Well, thanks to the generosity of my good friend Ray, I was able to get my dimensional lumber cut down last night. It wasn't easy. Cutting a continuous 1/2" strip out of a 16' length required a 32' open space with the saw at the center. So we had to move his table saw to the door of his garage.
The results were spectacular - not only is Ray's shop well-equipped, he's also very skilfull. Everything came out as specified by the plans, and we both finished the job with the same ten fingers we started with. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the process; we had our hands full performing the cuts with just two sets of hands. Seriously, table saws are scary. I'm thankful to have an experienced guide to shepherd me through the process.
The only problem we encountered was that the 16' 2x4 I brought had some knot issues. It was the clearest piece I could find at the store, but we were unable to get any knot-free slices out of it. One gunwale actually broke as we lifted it off the saw table, because the 1/2" slice was completely interrupted by a knot. Each of the "good" gunwale cuts we got has at least one point where the wood is compromised. So I may end up having to epoxy shorter pieces together to make my 16' pieces. We'll see how they hold up when I use them as flexible straight edges to loft the patterns on the plywood.
In other news, my mother's garage - home to my brother's Teal project - is under contract to sell along with the rest of the house. So we're going to need to get it... not necessarily finished, but weather-proof, at least, and quickly. I think we'll probably epoxy-and-glass-tape the seams tomorrow, and try to paint the hull by mid-May. Once it's painted, the final details can be safely completed in an outdoor work space without hurting the boat. This push to "completion" on the Teal might pull me away from the Melanesia for a bit.
But while we're mixing epoxy for the Teal's seams tomorrow, I'm hoping to laminate the pieces for my steering paddle. Then I'll have a shaping project to occupy idle hands in the little bits of time that occasionally become available.
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