Top Planks!

Doc had a great idea to use sand bags to weigh down those battens and high spots! Cheers Doc!

Had I waited, I might have done that, but, I couldn't wait! It was trivia night and I had a few nice frothy ones and got home and decided to fix a broken knob off of my truck, and that was sitting on top of last weeks bottom plank project and I started fiddling with that. Next thing you know, I was finding a place to stow that and placing the top planks on the rocker table!

I want to give a shout out to Mike L. at Grain Surfboards for the choice lumber. There is some nice "grain" in that wood (western red cedar and white cedar). I'm wondering how the pattern will look eventually.

Does anyone know how to bring out the grain better before fiberglassing and epoxy-ing? Stain maybe?

I want to say hello to my ma and pa, as they had never seen me looking like Frodo until they caught up with this blog.

Last week while the bottom was dry, I glued the two-piece keel together, going as best I could by eye to get the rocker correct and the cut in rabbets that were cut in on either side of the joint in line.

Tonight I taped and glued the top planks and took more pics as well. I'll just throw them up there, they seem to be in some order. I got a different masking tape. The tan stuff that is med to high stickness. Worked good, used less than the blue. Seemed to fill in the crevaces better and I didn't bother steaming or any of that hooey this time to cut down on time. The tape was flimsier than the blue.

I had the tunes down low. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and a mix made in 88 from a buddy in OC, MD of some really heady reggae. It's an awesome mix, thanks John Spence.

Everything went smooth, taping, gluing, battons, clamping, etc... two more bar clamps and battons would be perfect. Those pipe clamps are still the best! I would reccommend, however that if you take on this project, to have a minimum of one bar clamp per foot and as many battons (sp?). I had a few high spots, but not bad and I don't think they'll matter, i put some weight on them to press them down. And it looks like I might have a few gaps in the butted joints. Not sure, top corner of the planks could have been slightly rounder making it look like there was a gap. We'll see tomorrow. But all in all, the thing is going to be covered in fiberglass and epoxy, so as structural integrity (star trek-YO!) goes it should be fine. I put a pic in there of the planks hanging over the edge of the rocker table exposing the seam to be glued. Hope it helps.

My basement is cold, about 50 degrees F, so I put a space heater near the board this time, last time the drying took more than 12 hours with low temp and high humidity. I better check on it and make sure it's not too hot.

I want to say "Hi" to my vampire Mistress Mango in Philly! She's getting a kick out of my shop talk and would like to someday handle my tools. Or I'm just hoping!

Check back for more woodworking! :-)