First of all, thanks to everyone for making this a BB a great place to hang out. Building stripper boats at the other end of the continent was supposed to be a lonely business, just me and some some books for company. But since I found the Bear Mountain BB and through that came to the Kayakforum, things have changed a lot. I have read almost daily about other people's successes and misfortunes, and I have enjoyed all the sound advice given.

My first canoe is about half build, and next on the list is an Endeavour Kayak, by Steve Killing. For those who like this sort of information, it will be stapless, with a recessed cockpit, and will also feature a Ted Moores style sheer guard ( rub rail ), when it is time to join the hull.

I actually fancy the idea of using a canoe style inwale (obviously pointing outwards). The result would be known as a scuppered rub rail. What for ? This would allow wide lasagna-style deck straps, a bit like the deck straps I have seen in pics of real sealskin greenland kayaks, that have bands of sealskin stretch around the entire hull and seem to hold a spare paddle down real well. I would make the scuppers wider at the bottom than at the top, sew a loop into each end of the strap, pass it through the scupper (the strap should be streching by now), slide a little piec of wood into the loop and let the strap slide back ito ther scupper. Anyway, before you try to talk me out of it, I will actually do a test fit first and look at it for a few days. It may just look too weird...

Now for my question:

Here in Valdivia, Chile, there is to be found a very friendly lumberyard-furniture shop hybrid. It is a family business, and they buy slices of tree trunks about 12 feet long from landowners. This are gorgeous oldgrowth trees coming from the chilean cold rainforest. At the lumberyard the saw them up on a huge ancient saw into 2x8 and stack them. Then, nothing happens for 3 years, as the lumber is airdried. Then, they proceed to make doors, windows, and all sorts of fine furniture.

The wood I want for my kayak, CIPRES DE CORDILLERA (Austrocedrus Chilensis), is still part of one of those logs, a straight piece without knots, which is very hard to get in this species. Somewhere I read about ripping strips from fresh wood, the idea being that since the strips are so thin, they will dry in about 3 months. Obviously they will bend and twist a little, but that should not be a problem.

How dangerous an undertaking will this be ? Also, do I mill the bead and cove right away, or do I wait until it it time to use the strips ? Also, and this may be important: The only table saw I have access to is a tabletop direct driven bottom of the range model. So I am thinking about asking the lumberyard to give me boards in 3/4 inch dressed thickness. How wide should each of these boards be ? (remember this is fresh wood). I guess what I really need is some general advice on handling fresh lumber and the fastest way to turn it into dry and milled strips.

Pascal