: Kayak Burning

: I was heating a strip the other day to help it bend and had the
: heat gun in one place for a little too long giving the strip a
: little bit of charing. While doing this I was curious as to
: whether anyones tried this intentionally as an effect for the
: whole/parts of your yak? Just a random thought.

The scorch marks will (mostly) sand away, but may leave the grain a bit darker unless you sand halfway through the strip. Don't do that. There was a thread a few weeks back about making the wood black. Scorching was one of the methods mentioned, but most of the discussion revolved around dyes and tinting. In a similar vein, at least one builder uses a woodburning tool to draw designs on his boats, or to "brand" them with his company logo.

: Wood Veneer

: Today I was at work, i'm an architect by trade, and I passed by a
: vendor displaying some really crazy wood veneers of various
: woods and several different textures and again it got me
: wondering? How could i use this on a kayak?

Check last weeks thread on planing through the hull. One of the suggested remedies was to use strips of veneer either to fill the area, or at least bridge the gap.

: Has anyone ever used
: interesting veneers for more than just a small inlay?

CLC sells precut designs made from pieces of veneer which you can glue to the plywood boat. A gentl sanding to ease the edges of the thin material and it is easily covered with glass and resin to give a smooth finish. We call such a process "onlay", as the veneer pieces are not set INto the wood surface (inlaid) but are set ON top of the wood. "Onlay" doesn't seem to be a term which other crafters use. probably because they want their decorative work to be flush with the rest of the wood.

: The rep
: had never built a kayak, but he spoke as though he was somewhat
: knowledgable on the subject, but had never had an order for use
: on a kayak.

Some builders want the design to go all the way through the boat, so they use wood strips to form their decorative designs. Others just want a design with natural wood grain patterns. They will opt for inlay or marquetry if they don;t use the simpler onlay technique. A few square feet of exotic veneer coupled with some common veneers can go a long way and not cost a lot of money. Sometimes all you need is a few square inches. For example, a design for a compass face could be made of a few inches of maple and walnut veneers, with just a 1/2" square of ebony being used to point north.

You can also use veneer to cover some major mistakes, knots, gaps, burns, scrapes, etc. Once it is glassed over no one can see what is underneath it.

From an architect's standpoint, veneer is an interesting material. I go to one building in Indianapolis which has large walls covered with veneered panels (essentially plywood) These panels have been reinforced with a frame of 1x4 or 2x4 boards underneath them. The frame work is quite visible now as these walls are under windows. Over time condensation from the glass dripped down, got behind the panels and increased the moisture content. Mold and mildew spores grew in the dampness and discolored the faces of the panels, except in those areas where the bracing is. You can see the pattern of the bracing clearly as light areas surrounded by the darker, stained wood. Every time I see them I thnk that the problem could have been avoided if they had sealed the underlying wood with epoxy to prevent moisture penetration. As it is, those walls are going to be replaced this year, at great expense.

: Here the website for the company with veneers.
: http://www.baconveneer.com/pages/cuts.html

Cute pun in their name.

PGJ