Accent Strips

[goani]

Well first things first, hello to everyone out there. I just signed up last night in hopes of posting questions as I stumble along on my first boat. I have been reading through the other posts and learning some great lessons and tips, there is a lot of good advice out there! However, I have yet to find any info on constructing accent strips. I am just starting the hulling process on my 16' prospector and really want add an accent strip, but I have no idea on how to go about it. I am using all WRC and I'm having trouble finding wood types that really stand out. I'm thinking of using some local lodge pole pine that has recently been killed by beetles (leaves a blue stain), but I'm not sure if the wood will be to dry and hard to use. I am also looking for some design plans for accent strips (something to base a plan on), if any one knows of a data base or has ideas please let me know! My boat is on hold for now, and I'm losing time!!

Thanks to all

Goani tongue.gif

[Wild Dingo]

Gidday Goani welcome to this storehouse and font of information...

Accent strip... what Ive been told by one ol fella in Mac McCarthy (he of feather boats canoes) is that the wood you use for the accent can be either one strip of an opposing color timber like you propose although your choice of timber would worry me a tad... or you can cut strips of different colors and cut them into small diamond shapes... okay so your using WRC which is I believe a red wood in color? right so gather to yourself a white wood and a say grey wood... here Ive played with a white (Tuart which is a mustard colored timber) hull and then added sheoak and jarrah to add the contrasts sheoak being a red wood (actually more a golden color than red) with a fantastic lace type grain and jarrah being a bloody deep red timber... now having cut those into diamond shapes you make them lay in an arrow pattern here you can add a small strip of white wood on the outside of the red woods (I put this through the centre of the two red woods)... to contrast again and accentuate the colors... (grey timber Ive thought about here is Banksia and that will be the accent strip when i build her banksia being lighter in weight than sheoak tuart or jarrah)

mmm make sence!! :mad:

Right! Red hull? so gather white woods for the contrast... either stripe them down the entire length of the boat or... cut into diamonds and lay in arrow formation down entire length is these are also red woods use a thin strip of white woods above and below the arrow peices to highlight.

Now another thing Mac told me was that he likes to put the accent strip 4 strips down from the sheer.

Another thing... try to get woods with similar hardness for both the hull and accent strip why? when you come to sand and sand you will by having woods of a similar harness you wont be sanding the accent strip more than the hull woods if you do its almost guarenteed that you will end up with dips and high spots simply due to one wood being harder and requiring more sanding than the other woods

One way around this is to make the accent strip if in harder wood to the finished thickness before you fit it... this will mean less sanding required and hopefully a smoother finish.

Did I finish the boat? nope I got it three quaters done and decided she was going to weigh half a ton! looked damned pretty but too heavy ;( so I took her apart and will start again... as soon as the flamin rain stops! :rolleyes:

Now I will shut up and let the gurus speak! :cool: cause no doubt some buggar will say Im wrong but thats okay.

All the best mate and again welcome

[ 08-17-2005, 02:48 AM: Message edited by: Wild Dingo ]

[Wild Dingo]

OH and one final thought... instead of clamping a multitude of clamps each time you glue another strip or two try this

Use fishin line!... screw your first strip as usual then screw in some screws into the moulds say every 2 in or so all round each of mould body... leaving half inch or so of the shank clear... as you lay your strips run the fishing line around the strip to the screw and back all the way along the length of the strip... doing both sides at the same time if you have a helper!...

This will not only pull the strip down tight to the strip below it but you wont have staples or clamps everywhere! It will also make the stripping process go ****eloads faster! AND IT WORKS!! :cool:

See you dont have to wait till the glue dries to move on and lay the next strip... just bung the glue on the strip over the fishing line and lay the next strip the fishing line will pull the top most strip down onto itself and the bottom strip

Also this way you end up with a tight hull and the small gaps left by the fishin line will be covered and filled easily by the gap filling properties of the epoxy when you cover it!

Thanks must go to the legend that showed me that method... thanks! :cool: (damned memory has lapsed but he knows who he is! :D )

Dont mean to sound as though I am telling you how to do it all just offering some advice and options as have been offered to me from time to time.

Cheers!

