Hi Paul;

Thanks for taking the time to educate me as to selecting the wood for stripping. I appreciate your help greatly.

As to the "old, dry" cedar, I looked at it, all of it . . . It had primarily large splits, severe warping, and man-made gouges and damage that rendered the number of strips attainable small indeed. They were only 10' and 12' boards, and it looked like I'd be scarfing 3-4-5' strips together till the cows came home. As I said, it had been picked over for years, and as this lumber yard no longer stocks cedar, this is the stuff nobody wanted.

The milling I referred to was to bring the boards to final thickness. It seems the one place I found that stocked cypress clear enough for strips had 1S2E, which I take to mean one face and 2 edges surfaced, and a need to remove 1/8" or so from the remaining face. With a 1 by I was told that would bring the thickness to 1/2-9/16" - - 1/2" could be kinda narrow with cove & bead. I don't have the ability to plane these boards to thickness, they would have to do it for me.

As it is, I found a lumberyard in a neighboring city that has both red cedar and sugar pine (purportedly) clear, with 4 sides surfaced. I will go there tomorrow and with luck, throw some boards in the pickup. They have up to 12' lengths, I will opt for 10' and scarf the dozen or so strips that should be full length. I agree with you and Nick's book, that full length strips are not really necessary for the bulk of the construction.

As to the table extensions and fences, I really lucked out . . . The height of the workbench (I have 3 - 7' units I can assemble if need be) plus the strongback is almost *exactly* the height of the radial saw table - - I planned to do just what you said, but in addition, I have a nice 12' length of 1x3 poplar - - I'll replace the rip fence in the saw table with it, and tack the 9' hangover to the side of the "infeed strongback" and align it within a hair. If I can't cut uniform strips this way, I will hang up my ripping hat for good.

Once again, thanks for your help, I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out. BTW, the aromatic knotty cedar sold at the average yard here would make you cringe for boatbuilding use. It is not at all like you describe!

Best Regards, Spidey