: I guess I am totally missing the point for a thickness planer, I
: have one, never used it for a kayak part. Wether you are hand
: beveling the strip edges or B/C them there is no reason to start
: the process with strips all identical in width. And, you will
: hand plane, rough sand, finish sand the inside and outside of
: the wood so - what's the point of starting with strips identical
: in thickness? Kinda like measuring your eggs to make sure they
: are all the same size before you make the omelet, but thats just
: me:)) Didn't want new builders to think they really need a
: thickness planer to build a beautiful boat:))

Although I'm a newbie at this (just starting first kayak), I have to agree... one does NOT NEED a planer to get great results. After all the reading I've done, I liked Vaclav's method in that putting more work in fitting the strips means less work at the other end with the planing and sanding.... so I've planed my strips for thickness. As for the "face" of the board => edges of strips, I left those rough cut. Hand bevelling and ripping some strips to a thinner width to get around tight curves takes care of the edges. Now that I think of it tho.... planing the board before ripping strips would give a nice clean edge to start with.... meh, don't matter, I'm ripping a small bevel on the tablesaw :)