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Coaming lip choices


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I wanted to get your impressions of using the rope method for creating a lip on a coaming. Jeff used one on his first Vardo and I liked the look but is there and advantage to it over wood? Most people, including Jeff himself, seem to favour the wooden lip. Are there other alternatives?

Your thoughts?

Richard

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Coamings  "no plywood is not good for me" "I have to have laminated"

It took me two weeks, I worked at it every day, an hour here and an  hour there,  (2 hours there) to make a coaming.

Between cutting strips. making a jig, planing, planning etc. the first one of three is complete.

I am not completely satisfied but it was a good learning experience it looks cool.

I got 2 maple 1x 6 and a redwood 2 x 6  to make 3 coamings. I used my cheap ass table saw to cut   the 1 x 6 into 1 7/8  then split

that 3/4 thickness into thirds that was hairy. Plane it afterwards  i left the lip a little fatter  the 2 x 6 red wood was easy on the table saw.

The maple bent nicely, I wet it good and used a heat gun. On the oither hand he redwood sucked

It cracked outright broke and was a bitch to work with. I ended up gluing and  clamping over the cracks

it ended up staying put after the TB3 set. I wanted the nice contrast. You people are the only ones i will tell

that I am not completely happy with it.  Will steam help the red cedar?

Now that I am writing this I don't know if it is redwood or red cedar?

Note to self you can never have enough clamps.

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Jeff's Vardo is what made me bring it up in the first place but he doesn't seem to use it himself. I wasn't sure if he has lost favour with the technique because of some flaw with the design or that he just prefers the look of the wooden lip. Thanks for the links. I will check them out.

As for your coaming, I like the look of the contrasting wood grain. Sorry to hear that you had so much trouble with it.

Richard

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I thought about doing a rope coaming lip, saw some urethane coated rope that I thought would have real good grip, but in the end I went with the oak laminated. I did five layers of laminate and then just routed out the excess layers on the bottom to make the lip and did a rounded routing and sanding on the top edges to make it nice and smooth. It looks alot better then this pic, this was just with the first coat of tung oil.

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Quote by CapecodJohn:

"The maple bent nicely, I wet it good and used a heat gun. On the oither hand he redwood sucked

It cracked outright broke and was a bitch to work with. I ended up gluing and  clamping over the cracks

it ended up staying put after the TB3 set."

 

I made a really simple steamer out of pvc pipe and a curtain steamer, 15-30 minutes of steaming and my oak bent perfectly. if you look at my nimrod thread there are some pics and details.

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Jeff's Vardo is what made me bring it up in the first place but he doesn't seem to use it himself. I wasn't sure if he has lost favour with the technique because of some flaw with the design or that he just prefers the look of the wooden lip. Thanks for the links. I will check them out.

As for your coaming, I like the look of the contrasting wood grain. Sorry to hear that you had so much trouble with it.

Richard

It's not so much "trouble it's the learning curve.

I am building three of them, number 2 is coming along much better it will be more refined now that I am an expert. I can't wait to get started on #3 it will be perfection! 7 layers, glue em up, one a day, Pics on Sunday piece of cake.

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I made a really simple steamer out of pvc pipe and a curtain steamer, 15-30 minutes of steaming and my oak bent perfectly. if you look at my nimrod thread there are some pics and details.

Oak is probably the most flexible and sinewy wood there is during steam bending.  It bends quite well just using a hot wet cloth.  Redwood will not bend well at all under any circumstance.  You can build the best steamer and it will only work on some woods well.  Many woods, especially softwoods, don't like to bend.

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I am building three of them, number 2 is coming along much better it will be more refined now that I am an expert. I can't wait to get started on #3 it will be perfection! 7 layers, glue em up, one a day, Pics on Sunday piece of cake.

Dibs on number 2!

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I found maple to bend very well. Soft maple that is. I didn't steam it, just used a heat gun. Probably my favorite I have used. I tried Cherry and I gave up on it. I tired basswood and it is great to work with, but it bends to easy and doesn't spring back really well. So I will not use it again. 

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Ash also bends well. Ever seen a pair of wooden snowshoes?

I've seen AYC steam bent in person and in books.

First choice for steaming is green wood.

If you must use air or kiln dried wood, soak it first. It will re-absorb some water.

Then use lots of hot, wet steam, or boiling water. (+- 1hr per inch)

It's the heat AND moisture that make the magic.

Then again, first builders bent a lot of ribs and coamings by chewing the wood. Seriously.

As far as redwood goes, I've seen coastal redwood dugout canoes that had their gunnels spread by boiling the wood soft with hot rocks. I've also personally applied boiling water soaked cloths the hood ends of sequoia redwood canoe planks to shape them.

Neither is a coaming, though. Smiley face thing.

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I visited southern KY to visit relatives a dozen years ago and I was enthralled with the hardwood forests.

We got needles galore out here.

If you find a small saw mill and show them your beautiful boats, they'll cut you some nice stuff. I found one way down a dirt road on my bike one day. They have a hand painted sign...

I buy hardwoods from a fancy furniture wood guy. It's all too dry, but I soak it, and most of it works.

I'll post photos when I steam up my freeb coaming.

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So for building a coaming oak and soft maple seem to be the better choice and are very common. I would think that ash wouldn't be too hard to get either. Have you guys tried any others that you would recommend to the forum?

Hardness is not the issue.  It is whether the wood becomes sinewy or stays brittle when heated or steamed.  Hardwoods in general become sinewy and softwoods in general stay brittle.  Remember to look the words hardwood and softwood up, they don't mean what most people think they mean.

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Got coaming # 2 finished it went / bent a lot easier, I planed the stock a little thinner

 and yes it is redwood and maple.  there was some slight cracking of the redwood

but extra glue and clamping took care of that. I can't wait til tomorrow,

why, because I get better every day. Number 3 should be the ultimate.

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