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Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
By:Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K
Date: 1/5/2017, 9:06 am
In Response To: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips (Richard Mertins)

This answers your question. This is what I recommend for all builders;

A New Approach

First select boards for the grain and color on the broad width of the board.

➤ Ignore board thickness.

This gives you many more boards to choose from.
This allows you to see the wood grain and have an idea of how it will look on the boat. Concentrate on wood beauty and not board thickness.

Next, cut the wide board face into 3/4” widths. Then turn these 3/4" widths on their side and cut 3/16” thick strips.

Taking broad boards and ripping them into 3/4” widths first, makes handling easy and cutting 3/16” strips more uniform.

Western red cedar comes in 3/4” (5/8”) 5/4 (1”) and 2x (1-1/2”) thicknesses, actual sizes in parenthesis. 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 your only variable.

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

This method may create more wood waste. Stripper construction is not about efficiency. Get over it!

It's about the beauty of the wood.

I don't use strip butt joints. The fair curves of stripper construction rely on continuous strips. The strip is shaped by each station contact. A butt joint creates two flat sections on either side of the joint. Clamping the but joint to previous strips may help shape the butted strips or flatten the fair strip. Not good for a fair hull.

Butt joints are lazy joints and not for professional work. I scarf boards and cut strips from those. If I must, I scarf individual strips with a planing jig.

The choice is yours.

Messages In This Thread

Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Richard Mertins -- 1/3/2017, 6:41 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Marc Upchurch -- 1/3/2017, 8:36 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Bill Hamm -- 1/3/2017, 11:54 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Richard Mertins -- 1/4/2017, 7:52 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Marc Upchurch -- 1/4/2017, 9:53 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Steve Solomon -- 1/4/2017, 11:07 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Marc Upchurch -- 1/4/2017, 11:59 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Steve Solomon -- 1/4/2017, 12:56 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Bill Hamm -- 1/5/2017, 12:23 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Steve Solomon -- 1/5/2017, 7:05 am
Overthinking
Curtis Fisher -- 1/5/2017, 8:16 pm
Re: Overthinking
Steve Solomon -- 1/6/2017, 12:12 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Bill Hamm -- 1/6/2017, 3:12 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
David Wyse -- 1/4/2017, 12:01 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Steve Solomon -- 1/4/2017, 9:22 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Nick R. -- 1/4/2017, 4:18 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/5/2017, 9:06 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
JohnAbercrombie -- 1/7/2017, 11:16 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Richard Mertins -- 1/7/2017, 11:34 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 1/7/2017, 11:50 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Richard Mertins -- 1/8/2017, 7:32 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Marc Upchurch -- 1/8/2017, 8:55 am
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
dave koslow -- 1/9/2017, 2:11 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Marc Upchurch -- 1/9/2017, 5:18 pm
Re: Strip: 2 X 4 's into strips
Bill Hamm -- 1/9/2017, 1:20 am