Cedar strips

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JEM

New User
Matt - JEM Watercraft
I need a whole bunch (250+) of cedar strips cut to 1/8" x 3/4" from mostly clear lumber. Desire strips to be around 6-8' long. Consistent and square is a requirment.

I'm thinking about buying a band saw and doing it myself but I'm not sure what a local shop might charge me. If the price is right, then I'll pay someone else do it. I'd like to pick up so I prefer a shop within about 1.5 hours of Greensboro.

I'm going to start another thread asking how much I'd need to spend on a good band saw to do the job. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?p=85567#post85567
 

striker

New User
Stephen
Anchor Hardwoods in Wilmington used to supply quite a bit of EWC strips to the canoe building market. That was a few years back under a different owner. It may be worth a phone call to check with them and see if they continue to supply it. He's listed under the NC lumber suppliers.

Stephen
 

Joe Scharle

New User
Joe
Here's a jig I use to cut long strips & splines. Might be what you need.

SplineJig004.jpg
 
J

jeff...

I need a whole bunch (250+) of cedar strips cut to 1/8" x 3/4" from mostly clear lumber. Desire strips to be around 6-8' long. Consistent and square is a requirment.

I'm thinking about buying a band saw and doing it myself but I'm not sure what a local shop might charge me. If the price is right, then I'll pay someone else do it. I'd like to pick up so I prefer a shop within about 1.5 hours of Greensboro.

I'm going to start another thread asking how much I'd need to spend on a good band saw to do the job. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?p=85567#post85567

Clear ERC might be hard to find, I have yet to see a cedar without any limbs.
 

JEM

New User
Matt - JEM Watercraft
it's for a kayak but not a traditional woodstripper. I'm making a plug for a fiberglass mold.
 

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
I'm a little late in this thread, but if you are looking for good straight-grained lumber for a plug you need to get clear, flatsawn Western Red Cedar, NOT Eastern Red Cedar which has lots of knots and not straight-grained, or some Sitka Spruce. WRC machines nicely and should be easy to shape and fair.

It would be a lot easier to cut the strips on a tablesaw than a bandsaw. First plane the lumber to 3/4", then, rip-joint-rip-joint-rip, etc. your 1/8" strips. To ensure smooth faces and consistent thickness you can rip the strips slightly thicker than 1/8" and make a final pass through a planer.

That is how I made the strips for my last cedar strip canoe.

Depending on your frame, you might want to rip the strips a little thicker than 1/8" to have a stronger plug.
 

JEM

New User
Matt - JEM Watercraft
I'm a little late in this thread, but if you are looking for good straight-grained lumber for a plug you need to get clear, flatsawn Western Red Cedar, NOT Eastern Red Cedar which has lots of knots and not straight-grained, or some Sitka Spruce. WRC machines nicely and should be easy to shape and fair.

It would be a lot easier to cut the strips on a tablesaw than a bandsaw. First plane the lumber to 3/4", then, rip-joint-rip-joint-rip, etc. your 1/8" strips. To ensure smooth faces and consistent thickness you can rip the strips slightly thicker than 1/8" and make a final pass through a planer.

That is how I made the strips for my last cedar strip canoe.

Depending on your frame, you might want to rip the strips a little thicker than 1/8" to have a stronger plug.

Any chance you'd be looking to make a couple bucks doing this for me?
 

Kyle

New User
Kyle Edwards
that many strips of that length on a table or a bandsaw is nuts.. an accident in the making.


order some 10-12 foot clear WESTERN RED CEDAR or REDWOOD or YELLOW CEDAR and have Jeff or a local sawyer bandsaw it for you..

it will be almost impossible to get lengths of clear usable cedar from local stock..
 
J

jeff...

that many strips of that length on a table or a bandsaw is nuts.. an accident in the making.


order some 10-12 foot clear WESTERN RED CEDAR or REDWOOD or YELLOW CEDAR and have Jeff or a local sawyer bandsaw it for you..

it will be almost impossible to get lengths of clear usable cedar from local stock..

Slick one there Kyle "have Jeff or a local sawyer bandsaw it for you.." Sorry not going to try - no can do, 3/4 x 1/8 strips on the band mill :slap:
 

Kyle

New User
Kyle Edwards
shoot I have bandsawn LOTS of strips of clean cedar for strip canoes..

1- cut them as regular 3/4-4/4 boards or have him plane the boards to 3/4 thick

2- shave off 1/2 to 1/4 strips off of several of those boards. Set boards vertical (4-5 or more) on the mill

3- 15 minutes later you have a BOATLOAD of strips to finish plane/drum sand.

1-2-3 :)
 
J

jeff...

shoot I have bandsawn LOTS of strips of clean cedar for strip canoes..

1- cut them as regular 3/4-4/4 boards or have him plane the boards to 3/4 thick

2- shave off 1/2 to 1/4 strips off of several of those boards. Set boards vertical (4-5 or more) on the mill

3- 15 minutes later you have a BOATLOAD of strips to finish plane/drum sand.

1-2-3 :)

Sounds like you got it all figured out - go for it...
 

JohnsonMBrandon

New User
Brandon Johnson
Kyle if you do ever have time coming up let me know I may interested as well. I know you are a busy man though....and I am too.

- Brandon
 
J

jeff...

My first thoughts were if I gave it a try I would make a bunch of junk. But after thinking about it a little, I could see standing a stack of 3/4 boards on edge and clamping them together with a few big c-clamps, clamp the stack down and swipping off 1/4 strips, then runing them through the planer to bring them down to 1/8", I still think at 1/8" thickness some would break, cedar is some pretty brittle wood when dry.

Only three problems I see:

#1 my planer will not go to 1/8, so I would need to rig up a jig. No real issue here, just takes a little more time.
#2 My mill head wont cut any lower than an 1" off the bed, so 1" of each board would be lost.
#3 Like you I really don't have the time, right now.

Kyle, got your email - but it appears I cant send a reply because of a server problem. Please excuse my 1/2 baked attempt at humor. Now that I re-read what I wrote it wasn't funny at all :roll:
 

Alan in Little Washington

Alan Schaffter
Corporate Member
Boy you guys are making this hard!!!

When I made my cedar stripper canoe, I started with 18'-20' long flatsawn WRC boards, already planed to 3/4". I ripped them into 1/4" X 3/4" strips with a SHOPSMITH no less!!!! You all know how small the table is on a Shopsmith! I separated the halves of an extension ladder and rigged the halves as infeed and outfeed tables.

I had to do a a bit more sanding after the glue-up since I didn't have a planer or jointer, but fairing the hull required a lot of machine (belt and random orbit) and hand (block and spline) sanding anyway. The WRC was soft so sanded easily. That is why I recommend 1/4" vice 1/8" thick strips for the plug.

To make a plug, you'll be doing a lot of fairing and sanding- you'll want it as perfect as possible, to make the mold, especially if you plan to go into production making multiple kayaks. I suspect you'll use a lot of light weight Bondo also. You gotta get that plug perfect. You don't already have a finished fiberglass or plastic kayak that you can spray with mold release and pull a mold from? That sure would be the easiest method. You can always turn the first hull into another plug if it has imperfections. Do you have a chopper gun, or will you be laying up the mold and subsequent kayak hulls by hand?

If I had the material (nearly clear WRC) and you were closer (I'm 1hr+45min east of Raleigh) I'd consider taking the job.
 
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