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A Ravenswood Build


Bcone1381

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I started building a Kudzu Craft Ravenswood Kayak today. I will try recording the build process with photos along the way.

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Total time so far : 1.0 hours

Total Cost so far: $80 for plans, one spool of waxed Sinew, plus shipping

Material on hand : 1/2 marine plywood

Next step: glue the plans to the plywood, finish the jig for the coaming.

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This will be the first coaming I have ever made. I have spent a couple hours experimenting, and expect some failure....I mean some educational by experience along the way.

The jig for the coaming was made from MDF.

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I am a novice woodworker. Re-sawing an oak board into strips using a band saw resulted in wavy cuts. I soaked them last night in preparation to bending them around the jig. But I woke up this morning realizing a need for more exciting tolerances on the oak strips thickness. Will work on that today.

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Time spent:

Re sawing oak: 1.0 hours

Coaming Jig : 2.0 hours

Total time so far : 4.0 hours

Cost:

One clear Oak 1x4x8': $13.74

Total cost to date: $93.74

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The jig looks good - very neat.

 

How thick are the strips you cut for the coaming? I can't remember exactly how thick mine were but the curve at the front is difficult to get around without snapping some strips so they need to be fairly thin. Apart from the water a heat gun can be a big help if you are having trouble.

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Labrat, the strips of wood are 1/8" thick....well, it's thickness is not uniform, but after yesterday's post I trimmed them so the max thickness went from 1/4 down to an 1/8". I will have four wraps of 1.5 inch oak strips, then four more with 1/2 wide oak strips for the top lip of the coaming. I think my coaming will have some rustic elegant character to it....if you know what I mean.

My parents got this roaster as a wedding gift in 1949.

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Today it fulfills the need as my steam generator. My wife invoked the "no open flames inside the house rule" when considering the use of the gas Coleman camping stove. The long pipe is a clothes dryer duct...ask your wife's permission before taking yours down for a project like this.

Again, I call on the wisdom of The Lord in hopes that this works!! I've never bent wood before, and here I go, blabbing to all of His Creation like I am an expert!

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Post edited due to dyslectic author fixing grammar.

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I soaked mine where the bend was tight.  Use a heat gun and bent/clamped them around the mold, without gluing.  Let it sit a couple days to completely dry then put it back together with glue.  That way I didn't have to use a heat gut with the glue. It worked much better than my first attempt.

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P. Douglas,

I am glad you spoke about the pre-bending/disassemble, the assemble-glueing procedure! I was wondering about the wet wood, glue, heat gun issues that I might have. Up to now, I was just going to wipe the hot steamy wood off with a cloth and slither on the glue and go for it. I will seriously reconsider.

What happened with the failed method?

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The first attempt, did not fail, it is on my kayak.  However I worried about the fact I used a heat gun and glued it at the same time.  Some of the glue turned dark and some boiled up while I was putting it together.  So far it is still holding together.  I purchased to supplies to build a second kayak and the first and only thing I have built for it is the coaming.  It is the one I used water and pre-bent the wood as I described in my post above.  It went together much easier and looks better then my first one.

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Why use the band saw?

1) I am a rookie with more book knowledge that practical application and believe the band saw is a good tool for re-sawing.

2) I invested in a re sawing band saw blade so "I gotta put it to use."

2) the band saw kirf is at most .015" thick.

3) The table saw kirf is .125" thick and would have doubled my lumber cost.

4) I was able to resaw a 4" inch board.

But with my results, the table saw would have given tighter tolerances. A weakness of mine is being a human being therefore "Am unwilling to admit my error." A strong point is that I recognize my own ignorance. In the hands of a skilled woodworker, I still think that the band saw properly adjusted with the right blade is a better tool for re-sawing, and that my skill level is the issue. However, am have an open mind, am willing to be influenced, and appreciate the question.

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I have watched a lot of his videos. He is a great teacher! I just have time to learn but less so to refine skills. Anyway, if anyone is interested, I use a blade made by Highland, called the Wood Slicer Resawing blade. I cannot compare it to others as it is the first resaw blade I have owned. I resawed 4" oak with it.

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I have the main coaming glued up and will add its lip over the next few days.

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Quit honestly, initially it looked unacceptable to me, but I thought I would try to save it. I sanded it down and this helped the cosmetics a great deal. On this side you see gaps between the strips of oak. Some might say its clamping pressure issues or uneven Resawing issues, but lets just call it a skill and experience issue.

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This is what it looks like on the other side where I filled in the gaps with mixture of saw dust and wood glue.

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I think it made a big difference and is nice enough to use it.

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Thanks for these pictures. I just purchased a ravenswood plans set as well. I look forward to your pictures of the lip installation. I am having problems visualizing the process. Does it involve laying lots of little pieces side by side in a radial pattern? How much over hang on the lip is required?

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MKS, The process I am using wraps thin (1/8" thin) strips of oak around a mold. The strips are up to 7 feet long. I built up the about four layers to 1/2 " thick with the wide stuff (1 1/2" wide) then went to the narrower (1/2) wide for the lip.

Here is a photo of a narrow strip I am using to build up the lip.

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I wish I had a few more clamps!

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The lip is almost built up. I will have three layers for about 3/8".

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