Building a cedar strip canoe - Episode 6, staple-free stripping

[@patcarl4641]

This is a fantastic method. How did you determine the size and shape of your 90 degree clamping brackets?

[@adpsimpson]

Hi Pat, thanks! They're pretty approximate. The leg is long enough to allow 3 strips at a time. Any more than that I think would be difficult to manage. And it sticks out far enough from the mould stations to allow the strips and wedges, plus plenty of overlap with the mould station for screwing it on. But they're simple to make and modify from scrap pkt, so as time went on I made loads of custom ones, one offs, and modified plenty of others.

[@patcarl4641]

@@adpsimpson WOW! I wasn’t sure I’d get an answer, and this soon! Thanks. I figured it to be fairly straightforward. My son……Andy👍 and I are building a cedar strip 17’ kayak. He is a US Forest Ranger currently working in the Omaha, Nebraska regional office. We just completed the stiff back and getting ready to cut the strips. We bought 2x10x18’ western red cedar from a local lumberyard, it’s not clear but has very tight knots and I’m hoping it will look good. I’m a retired rural mailman in Nebraska, background in construction, built my house 25 yrs ago. I also am awaiting my longmill CNC……nervous and excited. I’m enjoying your build series. Sorry to be so long winded. Pat Carl

[@adpsimpson]

Good luck with your build. You'll be glad you managed to get an 18' piece of cedar - the longest I could find was 12', so I needed scarph joints in every strip. Perfectly do-able, but it added time and effort.

[@robertbolding4182]

this really does solve your previous issues but I see squeeze out, that is proof of too much glue, the glue is non-compressible fluid causing issues such as invisible gaps not seen between strips. Because of the water content, swelling of the wood due to moisture, and lastly, increase in drying times. Glue is to keep strips from wiggling during sanding, that's its sole purpose, and it takes very little glue to do that. The hull gets fiberglassed before it's taken off the mould stations, there is your real glue-up. Always one more thing, glue can clog sanding paper some glue melts with friction.

[@adpsimpson]

Robert, that's interesting, the advise I've had from elsewhere is that a bit of squeeze-out is a good thing, as it's otherwise very hard to judge "enough" glue to wet the whole joint. Certainly that's also true for general woodworking. Obviously the final strength comes from the fibreglass but having a good, solid joint underneath should be helpful? I guess I need to reconsider.

[@curtliles8158]

Before ‘glassing the interior and exterior, how did you address the gaps caused by cove and tennon? Or did you simply allow the resin to fill those “gaps”? Thank you!

[@adpsimpson]

Sorry, missed this. There are very few gaps - there shouldn't be any really. The bead and cove profile is round, so the strips fit perfectly at any angle. The whole thing is then sanded & smoothed extensively before glassing. Any small cracks can be filled with epoxy mixed with thickener.

[@faceforfpv84]

Nice one, love to see the progress. I want to be there for the maiden!

[@adpsimpson]

I've not told you yet but I was going to ask you round for the fibreglassing 😁

[@Maximeleblond-tm8nc]

I really appreciate your videos, it helps me a lot! I think I have a similar issue with the glue: since it is quite cold at night in my shop, the glue inside the joint gets white and it doesn't feel very strong, even though the squeeze out had plenty of time to dry at the proper temperature. How did it go in the end with your canoe? Did you experience any weakness due to the glue chalking? Or does the epoxy and fiberglass solves it all?

[@adpsimpson]

Sorry, need to check my comments more regularly.... I'm sure you're well past this stage by now, but I had no problems in the end - the fibreglass and epoxy provides all the final strength needed.

[@adamboon4820]

looking great so far can't wait to see the launch video in a few weeks. what angle and length are your scarf joints? and what glue have you used?

[@adpsimpson]

Hi Adam, I can't wait either. The joints are a 7:1 angle, so for a 19mm strip they end up about 130mm long. Same angle on the gunwales. For the planking, I used titebond (original). Almost everything else is epoxy, normally with microfibres added to thicken it. The plugs in the gunwales are waterproof PVA (since original titebond isn't actually waterproof, and they're only protected by varnish).

[@adamboon4820]

@@adpsimpson thank you I've picked up lots of tips and tricks from your videos and watched them multiple times ready for my build ( when I've rearranged my garage) Keep up the good work

[@adpsimpson]

Excellent. I make these videos for myself, for my friends & family, and for others undertaking the same job, so it's great to hear from people in that last category! Can I ask where in the world you are? If in the UK, I can highly recommend talking to Barry, at cedar-strip.co.uk

[@kkireland1]

Could you not get 15 ft planks? Save the hassle of joining.

[@adpsimpson]

I couldn't find any to buy, but yes, it obviously would have been a lot better.