: You were worrying about the visibility of the joint line. When you rip one
: board in half and flip one half so your joint is cut on the two halves
: from the same end of the original board, then you have a really good match
: of color and grain pattern, which goes a long way to disguising the
: location of the joint.

: After you scarf 6 or 7 strips (which is really all the full-length strips
: you'll need) you'll never want to do it again. Unless you get the
: alignment just right, and keep the area free from glue squeeze out, it
: just takes too long to clean up the area around each and every joint.
: Ripping nice long strips, with perfectly aligned, and disguised, joints is
: much less hassle and far faster than doing a lot of individual strips.

: Oh, and why do you just need 6 or 7 full-length strips? Because it is much
: faster to work with simple butt joints and shorter strips once you get
: started with full length strips on the keel line, top edge of the hull, or
: waterline. After that you just stagger the joints, kinda like you would
: build a brick wall by staggering the joint lines, but with really long
: bricks. You don't need any kind of blocking behind the joint, as the
: strips on either side reinforce these joints.

: Some people make all the joints over a form, and use staples to secure the
: ends of the strips. Others make the joints between forms and use short
: staples (1/4 inch) to hold the ends of the strips to the adjacent strips.
: I tried that ofr a few joints and ended up shooting a staple through the
: strips and into my fingertip. After that I went to using clamps to hold
: the ends in place until the glue dried. No staple holes in boat or builder
: when done that way

: Hope this helps

: PGJ

: PGJ

Now I feel better, I thought I was the only one that tried to hold things together by stapling to my finger

Bill H.