Traditionally, strip builders have gone to lumber yards looking for wide boards with a finished thickness of 3/4". Then strips for building are ripped off the edge of these 3/4" thick boards. There are a number of problems with this method.

At the lumber yard, you never know what lengths and thicknesses of boards they will have available. If you limit your choice to 3/4" thick boards you may have very few options for size, color and grain.

Ripping individual strips off the edge of a 20' long 8" wide board is challenging. Large heavy boards are hard to handle and difficult to keep firmly pressed against the saw fence, which will lead to uneven strip thickness.

The edge of this wide board gives you only a hint of the color and grain pattern your finished boat will display. You don't have control or a real idea of what the wood will look like on your finished boat. These are all big disadvantages of this traditional approach to cutting strips.

I have a solution for these problems. First I select boards for the grain and color on the broad width of the board.
➤ I ignore board thickness.This allows me to see the wood grain and have an idea of how it will look on the boat. It allows me to concentrate on wood beauty and not board thickness.

Then, I cut the wide board face into 3/4” widths. Next I turn these 3/4" widths on their side and cut my 3/16” thick strips.
Repeatedly handling one large board is difficult as you rip strips off one edge and can lead to irregular strip thicknesses.
Taking broad boards and ripping them into 3/4” widths first, makes handling these 3/4” pieces easy as I rip my 3/16” strips off of them.

Western red cedar comes in 3/4” (5/8”) 5/4 (1”) and 2x (1-1/2”) thicknesses. I cut all those boards to 3/4” widths off the broad board surface. Then the number of 3/16” strips per 3/4" piece will be my only variable.

Not many places on your boat require strip widths narrower than 3/4”. But if you had a boat design with a sharper, tighter, bend around the bilge you must use 5/8 or even 1/2” wide strips to make it easier to strip. Also, if you have a design with upswept stems like a canoe, you can bend narrow strips up much easier.

For information on setting up your tablesaw to safely rip strips please go to my http://www.laughingloon.com/shoptips3.html
page and scroll down to "Rip Strips Safely".

I highly recommend the Dewalt DW745 10" compact Jobsite table saw. Pictured below. A net search shows it for $300 in the US. I have one I use for cutting all my strips. This newer model has a great new blade guard with a riving knife.

All the best,
Rob