: You might want to consider ripping all the strips, but only putting
: a bead and cove edge on 60% to 70% of them now. That should be
: enough to get you started. You will need some strips with one or
: both edges unmilled later on. At that time you can either plane
: off the bead and cove to go back to a square edge, or you can
: pick up one of the un-milled strips.

: Mill your strips with the rounded-over bead edge first. Then set up
: for the cove cutting, which leaves two delicate edges. If you
: leave your router setup with the cove bit installed, you can
: later rip more cove edges as you need them. Should you need to
: taper a strip, you can form a bead on the tapered edge with a
: hand plane and a sanding block.

: The biggest problem with milling bead and cove edges is working
: with strips which do not have uniform thickness. If some of your
: strips are thinner or thicker than the rest, then you will have
: problems getting the bead and cove edges on them--so take care
: when ripping the strips and be sure that your strips are all the
: same thickness.

: Definitely get a few pieces of cheap pine from the local store and
: cut that into strips of the same thickness as your cedar. You
: can use these for clamping and alignment. The pine will take
: more clamp pressure than using cedar from those fence pickets,
: and it is cheap. Don't worry about it being clear, either. You
: are just using it for the miscellaneous times when you need a
: piece of scrap wood.

: It will be a bit slower to strip without using staples, as you will
: need to wait for the glue to dry on the first few strips before
: you can add more strips. If you try to apply too many at the
: same time, the liquid glue will act more like a lubricant than
: an adhesive, and the strips will slide all over the place. I
: would do 3 strips on one side, then 3 on the other, and take a
: break for an hour. That is why some people hot glue them to the
: forms. (Be sure to cover the edges of the forms with masking
: tape!) If you have short scraps of pine strips, hot glue those
: to the forms as clamps (or you can staple them to the forms) to
: hold your cedar in place until the glue sets. Then knock off the
: short pine strips--hot glue and all--and put on your cedar
: strips.

: Good luck with your project.

: PGJ

Wow, Paul, where did you disapear to?

Bill H.