Milling small strips economically

[Chuck Saunders]

I am looking into starting a boat project. This boat happens to be a 17' Whitehall rowboat. The boat is made with 1/2"x5/8" strips with a bead on one edge and a cove on the opposite edge. I need a bunch of these strips and it appears that I could end up with a pile of high dollar sawdust from making these strips.

What would be the most efficient way to manufacture these strips?
Chuck

[Rob Russell]

Unless you can come up with some sort of knife system, it seems to me that your prediction of a large pile of sawdust will be accurate.

I'd cut the strips on a bandsaw with a power feeder. The edges can be shaped on either a router table or shaper. I'd want to use a feeder to mill all the strips you're talking about which would go faster on a shaper.

Just my opinion ...

[Jamie Buxton]

Using a bandsaw to cut the strips instead of a table saw gives you a narrower kerf, and so saves some sawdust. However, if you don't already own a suitable bandsaw, you can probably spend less money overall by using the tablesaw.

Using power feeders on the saw and the shaper improves speed and safety, but only marginally affects material costs.

And this idea probably won't help your costs, but it would increase your speed... Look for a millwork shop. They'll make custom knives for any profile, and then run any species through their molding machine. You could have a whole pile of those strips quite quickly. This would cost you less than buying a shaper and power feeder.

[Chuck Saunders]

Thanks for the ideas, I was wondering if the bandsaw would rip straight enough and smoothly enough. I have a thin kerf blade for the table saw but I prefer a regular kerf blade (not crazy about the 20% waste). I will cut the profiles with the router table.

[Pete Bradley]

No question the band saw can do a good job on this. You need to make sure the wood is kept tight to the fence as you go through, which can be tough with long pieces. Some extra supports will help.

Are you sure the dimensions of the strips that you want are as quoted?

Pete

[Chuck Saunders]

I drew up the piece and it appears that the piece would come from 4/4 stock ripped into 1/2" strips. or at least close enough not to need 5/4.

[Mike Goetzke]

I am looking into starting a boat project. This boat happens to be a 17' Whitehall rowboat. The boat is made with 1/2"x5/8" strips with a bead on one edge and a cove on the opposite edge. I need a bunch of these strips and it appears that I could end up with a pile of high dollar sawdust from making these strips.

What would be the most efficient way to manufacture these strips?
Chuck

I just cut a ton on 3/8" thick lattice strips for an arbor / swing project from 2x lumber over the weekend on my TS. I used 2-Grr-Rippers and they still were vert stressful cuts. You might want to take a look at the Eurekazone section of the Manuf. section of SMC. Looks like with their power bench bridge system you could set up a fence and rip the strips quickly with a very thin kerf circular saw. It would be neat if you could pre bead-cove the stock before ripping but that would be hard, if not impossoble to line up.

Mike

[Chuck Saunders]

Thanks Mike,
I have the regular EZ rails and I like them, but I think for longer work the feeding the board past the blade works better for me. The good part is I am leaning toward one of the mahoganies which will provide a very stable board to feed and easy cutting as well. Pre beading would work but would require a lot more material handling in my mind.

I guess that I am leaning toward the bandsaw (that I don't have but want).
Chuck

[Mike Goetzke]

Thanks Mike,
I have the regular EZ rails and I like them, but I think for longer work the feeding the board past the blade works better for me. The good part is I am leaning toward one of the mahoganies which will provide a very stable board to feed and easy cutting as well. Pre beading would work but would require a lot more material handling in my mind.

I guess that I am leaning toward the bandsaw (that I don't have but want).
Chuck

Out of curisoity, how long are the strips for a 17' boat (sounds like a fun project)?

(P.S. - Too bad your not closer to me, I'm selling a BS and drum sander which you will probably need for the project.)

Good Luck,

Mike

[Chuck Saunders]

Out of curisoity, how long are the strips for a 17' boat (sounds like a fun project)?


I don't know exactly, around 18ft for the longest ones. I figure that I will fingerjoint the strips together to reach the ends.

Of course everything I need is conveniently located at a safe distance away.

[Joseph N. Myers]

Chuck,

There have been other threads on the above subject. Try doing a search on "canoe" and you should be able to pick up on some of them.

An example, http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=32335&highlight=canoe

HTH, Joe

[Rob Wright]

Chuck,

I have built a few "strippers" and have been using the thinest kerf carbide tipped, 7.25" skilsaw blade mounted in my tablesaw that I can find. They are about half the thickness of a typical thin kerf 10" blade. Picked it up at the borg, and it cut reasonably well. You end up do so much sanding and scraping to fair the hull after the initial glue and tacking that I didn't mind the rough surface.

have fun - I am getting ready to start another one- they are addictive! - Rob

[Pete Copeland]

Chuck,

You might want to pose this question at the Wooden Boat forum:

http://www.woodenboatvb.com/vbulletin/upload/

[Al Killian]

I would start with 5/4 or 6/4 stock rip it in half on the bs then go from there. Some kind of power feeder will give the best results.

[Chuck Saunders]

Thanks everyone, I am reading all I can find. It is good to have a knowledgeable resource like the creek to draw from.

[John Bush]

A friend used my shop to build a "strip" canoe and found it cheaper and easier to have it milled for him. Cope and cove were milled in and all surfaces had a nice finish. He alternated cedar and spruce and did some interesting glue-ups, then ripped to make gunwale border trim decorative. Nice result and saved him a lot of time.

[Ed Falis]

Yeah, cutting and milling the strips for the one I still have in progress (just hibernating presently) was pretty challenging. I used a thin-kerf blade on the tablesaw, and bead and cove bits on the router table. Need to make some more strips when I resume this winter.

[Mike Vettori]

Chuck,

I recently built a 16 ft canoe and I followed Rob's method above (table saw with thin kerf blade). the strips turned out just fine. Also, I found the following forum priceless in terms of information:

http://www.bearmountainboats.com/phpbb2/index.php

Here's a picture of mine. It's a 16ft Chestnut (Bob's) Special.

Good Luck, but be careful. It's like eating potato chips...you can't build just one! :-)

Mike Vettori
Philadelphia, Pa

[Chuck Saunders]

Mike,
That is beautiful. I am also a sucker to caned seats. What were the woods you used?