: Hmm.

: I use short boards because theya re so easy to find, cheap to buy and easy to
: bring home. And then I scarf a few of them together to make longer boards
: which I then rip into strips. The rest of the boards I rip into shorter
: strips, which are perfectly fine.

: A scarf is little more than a simple diagonal cut on the end of a piece of
: wood, which is then joined to another piece of wood with a simlar diagonal
: cut.

: I stack two nominal 4-inch-wide boards so they overlap 24 inches and just
: draw a line diagonally through the overlap area. Then I cut this freehand
: with a circular saw -- cutting through both piees at the same time. When
: the short triangular waste pieces drop away I have two boards which have
: perfect matching cuts. Glue 'em, clamp 'em and let the glue harden before
: ripping perfect strips of any length I desire.

: This gives me about a 6:1 scarf. If I wanted a 9 to one scarf I'd overlap the
: boards by 3 feet. With narrower boards I would use less of an overlap.
: Sometimes I buy 1x6 stock and rip it in half, then scarf the resulting
: 1x3's with a 2 foot overlap, giving about an 8:1 scarf. With epoxy for
: glue it works great.

: While I usually use a circular saw for this cut I have in the past used a
: common crosscut handsaw, a bandsaw, and a sabresaw. In each case the scarf
: joint worked out just fine. It just takes longer to make a 24-inch-long
: cut with a handsaw, or a sabre saw, than with a circular saw. As for
: the bandsaw, I found it awkward to handle the boards on the small bandsaw
: table. If i was ripping my strips on the bandsaw I would have longer
: infeed and outfeed tables to support the work, and I think that would have
: made the attempt more stable.

: The single diagonal cut is a breeze. You should try it with some inexpensive
: 1x3's -- which you should be able to pick up at most lumberyards for not
: much more than a dollar each. This will give you a bit of practice and
: certainly give you a sense of reassurance that the process is simple and
: effective.

: PGJ

I think the economy and ease of getting short boards of clear wood make scarfing a good thing. I'm not too put off. Just didn't want to do it with the first boat when just about every step was new and needed pondering. I think scarfing will be the "new" step in the next boat but everything else will feel familiar. No real anxiety about it.

sing