: Say Richard, where are you?
I´m living in a small town named Falun in Sweden. Situated 230 km NW from Stockholm. Wife, two children and two cats in an old big house.
Are you a professional boat maker?
No, this kayakbuilding became an obsession during my first kayak. This is what I really want to do but I have to take my part in the household economy too, so I must go to work as well. Since -96 I´m working as technician for the Inst. of nature-sciences, mathematics and technic (teachers education)at Dala university.
Do you teach boat building?
After I had built the first six kayaks the interest for these wooden kayaks had grown so much among my fellow paddlers and other so I took on a studycircle last winter. I guided eight other builders at the circle and helped/mentored three other who built thier kayaks at home. During the circle we were covered by the press and television several times. At the mass launching TV made a five minutes item. So now I have about thirty more interested in joining a studycircle.
Three of my kayaks has been sold, my two children has got one each and at the moment I´m building one for my wife. I have my workshop downstairs, so I can go down and do some hours when the rest of the family has gone to bed.
:Though it was difficult to decifer, it would seem that there were different builders featured in your site.
Yes, thats right. But only under "Studycircle 1". The names under the kayaks on the first subsite is the constructor or the present owner. I´ll make that more clear.
:The strip color in the boats featured is quite light....I wouldn't presuppose that the stock was named "northern white cedar", or pine or something like
"western" red cedar...(although it might be called something more European....like Siberian White Cedar....or Finnish Pine....).
The most common tree here in Scandinavia is the Nordic spruce "Picaes albae". It delivers a very fine wood for boatbuilding. Even the vikings used spruce in their longships. It´s very longfibered, lightweight and elastic, semihard and nontoxic. The strips I use are 4,5x19 mm b´n´c.
:No offense to you if I have the nationalities wrong...wouldn't want to offend
any ethnic sensitivities...sort of like calling a Scottsman, English...or
a Finlander, Swedish...or a Puerto Rican, Mexican...and no offense to
anyone else who might be of any of the above mentioned ethnicities. Just
Grooving on the international interaction is all....y'all.
Bill
I take no offense and I like to listen and talk to all nationalities. There is so much to learn about everything.
Am just now watching the moon going into the earths shadow. It´s a real show!! The moon will be totally gone for about half an hour. Galilei Galileo was right, the earth is moving, it´s confirmed once again. Strange it took the pope several houndred years to understand that.
Richard