is not really a friendly wood, it seems brittle and cracks easily.
: Check Nick's book for wood information and ideas.
: Good luck and have fun. Hope to see you on the water. Dave

Dave,

Do you have a brand/model no. for the 12" plane ?
I have an electric B&D myself, but the ones you are referring to must have some sort of guide/rails/auto-feeder to ensure good results ?

Mine is just a plain hand-held device without any acessories, and not very suitable for this purpose, i'm afraid.

I'm currently negotiating (with the wife) purchase of a rather pricey AEG thickness plane to about $350. The DeWalt is about $900 (i live in Denmark, so i'll have to pass on your offer :-).

The Wengé is about Mahogany-hard, so it should be just the same to plane and sand.

Jesper