: Hi, this is my first posting on this forum so be gentle. I am currently in
: the process of building a Guillemont from the plans in the book. I found a
: source of Western Red Cedar locally and have enough to build an aircraft
: carrier just in case I make a few mistakes. I have already cut the strips
: on my table saw (they look like they came out really well). My next
: project is to route the beads and coves which I think I can handle as
: cutting the stips worked out so well (almost no waste, the wood I got was
: great, I can count the number of knots on one hand).

: I also purchased a plank of black walnut which I intended to use for some
: minor accent strips (maybe on the shear line as well as a couple on the
: deck). I have two questions, the first is, should I try and do a bead and
: cove on the walnut or is the stuff too hard and brittle? My second
: question is, how wide should I cut the strips (since the wood is hard I
: assume it will not bend nearly as well as the cedar)?

: Thanks in advance for the help as I am a major newbe and plan on asking some
: really dumb questions.

Before you go madly routing up all your stock consider not bothering. I gave up bead and cove years ago and never looked back. The strips are so thin anyway that there is very little V between them, especially on the deck. If you are doing accent work, especially if you are bookmatching a little, you will end up planing off some of your coves or beads anyway. The odd touch with a plane may be necessary in very curved areas, but often you are having to shape long tapered pointy ends in parts of these areas anyway. I wouldn't even dream of it.

That's my tuppence worth.

Etienne.