Cedar Kayak - Day 1

I started a new project today; a 17' single person kayak called the Guillemot. I spent the first part of the morning reviewing the section of the book that deals with selecting the wood. I thought we had enough Western Red Cedar to build 500 boats, but I found that it's best to start with "flat grain" lumber.

So, that means I had to spend an hour looking through the stacks for the right cuts of lumber. It was an important to do this because after ripping "flat grain" lumber on the the table saw, it becomes "vertical grain" (also known as "quarter-sawn") in its usable format. Now I can bend the strips along the grain and not against it, which means more strength and easier sanding.

Each strip is 1/4" x 3/4" and 8ft to 16ft long. I started with 5/4 x 4" Western Red Cedar, kiln dried and clear of knots. I planed the wood down to a little over 3/4" thick then ran it through the wide belt sander for a nice finish.


I estimated that I have over 25% more than the recommended amount of length needed for this boat; roughly 1,250 feet. I still have to run the material through the Cove & Bead shaper to make easier to lay the strips over the curved patterns. So far it's a good start and I have some more reading to do.

Project Elapsed Time: 5.5 hrs