I've been gathering advice and information from this Bulletin Board for the last several months while getting up to speed on my Great Big Auk. I'm so close to the beginning that you can barely say I've started.

I would like to add one alternative to the recent discussions on strongbacks. I was so paranoid about warping 2x4's that I made mine out of steel studs. At Home Depot I picked up 4 10 ft. sections of the U shaped channel that they use for the top and bottom plate on steel stud walls. I cut one in half and placed it face to face to a whole piece to form a box tube about 1 1/2" by 3 3/4". Sheetmetal screws along the top an bottom make it more ridged than a wooden 2x4 ( and if you measure for your forms ahead of time you won't have to relocate screws like I did).Adding two more sections of channel face to face and finishing with the second half of the first one gave me a 20 ft., very stiff, "2x4". 20 minutes with a hacksaw and tinsnips and 5 minutes with a box of bandaids and I had my strongback. Whatever I end up screwing up on this project I don't think I'll be able to blame the strongback.