Canoe Update
Sep. 9th, 2010 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillI spent today sanding the inside. I spent about 4 hours at it. I'm at the stage where I peer into the canoe, find a flaw, very gently brush the edge of the sanding disk over it, stop, check what I did, lather, rinse, repeat.
When I thought I was done, I sponged down the inside of the hull again and looked for more glue spots. They only really show on the butternut, but boy, do they show on the butternut. When I found flaws I circled them with the pink sidewalk chalk. The last time I did this the hull looked like it had chickenpox--it had maybe fifty spots and I know I was just getting the big things. This time it has more like twenty, and some of them are not a big deal. I guess that's progress.
I need to glue the decks together--I'm waffling over exactly how to do it. Last time around this stage I ran into a neighbor with a biscuit joiner who did the decks for me basically to show off how it worked. It worked fine and those decks are still going strong, but I don't have a biscuit joiner, and it's not worth buying one just for the decks.
A traditional way to reinforce such an edge joint is to take the pieces that will be joined and cut matching grooves in the faces that will be glued. Then you slip a thin strip of wood into one groove, and fit the half of the strip that is still sticking out into the matching grove on the other face. You end up with a glue cross section that looks a bit like a + sign. This is called a spline. With plenty of glue they can make for quite strong joints.
The standard way to cut the groove for a spline, however, is with a tablesaw. The shopsmith can technically be set up as a tablesaw but the table is 3/32nds of an inch out of true (probably it was knocked over onto its side at one point.)
I suppose I could set everything up and try it. I won't be cutting anything lose so kickback is unlikely. If it would work it would be far and away the easiest way.
And if it won't work I need to decide whether to just try gluing the decks without a spline. Maybe I should call Martin.
In other news I am thinking about what to post for Stand Up For Religious Tolerance Day. I'm very touched by all the people who responded, and re-posted. You folks are the greatest.
When I thought I was done, I sponged down the inside of the hull again and looked for more glue spots. They only really show on the butternut, but boy, do they show on the butternut. When I found flaws I circled them with the pink sidewalk chalk. The last time I did this the hull looked like it had chickenpox--it had maybe fifty spots and I know I was just getting the big things. This time it has more like twenty, and some of them are not a big deal. I guess that's progress.
I need to glue the decks together--I'm waffling over exactly how to do it. Last time around this stage I ran into a neighbor with a biscuit joiner who did the decks for me basically to show off how it worked. It worked fine and those decks are still going strong, but I don't have a biscuit joiner, and it's not worth buying one just for the decks.
A traditional way to reinforce such an edge joint is to take the pieces that will be joined and cut matching grooves in the faces that will be glued. Then you slip a thin strip of wood into one groove, and fit the half of the strip that is still sticking out into the matching grove on the other face. You end up with a glue cross section that looks a bit like a + sign. This is called a spline. With plenty of glue they can make for quite strong joints.
The standard way to cut the groove for a spline, however, is with a tablesaw. The shopsmith can technically be set up as a tablesaw but the table is 3/32nds of an inch out of true (probably it was knocked over onto its side at one point.)
I suppose I could set everything up and try it. I won't be cutting anything lose so kickback is unlikely. If it would work it would be far and away the easiest way.
And if it won't work I need to decide whether to just try gluing the decks without a spline. Maybe I should call Martin.
In other news I am thinking about what to post for Stand Up For Religious Tolerance Day. I'm very touched by all the people who responded, and re-posted. You folks are the greatest.
