what grade?

Unless the face of the board is really rough, no I don't.
I use a thin blade (depends upon how much it costs) to keep down the waste. There is going to be a lot no matter what.
Then I try to cut to have the final strips vertical grained. Personal choice there.

I cut all 4 sides on the table saw to get consistent strips.
It helps a great deal to use a feather board so that you get straight edges.
https://acdsupply.com/magswitch-universal-featherboard?feed=Froogle&gclid=CJv0wdnl4tECFVO4wAodKuwIsQ available many places.

It becomes a real labor, taking time and attention.
I suggest a vacuum to get rid of the dust - personally I get flu like symptoms if I don't vacuum and/or have a good mask.

 

thanks, time will not be a problem, money will be.

Great feedback to all!

 

You don't need to. The butt joints are tiny, and so long as you stagger your butts, the epoxy or glue butt joint will be plenty strong enough due to being small AND sistered on both sides by the strips above and below. Don't bother scarfing.

 

Cedar is poisonous, so wear a good particulate mask and use dust collection if you have it or simply rig up a shop vac to suck off the saw's dust.

I don't plane either, just mill to size, being as precise as practical. I can usually get away with doing just two sides, instead of all 4. I also try to cut for quarter sawn results, which is more stable and doesn't move around as much, before it gets encapsulated.

I have a magnetic featherboard, but don't use it much. It's moved a few times, so I don't trust it any more. Mine is a home made, slot bound board.

I don't get too anal about making the widths uniform, unless it's a bright finish. I will often increase width (height) of the strips in areas I can get away with it, like long flat runs aft. I'll also taper some to make sheer/chine runout more acceptable. These could be considered "stealers" in carvel planking and do the same thing.

If you land you butts on the molds, the strip will tend to flatten out the curve a little, which requires more fairing and more material removal. Landing them between the molds permits the joint to get "sucked in" with a backer, which greatly improves this issue, resulting in less material removal and easier fairing. My 45 bevel thing was learned, trying to keep butts aligned as I fastened a backer. I simply clamp the bevels closed and place a few screws part way through, then release the clamps and clamp a backer on. The screws are finally driven home into this backer, until the goo cures, then they're removed. My backers are usually strips of thin plywood, which helps maintain the curve of the pieced together strip, without a hard spot. The plywood strips are covered in packaging tape and usually descend a little lower than the bottom edge of the strips getting butted. This helps make the "in and out" alignment a little easier and also provides a place to place a shim if necessary. It takes more time to describe than to do.

Where are you in Florida, as I have suppliers all over the state?

 

I am on the east central coast of Florida, near Melbourne Florida. I think I may move the ripping operation outside.

 

Par,
do you cove and bead your strips?

 

I also would love to hear about bead and cove strips. I would really like to put in some sort of tongue and grove. Don't think that can be done.

 

Try it once on something small.
Then try square cut strips.

Square cut win in my opinion, and yes I did try them both.
I even bought the router bits for making the bead and cove. Wish I hadn't of wasted the money.

 

Nope, just a straight cut. It's faster to rip and strip then to rip, bead, cove and strip. A lot less waste and you can easily fine tune for brightly finished hulls with a hand plane and few swipes.

I'm just above Orlando.

 

To summerize:
1) Clear wood great, but small tight knots are fine if don't mind making smaller pieces at the knot break.
2) Bead and cove not necessary, wastes a lot of time and material.
3) Joints dont have to be at molds.
4) Scarf joints not necessary.

Goes against what I have read, but hey I have never done it and you guys have. I conject this all will work because i will be sanding all smooth, then covering the hull in fiberglass

 

If the knot is tight and relatively small, bridging no more than 1/3 to 1/2 the height of the strip, you can use it, without cutting around it. The test is to bend the knot laden strip at the knot, approximating the bend it'll take on the hull. If it's a fair bend over the knot, use it. If it's unfair, cut it out, butt join it and move on to the next issue.

Bead and cove can help align the strips a little and help close gaps, but so does some modest woodworking, as the strips are applied (a few quick swipes with a plane) where necessary.

Yep, joints between the molds tend to be easier to fair, with backing or other techniques, but over a mold they'll decidedly need more fairing and material removal to make them so.

With neighboring strips in so close of relative proximity, scarfs aren't necessary for strip integrity and strength, though some do it anyway, particularly on brightly finished hulls. Some of us use a bevel to help control the joints, but this too isn't absolutely necessary.

Buy an eight foot 2x6 and rip it down on the table saw to strips you'll need. Make a small jig, say 4 station molds long (24" centers), maybe shaped with a good bit of twist in it, so you can feel what edge set and strip control is all about. Of course, bend on several strips using different joints, different attachments methods, etc. You'll find you prefer some over others. On bright hulls I like to use a fishing string method, which leaves no holes in the strips. Once you little testing process is glued up, fair it, smooth it and sheath it with some cloth too. After this you'll fair and smooth again, in prep for paint. After this little test run, you'll be pretty well equipped to take on the project and likely lots more questions. You'll know where to find us . . .

 

I am surprised at joining the strips in the middle. I would have thought that if you have say 3 frames and a long enough strip to span 3 1/2 frames. When you screw the strip onto the first 3 frames, the strip will take the curve of the three frames ( I am using an example with a curvy part of the boat, ie different frame width measurements)
But the remaining part of the strip that extends beyond the 3rd frame toward the 4th will be straight ie tangent to the last frame.

So how do you get the natural curve between say the third frame and 4th frame? Do you pre-join the strip then bend the strip to match the 4th frame?

 

If you terminate the strip on a mold, you can't suck it down and a flat spot will appear, between it and the previous and subsequent molds. This will need to be filled, come time to fair it. If you back up the butt joint between the molds, you can tie the strips together with a batten or my usual choice, a thin length of plywood. This permit the now joined strips to lie naturally on the molds, of course depending on how stiff or limber the backer might be. By playing with the backer's stiffness, you can control the curve through the joint and molds. Additionally, if the backer also happens to hang a little below the previous row of strips, it'll self align and help control twist to some degree.

The same thing is done with line offs on a sheer. You never spring your batten from stemhead to stern, but rather let the batten run well past each point, so it will adopt a fair curve.