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Iron the Plans


Chris Martin

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The Curlew plans came in the mail today.

 

Thanks Jeff for the prompt work.

 

For anyone who has ever thought about it you can take the cutout plans and iron them with an iron on medium heat with steam. I did not use an ironing board just used a largish sheet of nice finish 3/4'' plywood.

 

The ink does not run, the plans do not curl.

 

The good news is all of the creases are gone which should allow them to be applied on the wood even easier without worrying too much about flattening them out.

 

Yes, maybe a little overkill but it worked.

 

In the morning off to a place near me which has both 5x5 Baltic Birch and Okume BS 1088  and will check on the price. 12mm Okume is a little shy of 1/2'' but 15mm seems a little overkill.

 

Houston, Texas

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I will give you another tip. When you cut them out, leave paper inside the coamings if your are going with the plywood coaming. If you cut it out without leaving most of the paper in the center of the coaming it's very hard to put it down on the plywood and not distort the coaming.I forgot yesterday and struggled with one of my coamings.

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In the morning off to a place near me which has both 5x5 Baltic Birch and Okume BS 1088  and will check on the price. 12mm Okume is a little shy of 1/2'' but 15mm seems a little overkill.

 

The US is the only country I know of that manufactures forest products to SAE measurements and even our 1/2" plywood isn't 1/2" thick.  Now consider that the Baltic Birch is manufactured in a metric measuring country as is the Okoume, so it is also 12mm, just that we can't think in metric, so it is sold as 1/2" to cabinet makers who are the primary customer for it.  I just put a micrometer to a scrap of my BB and got .476".  Now if you multiply that by 25.4 you get 12.09.  Allowing for the high humidity of the past week or more in my area that would seem quite accurate.  All this aside I think you will find both to be quite sound if you cut your frames to Jeff's specifications.  Most here feel that the BB is more than adequate for SOF kayaks and in part that is due to price.  You will have to make your own evaluation after pricing both out.

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Dave, this brings to mind a thought I've had about BB.  I have made a little Grinder Organ and plan on making more.  I use a lot of BB in the construction of internal parts, like bellows, air reservoir, pressure box, etc.  Air leaks can be a problem so I strive for no tear out.  I get a little tear out, even though I have a good Forrest blade, zero clearance insert.  The only way I have been able to prevent it is to put tape where I am going to saw.  I wondering if I varnished the wood, like the whole sheet, prior to cutting, would that help?  Them I would have to worry about glueing, will it stick to varnish.... sorry, very early in the am and my mind is wondering.

 

Chris, if this is your first, you will really enjoy the build, if not you already know that.  Lots of pictures, please.

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Paul, don't know what you have in your shop but I find that my bandsaw does the best job of cutting the BB. My jig saw will leave a bit of a ragged edge. Haven't run much through the table saw but I have heard people speak of scoring the cut line before. Not heard of tape but that sounds like a good idea.

 

One of the biggest reason I quite using DF for my frames was the fact the quality got to the point where I couldn't cut out a part without major splintering! And of course the hidden holes in between the plys.

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Well the good news

 

1/2'' 5x5 Baltic Birch 4B (patched on both sides) $31.00

1/2" 5x5 Baltic Birch 3B (patched on 1 side)  $36.00

 

4x8 sheet 12mm Okoume $120

4x8 sheet 12mm Hydrotek $85

4x8 sheet 12mm Aquatek $79

 

Good news is they will sell a 4x4 sheet at 1/2 price + $2.00

 

I probably would not get the Okoume if I had to buy a whole sheet but pretty sure I can fit all that need in 4x4.

 

Speaking of Cost

 

I have 2 "plastic" British Style Sea Kayaks and if I had to replace then even on sale $1600-$1900

 

Fiberglass is now in the $3500 range

 

Stick and Glue Kits are $1200 or so.

 

So even if these kayaks are in the range $400-600 it is still a great deal.

 

You might say why am I building when I already have 2? At age 55 those 60 lb kayaks don't just jump up on top of the truck and even though I built a nice roll it up system heavy is heavy.

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I pay close to $50 for BB and tickled to find it at that price.

 

I just cut out a Firefily kit for customer and it JUST fit on the 5x5 sheet. There is a lot of pieces for that boat and I was sure I was going to come up short. Without coamings, you probably can squeeze a Curlew on a 4 x 4 but it will close.

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I did a Curlew and a Freebie 12 out of a 5x5, but with laminated combings.

 

I also find the band saw is the best for avoiding tear out.  But if you have to use a jig saw it helpls to score the line with a razor knife, then cut just outside the line.  Tape helps some, but not a lot.  I never tried pre-varnishing.  Would that create issues gluing issues for the grinder organs?

 

Those are all good prices Chris, and based on what others here have said you have a great supplier.  Hydrotek is Meranti, so a bit heavier than Okume, about 15 - 20% I believe.  I am not sure what Aquatek is.  Any of those would be most acceptable for kayaks.

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I camp a piece of scrap over materials that tend to tear out. The scrap goes on the side the tooth is facing. I have slivers of 1/4" plywood around the table saw just for this purpose and it works on jig saws too. Technique and a fine blade also help.

 

I wouldn't recommend ironing paper plans. Paper has a grain, just like wood and it expands and contracts the same as wood, so you can unintentionally change the scale of the drawings a bit, with an iron. It'll be a small amount, but enough that dimensions will be off.

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