Date: 2010-11-19 09:22 pm (UTC)
Switch to the band saw. Cut away the waste along the keel line, following the rocker, if any. Stay close to your line, but don't cut into it. You want to be able to sand to the line later. Cut away the waste along the gunwale line. Now temporarily glue the waste (THAT YOU DIDN'T LOSE) back into position on the top and bottom of the block. A dab of hot glue or double stick tape works well. Now you have restored a flat bottom to the block that can ride on the bandsaw table without rocking, and the flat top with the max beam gunwale drawing.

Cut away the lateral waste following the gunwale line, again leaving the line to sand to. If the max beam is at the gunwale, you may be able to tilt the bandsaw table a bit when you make this cut to reduce the amount of wood to be removed later, but it is certainly not necessary to do so. Temporarily glue the waste back onto the block so as to recover the profile drawing.

At this point, pop off the bottom waste piece, and sand the bottom exactly to the line on the drawing. I use a stationary belt sander, portable belt sander, palm sander, and sanding blocks. Use whatever works for you, but keep in mind that accuracy at this point is vital, since errors made here will be transmitted at four times the size to the actual building form. Do the same with the top, but after sanding the top to the profile line, restore the top waste with it's max beam drawing. Now remove the side waste and sand to the gunwale line (or max beam line, if there is tumblehome). Remove the top waste AGAIN. (I know, you overdid it with the glue, and it's hard to get those pieces off – sorry!). If your design has tumblehome, glue the gunwale half drawing to the top surface so you will know where the gunwale is.

Now you have a block of wood that looks a bit like half a canoe. Proceed to make it look exactly like half a canoe by cutting away anything that doesn't look canoe-like. I accomplish this by planing, sanding, gouging, whittling, Dremeling, rasping, and using anything that will cut away wood. Your block has three references that must not be removed without changing the design that you drew: the max beam cross section in contrasting color, the keel line, and the fore/aft max beam line if your design has no tumblehome. If there is tumblehome, the top drawing edge marks the gunwale line. To remind you that these lines can't be touched, color them with a Sharpie.

At this point you are working by eye, by feel, and by your designer's intuition. My attitude is that if it looks good, it will be good. If this boat is going to be an Olympic racing boat, that approach may not work, but I'm betting that aesthetics are just as important as performance for the kind of boats that we make, so don't worry overly about it. Other than appearance, I am only concerned with whether the boat is as stable as I want it to be, will it track as well as I need, can it carry me and whatever gear I generally have with adequate freeboard, and does it paddle easily. If I have done my homework on the original design, all these qualities should be within my desired parameters.

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