: Question: When you see your strips in ash, etc., is it cured wood? Can you
: fall a tree and use the woook immediately? Is there an advantage to
: "green" wood inasmuch as it may bend more easily?

: I use a small (craftsman) hot glue gun for my yak project but I am not
: stripping as yet. The hot glue guns are easy to use but keep your fingers
: away from the tip. I am curious to know if hot glue will keep your sheer
: against the forms - I plan to use staples. Good luck.

Hi John's

I would not suggest using the wood right out of the forest. Chances are you would not get a good bond with the glue. It is best if you let it season to lower the moisture content to match the air around you. The best way to do that is to mill it into planks and stack it with stickers in between the pieces. If you have a band saw, you can attach a straight board to one side with short nails, and let that keep it square with the fence and flat on the table. Don't want it to roll. When you get one side sawn flat, then do the same with another, adjacent side. When you have two sides square, then you can rip it about any way you want. The other two rough sides won't mater till you get ready to use it. Then stack it and weight it on top, at the sticker points, a foot or so apart, then let it sit in the garage or shed for a couple of months. Check it and restack it with the bottom boards on top this time. It takes about three or four months to get it to air dry to the proper outside moisture content. Longer if the planks are thicker. I would assume you are going to rip it to 3/4" or 1".

Another reason you would not want to use wet/green wood is that it will shrink a bunch, and probably distort your boat a bit.

You definitely want to rip it to dry it, as it will check and .........?? what's the word when the ends split all to hell. ?? Anyway, you don't want it to dry out in log form, as it will dry from the outside in, and split and check real bad, and you will lose much of the wood. When milled, it has a chance to dry from all four sides equally and keeps it from splitting or warping real bad.

You will enjoy using your own cut and dried wood on your boat, so, go for it. Just don't rush the wood drying, unless you have a kiln of sorts. Have fun.

Rehd