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Chine bLog finds and promotes small, traditional / tradition-inspired, and (mostly) wooden boats - their design, building, and use. It is authored by lifelong boater and budding designer / builder Tim Shaw. Enjoy!

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Need some advice - managing a wide board

Friends, I need a bit of quick advice. I bought a nice Spanish Cedar board for the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe, but it is about 10″ wide and seems like it is cleaned-up flitch-sawn – the grain runs in a nice wide arc through it. I have two pieces that will come out of it that are 9″ and 9 1/2″ wide. Should I split it length-wise and re-glue so that the grain runs against itself a bit (i.e., in a subtle s-curve)? Or, given it is kiln-dried, should I just let it be because it won’t cup much more. I am thinking the former, but wanted to see if anyone could comment. Many thanks,

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The skin-on-frame outrigger comes along, as best it can, indoors

I believe I have mentioned that I work in sub-optimal conditions for a boat-builder, even one focusing on small craft. Our house is modest and my workshop is in the basement, overrun by stuff in storage. I count on being able to work outside, but this gloriously snowy winter (yes, I said “gloriously” – snow is fun too) has wiped that out. I plus along in the space I have, and thus you see pieces below laid out across living space.

So here are some signs of progress, albeit slow. As with the keel of the ama, I cut the first few feet and relaminated it to give it rocker. Here is that task, in progress.

Keel rocker

I took a whack at laminating one of the frames. I have subsequently decided to junk this one. There were two issues. First, I am still figuring out my new bandsaw, and the strips were pretty lumpy (even after some planing). They didn’t lay together well. Compounding this, I also messed up the glue up and I wasn’t confident in the piece’s strength. Lots of learning there. Too many strips, too short working time, and too little glue (using Titebond III).

Aft frame

I decided to use the frame to further test and cut out some of the mortises. The keel scarf is not yet glued, but I was able to mock things up by means of some clamps: one frame, the full keel, and two stems. Great to see.

Frame on keel, looking aft

Here’s the same set-up looking forward (excuse the living room). You can see the bow stem is cocked to starboard. Seems there is a little twist in the keel. I have to see if I can pull it straight with the gunwales.

Aft frame on keel, looking forward

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Heads-up Aussies - Melbourne Wooden Boat Festival is coming up

Melbourne Wooden Boat FestivalNo, no one has invited to fly me down under to report (though I am still willing to negotiate!), but, since I know folks from the South-side check in, I wanted to make sure folks knew about this cool-sounding event: the Wooden Boat Festival, held this year in Melbourne, Australia on February 20-21. According to reader Richard Monfries, who alerted us of this event, this is the first time the event has been in Melbourne. Well worth a looksee, and sorry I won’t make it (though I would look nice in a press pass – I’m just saying).

We also want to highlight the Wooden Boat Association of Victoria, of which Richard is a member. Some nice pictures in their photo area.

Please post comments or send an email with any neat news from the events.

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I was thinking of going for a paddle this week…

… orrrr maybe not…

Snow on kayak

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Catching up with the traditional boat blogosphere - recent stuff from some peers

I have so engaged in designing and building that I haven’t been on the computer as much in the PMs. I have clearly been missing out on what some of our traditional boat peeps have been putting up. In case you missed it directly, here is some stuff to check out:

Indigenous Boats
Bob over at Indigenous Boats always has great stuff. No falling off as we checked in.

70.8
Tom at 70.8 has a few really nice posts:   » Continue reading Catching up with the traditional boat blogosphere – recent stuff from some peers »

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After a drawing-board and holiday hiatus, we are making sawdust again on the skin-on-frame outrigger project

So we went back to the drawing board for a bit on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe project, as we noted last month. It was a productive venture – we made some improvements, got a lot of problems solved, and got some useful planning in. We confess, though, that we were eager to get back into the building phase, and around the holidays, we were finally able to do so. First step: stems.

Rikon 10" BandsawI decided to do sawn stems, which I think has worked out well. I got the components glued up and then waited for my Christmas present to come in: a band saw. To be clear, I barely have room for such a toy, but gosh – is it wonderful! I put it through its paces cutting the shape of the stems and then cutting the bevel on them. It will literally make this project possible. I also splurged on a new dust-collection system: $19.00 on a small shop-vac form Target. Oh yeah, we are gettin’ faaannnn-cy.

Stems - bow and sternSo here are the results, minus sanding and some seam-filling. I am pretty happy with the results and am getting psyched to pull the keel together. I have the scarf cut and am ready to put the rocker in next. I’m getting giddy…

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It's a blustery weekend...

She’s comin’ in hard, boys, she’s comin’ in hard here in the northeast of the old US of A today. I felt obliged to tie in a second reef to get across the back yard. Be safe out there!

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Thanks to all our readers!

We have just finished, after much delay, the import of all the comments from the old version of Chine bLog into the new one. A lot of busy work, but we think it is well worth it. Our readers have contributed some great insight over the years and added greatly to what we are doing. Thank you so much for stopping by, reading Chine bLog, and, as you have been moved, leaving your own thoughts and opinions. Here’s to fair winds and following seas to all in 2010!

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Design details on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe

One of the aspects to designing and building my own boat is the noodling on very specific problems – how would X work, how do I need to construct Y, how big does Z need to be, etc. To think through these issues I have done some mini-lofting – full-sized drawings of pieces of the frame. I thought I’d share some of these drawings so you can see what is difficult to tell in my lousy reproductions.

I had a rough idea of how to do the inwale / outwale construction from my reading, but I had to think through a number of details when it came to the two laminated frames that are the key structural elements amidships.

inwale / outwale detail

Somewhat less complicated, but still worth some thought, was   » Continue reading Design details on the skin-on-frame outrigger canoe »

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“Paddle Making (and other canoe stuff)” – a nice-looking blog

Paddle by Murat
Thanks to Bob over at Indigenous Boats for his recent post highlighting Paddle Making (and other canoe stuff), a blog by a Canadian canoeist / paddlemaker / artist named Murat. The site has a gallery tool to view paddles Murat has made – they are almost universally stunning. Well worth keeping this one in mind.

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