[ 08-17-2005, 03:00 AM: Message edited by: Wild Dingo ]

[Wild Dingo]

Your right Jeff... I recall seeing one canoe that had been completed till just prior to glassing and the guy got a arty brain phart and decided to do as the kayak guys do and cut a section at the bow to a particular design (American Indian head I think?) and inserted the created art work into the cutout area... looked bloody brilliant! Overdone but brilliant none the less

Another I saw had more art work along the inwales If memory recalls correctly small fish although that could be wrong it was something small carved from some dark timber and epoxied onto the wales... and he also had the most amazing carving of a eagle taking off on the bow wings arched back along the breasthook... now that one was bloody awesome! used some exotic timbers too if my recalls on track which is funny cause I think it is tonight! :cool:

I think the idea of making instarta (sp?) art work and inserting into the finished canoe is a good one... although it does open up the time frame for building increadibly... and if the kayak fellas can do it then why not dress up a canoe?

As you say a single strip of some exotic timber would not set you back a heck of a lot of money and would add a flavor to the finished canoe that would no doubt increase its pleasure in use for the builder and if sold may even hold a higher price... perhaps perhaps not... it would though definantly add a little something to the overall wouldnt it?

Mac did say that although he wouldnt build a canoe from sassafrass he would one day like to do a nice feature strip with the stuff so that being a US timber perhaps not exotic but if Mac says it would be nice then Ive no doubt that it would... the mans a ruddy legend :cool:

Personally Im on the hunt for a couple of lengths of plum to use for the same purpose but I somehow doubt Im going to find a 14ft lonf length of plum tree anywhere :rolleyes: but thats the wonders of epoxy kicks in isnt it? A couple of scarfs and some googe and whalla a nice long length of one of the most interesting timbers... now add that to something like the golden lace effect of sheoak and man have you got a work of art!! :cool:

[garland reese]

WRC has a lot of colour variance. Also, Redwood can be found in a very dark color. Pine can be had relatively cheaply. for my canoe, I used a 1/8 inch x 3/4 inch strip of pine. On top of that, I used 6 inch sections of 1/4 x 3/4, bevel cut at 45 degrees, alternating pine and a dark redwood. On top of that was another layer of the same, but the wood types were offset a few inches. And finally, another 1/8 strip of pine was placed on top. I glued all this up in a little jig....just L shaped sections to keep everything squared up as best as I could. Ultimately the strip would be about 14 feet in length for the boat I built. after the glue dried, I ran in through the table saw to clean up the outside face, then set the saw for 1/4 strips. I ran it through once more. There was just enough thickness left on the strip to allow clean up of the opposite side (which, with care in initial layup of the strip, not much more than shaving off the glue and truing up the joints a tad is required.) I'd post a pic, but I don't have any digital pictures of my boat......I'm decidedly low tech.

The guillemot kayak site (Nick Schade) should provide a vast amount of information and expertise in doing some very impressive accent strips.....some of those guys are doing artwork..not building boats. Check em out. The forum is most helpful, for the most part.

[cedar savage]

goani:

when ripping your strips for the rest of the boat, run some cherry and maple through.

you'll have 3/4 by 1/4 - glue them up into 3/4 by 3/4 and ripsaw again - nice looking dark/light/dark - or vice versa.

dunno about the lodge pole pine. never worked with that. sorta sceptical about it.

[capt jake]

WRC has a lot of colour variance. This is how I did the accent strips on my kayak. The heart vs sap wood varies a lot in color. The nice thing about using the same species is that it all sands at the same rate come finish time. ;)

I have been told taht my site still is out there. Try this link. Kayak pages (http://home.comcast.net/~jwentz4/kayak.htm)
http://home.comcast.net/~jwentz4/Dsc00618.jpg

[ 08-17-2005, 08:01 PM: Message edited by: capt jake ]

[Rod Tait]

Are you looking to create a detailed accent strip of small pieces or are you simply looking for a different type of wood in full length to offset the WRC? I would look at Alaskan yellow cedar.

From your description of the pine beetle problem, you sound like you might be in the Pacific Northwest and yellow cedar is all over the place. Pine might be knotty and hard to fair out against the softer WRC.

There are some good sites that describe accent strips. One that comes to mind is John Michne's site at http://www.michneboat.com/Making%20Accent%20Stripes.htm

[John Meachen]

MacMcCarty's book on featherweight canoe building contains some information about accent strips,including patterns.You probably ought to test finish a few samples before building anything with them.One coat should show the sort of colour to expect.