Wood Butchers Are In Recovery

Carpentry projects often seem to be a recovery process. Unfortunately, things often spin out of control once a mistake is made. I don't care who you are, we all make mistakes. More than once I have said to myself: "I didn't make the people and put them on the world". With this in mind, never let fear enter the thought process. It is ok to make mistakes. The longer this art of boatbuilding is practiced the more adept we become. And the better the preparation, the less chance for error.

Preparation takes many forms. The job site must be accessible, well lit, and ideally have a power source. In southern climes, it must be protected from the midday sun; and, likewise up north, the site must be reasonably heated (usually in the dead of winter this translates as not freezing). The required tools must be close at hand and a work area must be established for laying out. This can be a table made up of saw horses and plywood or, a bona fide work bench with a carpenters vice. Another consideration is ease of getting aboard the boat. In a shop this means having a stairway built with a platform at the top; in a boatyard, this usually means a stout ladder tied at the top to the boat.

Once these prerequisites are met, it is time to go to work. Whatever it is we plan to accomplish has already been developed in our mind . We can see the end result. If you can't see it, you are not ready to start it! For a carpentry project I prefer to sketch what it is I am about to build. This establishes dimensions and allows me to see the joints I am about to fit. Trust me, I am no illustrator! But I can draw lines and I can write measurements to these lines. I have drawn on scraps of wood, bench tops, sandpaper, and boxes; however, I prefer making my diagrams in a hardcover notebook. And these notebooks I save. These drawings for me are just as important as the finished product is for the customer.

Once I am satisfied with my sketch (call it what you will, it is the design), I can go to the next step of patternmaking. A pattern will save time and material, period! And, major flaws in the design will come immediately to your attention. For something built in plywood, the pattern for the particular piece (be it a bunk flat, seat back, or top to a box) is made up of five 2" strips of 1/4" ply or door skin glued and clamped at the corners. The fifth piece is glued on a diagonal to keep the assembly from racking. If one edge is bevelled, the angle is written on the pattern, transferred to the finish stock and either cut or hand planed.

Now that a pattern is made and everything looks like a go, its time to cut wood. But, be sure to draw accurate lines on the finish stock. This little detail is often overlooked. Saws are an essential tool for the woodworker and these include various handsaws, table saw, sabre saw (at EBW we called these jiggle saws), chop saw, sawsall, bandsaw, Skill saw, and radial arm saw. I also like my electric chain saw. This is just my collection - you may want to add to this list.
And with this collection goes the assortment of saw blades including the oft overlooked set of dado blades used on either the table saw or radial arm saw. For certain projects a router can be used effectively though this is one of my least favorite power tool in terms of the noise and dust it produces. More often than not, the same result can be accomplished with hand tools. Once the lines are drawn, determine whether to leave the line or split the line when cutting.

Once wood has been cut, joints are now fitted. Use common sense in the design of joints: if it looks right, it probably is. Joints are strongest if they a) fit perfectly, b)glued according to manufacturer's guidelines, c)mechanically fastened. My preference for joints are scarf, shiplap, and miter. When everything fits, assembly can begin. Be sure to have enough clamps, and if glueing, enough time is allowed for assembly and the temperature to cure the glue is reasonable.

At this stage, one never seems to have enough hands. Glueing up can challenge the most experienced: it all depends on the complexity of the project. Try to anticipate any problems befoe they arise. Using clamps can be awkward - sometimes they won't work for the job at hand. Be clever with your alternatives: a piece of line as a spanish windlass, blocks and hand cut shallow wedges, props and shores to the floor, ceiling, wall, or some other immoveable object, weights (save old car batteries!) , and so on. This is the tipping point of your project. It should be a cake walk from here.

Whatever we are building can now be installed. Consider at this point to finish (paint or varnish) before installation. I have covered alot here; best take a break! We still need to discuss the role of trim in this project.