The trickiest cuts we had to do were for the bow stem. The bow stem is the very front of the boat, also known as the cut water. When I continue to get that confused look from people as I explain, I tell them, "that’s where the mermaid hangs on a ship." Then finally, I get that Ahhhh response. Of course...it ONLY takes a topless woman to get people’s imagination going. I blame a male dominated society for that.
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| Mermaid figurehead hanging onto the bow stem |
We had to a cut our board at numerous angles, so we first built a jig. The jig was a tool we used to help us control our board as we ran it through the table saw. The nook in the jig is where we placed our board (soon to be bow stem). We angled the table saw blade and ran the jig and board once on each long side to get a beautiful piece. (This was really hard for me to explain, so hopefully the pictures below give you a good visual.)
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| Jig tool we built. The nook on the left side is where our board sat as we ran it through the table saw. |
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| Putting our jig to use. In this picture, we flipped the jig over to cut the other side of the board. Note: the saw blade is angled. |
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| After our two cuts |
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| The final product! |
You make it look so easy. Where are you doing all this woodwork??
ReplyDeleteIt's really not bad at all. If I didn't have the plans I'm using, it would be a much harder project.
ReplyDeleteI am doing the woodwork in my dad's garage/woodshop. At first he wasn't thrilled about me doing this, but now he's overzealous with the idea...talking about building a larger boat in the future.
That's awesome. Well I'm thoroughly enjoying reading about the process, and I'm looking forward to seeing it all through.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a Dharma-style van like the one in the background, with which you will transport the boat?
Ha if only... That is a Dharma looking truck, isn't it. Nice coincidence.
ReplyDelete