Date: Fri, 02 Jul 1999 09:44:04 -0700
From: Mark Haller-Wade <hwade@frazmtn.com>
To: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
Subject: Re: baidarka cutting cedar for a kayak
Art:
It can be done. The Chumash Indians of hte Southern California Coast
made seaworthy boats from planks split from Ponderosa Pines with nothing
but stone tools centuries before saw mills. I too, have split entire
Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pines into usable boards with only hand tools,
although steel not stone. You don't need a lot, I use three steel
wedges, a small slege hammer, a splitting froe or small hand axe, and a
plane. As Phillip mentioned, a bow saw would be helpful as well, though
if you get good at splitting, even this is not necessary. I came to
learn about splitting and seasoning wood via primitive archery as a
hobby before I took on boat building. There are many connections
however: splitting and seasoning wood, steaming and bending,
carving--hand spinning linen lashing material (ala bow strings).
Start your splitting with a wedge driven into one end of your log (sawed
off cleanly). Once the split starts, place the next wedge at the far
end of the developing split and drive it in, continuing the split. The
widening split will free your first wedge, if it doesn't, a third wedge
certainly will. I've never needed more than three wedges. Continue to
work the split down the length of the log in this manner, being as
careful as possible to follow the natural grain and fiber of the log.
BE VERY CAREFUL to keep your face and head out of the way of the
wedges--the pressure from the log can make a five pound wedge fly up
with an incredible force. It seems to particularly happen when
driving. Never put your face or head above the wedges! Once the log is
split in half, do the same to make quarters. Then dip the ends of the
split log in wood glue or melted wax and let dry. This prevents the
quartered wood from splitting and "checking" as it seasons. Let the
logs season in a dry place out of direct sunlight if possible.
Now you're ready to make your boards. Split the quarters into a
dimension slightly larger than you want the finished board, then hand
plane to the proper dimensions--keep you plane sharp! I shape my bows
and arrows, and now baidarka frame pieces with this method. I carefully
use a hand axe for carving curves and eliminating excess wood from the
sides of boards I'm creating.
If this all sounds like A LOT of time and work, well it is! ;-)
AND it doesn't all go as smoothly as I've written. Logs rarely split
cleanly, and splitting finer pieces is an art unto itself (see
archives). But the satisfaction of creating wood work completely from
scratch is infinitely rewarding. Making your boat from those logs will
be three times the work of simply buying the lumber pre-cut and seasoned
from a lumber yard, but the feeling you'll get from taking whole trees
and transforming them into your boat may make up for it. It does for
me. Not to mention, if you live near a large forest, you never have to
spend money at, or rely on a lumber yard again!
All the best with it, sorry this is so long, but what you're attempting
is not a simple process!
--mark.
neuman wrote:
>
> I have been following the mailing lists for many months. In fact the
> information proved valuable while building my first skin on frame kayak,
> which I completed in the spring. This fall as a second project, I plan
> on building Chris Cunginham's Greenland Kayak as described in Sea Kayaker
> Magazine. My question to all concerns the wood for this project. Recently
> I had some cedar trees cut down on my property, The idea of using this
> material for the frame intrigues me. The trouble is, I do not own a "saw
> mill" to turn this into usable lumber. Does anyone have suggestions about
> possible had tools that could be used for this purpose, and there costs. I
> appreciate all input whether this is practical to do, or a silly idea.
>
> Art