Page 7 - Details

Bead and Coves, Scarf Joints, Snugging Strips, etc.

I decided that the rolling bevel technique was too time-consuming. I went back to my original plan, which was to bead and cove the strips (page 6 has a crude diagram of how this works.) Of course, there are always preliminary steps. The router table I built would need to sit on top of something. I decided to construct a little table which would bring the top of it level with the tops of the infeed table I built for the table saw, as well as the top of the table saw itself, and the small outfeed extension table. This little table normally fits on the table saw stand, but also attaches nicely to one of the sawhorses I built a couple of years ago, which are also the same height as the table saw.

After the little table was finished, I put the router table on it, used the infeed table on one side, the sawhorses on the other, and finished it off with the table saw's extension table on the end. Once again, the whole arrangement went out the garage door.

Starting in the foreground, there's the little infeed table I built for ripping the strips, then the router table I built for this project, then the two sawhorses with a length of plywood on top. In the back, just to the left of the blue recycle bin is the tablesaw outfeed table, which has hooks that fit perfectly over the sawhorse.

On top of the plywood are some narrow strips I ripped for going around the tight corners on the bottom of the hull.

Here is a closeup of the router table. It shows the many feather boards used to keep the strips tight against the rip fence, and snug to the table top. The one on the bottom right (with the black knob) is only 1/4" thick at the end, so that it can fit under the vertical feather board, to push the strip against the fence.

My dad was curious about the term, "rolling bevel". I didn't take any pictures while I was doing it, but this approximates the process. Using a block plane, you have to bevel the bottom of a strip at a diagonal, so that it will fit flush with the strip below, as the side of the deck curves. Of course, if I was really doing it, the top strip would not be attached yet, and I'd be lifting it off to bevel the underside.

Another thing he was curious about was whether I had strips long enough to reach the entire length of the boat, or if I had to splice them together. I explained that I'm splicing them together using scarf joints. This shows how I use the belt sander to sand the scarf.

Here's what it looks like.

This shows a scarf joint that has already been finished, underneath a scarf awaiting the next strip. Here I've violated one of the general rules of strip-building aesthetics, which is that you should never have adjacent splices right next to each other. Oops. I need to pay better attention, I guess. I don't think it will affect the strength of the hull. I think people just avoid putting joints close together because it's unsightly

The picture above shows some of the steps I've taken to align the adjacent strips and pull them snug to each other. Here's a place where all I needed was some rubber bands to pull the strips together. You can see the cove edge on the top of the strip. The dowel goes into the cove so that you don't break off the flimsy sides when you push down on the strips.

This picture shows both rubber bands stretched around the strips, as well as a spring clamp which holds two small pieces of wood against the joint of the two adjacent strips, to keep them lined up with each other. The wax paper keeps everything from sticking to the glue that is squeezed out from the joint.

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