: While I appreciate the desire to avoid scarfing, don't be in a big hurry to
: get 20 foot boards at such a high cost. Get 10 and 12 foot boards, which
: should be much more reasonable. If you can find some that are not clear,
: but have small knots, you'll save even more.

: Scarf 1 or 2 of the 12 foot boards before you rip your sull length strips
: from them. To do this, rip the boards in half, overlap the top ends by 2
: feet and make a single diagonal cut through this overlap, cutting both
: boards at once.
: You don't need any jigs, but a clamp or two might help. You can free-hand
: this cut with a circular saw, or even a handsaw. (Cedar cuts easily with
: handtools). Since the parts are cut at the same time, even if you have a
: ragged cut they will fit together like pieces on a jigsaw puzzle.

: You'll have a fast scarf that fits perfectly and merely needs some glue or
: epoxy. When the glue is hard you rip your strips from these longer planks.
: As you do your scarfed areas will appear at different spots along the
: strips. Because of the 2 foot overlap your 12 foot 1x8 will give you a 22
: foot long board that is roughly a 1x4.

: Ripping strips from these long, narrow boards you automatically get neat,
: clean areas around the scarfs. No additonal sanding. No color staining
: around the joint from soaked-in epoxy or glue.

: Since you are joining the tops of both halves after ripping the 1x8, your
: wood should be pretty close color and grain match at the scarfs, making
: them less noticeable.

: Try it; it is fast and simple, and you can use less-expensive, shorter,
: pieces of wood. A single 1x8 should give you more than enough full-length
: strips to start with, but you might as well scarf two of the 1x8's and
: have a few extra long strips to play with.

: PGJ

Here in Indiana, I went to 5 lumber yards checking what was available in w.r. cedar. Three were small local types and two were large national chains, Lowes and Menards. The large chains were much cheaper. I did a lot of sorting at Menards to get the best boards with the fewest knots plus a nice pine board, all for $43. I happened to get them on a sale also. The cedar was 1"x8"x8'sizes so I could bring them home in my car. I am almost finish stripping and I will have a little left over.

John