Desirable wood for stem/keel/etc for a Tammie Norrie

[KenStocker]

Re: Desirable wood for stem/keel/etc for a Tammie Norrie

Hi Jeff, thought I'd chime in here on what I used and why. I suspect all of us use what is available, whether it's' what we have on hand, or what we can access wherever we live. For me, I had those 5 pieces of 2x10 and 2x13 absolutely-can't-find-this-anywhere-straight-grained-fir. (All for $50 at a garage sale!)So I used that for the stem. I had thought to use oak for that, but there seems to be more of a problem with oak gluing well, or at least that precautions need to be taken. Frankly I just didn't want to bother, so the fir was an easy solution. As for the keelson, I used Port Orford Cedar for two reasons. #1, Port Orford is about 40 miles south of me, so very much a "local" source. And secondly, because I had zero experience with hand planes, etc., that I didn't want to be subject to planing something rock hard like oak. The POC planed like butter, steam bent to the transom like it wanted to go there, and was in general very much a pleasure to work with. Other than that, you also want to think ahead to how you're going to finish things. Do you want to finish it bright, and if so, how many different species do you want showing? Different wood shows off different colors. If you're painting, not an issue. In my case, the interior will be white, with the seats, knees, etc. finished bright mahogany for contrast. Even so, I'm still trying to decide if I want to use the remaining fir for the floors, or if that just adds too many notes. Anyway, that's the extent of my thinking.

Ken

[VT_Jeff]

Re: Desirable wood for stem/keel/etc for a Tammie Norrie

Thanks for the input Ken. Sounds like you made some well-thought out decisions and got a gimme or two with the Doug Fir falling into your lap. What a great find!

I'd like the transom, keel and outer stem to be bright, all planks but sheerstrake off-white on outside, sheerstrake bright, inside will be all bright. I'm thinking of just an oil finish if I can get away with it. This would be a refined variation on the theme of my driftboat. The bright interior of this boat has some major areas that were just peanut-buttered together with a non-color-matching wood-flour/epoxy mix and for the life of me I can't get anyone to notice the flaws, people just see some bright wood and ooh and ahh and then look back down at their phone. So I know what I can get away with imperfection wise.

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Here's where I am right now: I know Doug fir will be a lot easier to work than Cherry but the Cherry is right down the street and if I use it for the whole backbone I think it will really look sharp. I'm going to use okume for all the planks, despite Ed's excellent advice on different species for different components. I've built 2 boats with it so far, it works well and gives my mind a chance to focus on other problems.

I'm hoping to complete my skiff by July 4th, take a break from the shop for the summer and then begin in earnest in the fall on the TN. Here's the skiff.

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[KenStocker]

Re: Desirable wood for stem/keel/etc for a Tammie Norrie

Nice work Jeff, but I do see one problem. If you keep cranking out boats like this you are going to make the rest of us look like real slugs! It is addicting though, isn't it? If I were younger, I can see where it is hard to stop. As it is...well...if the grand-kids insist on building a boat of their own, Paka would feel obligated to lend a hand. Might have to move closer, retire, turn my whole life up-side down, but... (Tell me again how you define an addiction?)

Ken

[VT_Jeff]

Re: Desirable wood for stem/keel/etc for a Tammie Norrie

Thanks Ken. Definitely addicting! I was thinking of trying my hand at acoustic guitars after the next boat but lately I've been feeling the draw of a strip-built canoe or kayak. I figure the Tammie Norrie will be a 3 year project so plenty of time to figure out what's next.

Helping the grand-kids build boats sounds like retirement nirvana!

[VT_Jeff]

Re: Desirable wood for stem/keel/etc for a Tammie Norrie

I got the flats-skiff to where we could use it and we've been using it a LOT! Works great, couple ticky-tack items I need to address, like dry sweatshirt storage for the admiral.

Gearing up to start my Tammie Norrie in the fall and have a quick question on mold cutting: My thought is to stack up 2 sheets of the mold plywood, trace each mold half-pattern onto the top, cut out the two halves together, then edge-glue them together, maybe with a backer if needed. Was thinking of using carbon paper to do the tracing instead of an awl. Just looking for a sanity check so I can move onto the next thing to think about.

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[treemapper]

Getting set to build a Tammie Norrie and interested to know what woods you used for stem and keel? I assume yours is finished, how did it come out?

Steven

[KenStocker]

I can only wish I were done! While I see people work several hours a week, it never seems to work out that way for me. Just too much going on in many areas in life, so I just made up my mind to enjoy whatever time I can squeeze in. The reality is that I average more like four hours a month if I'm lucky! So currently...I am working to finish the floors/floorboards. After that the plan is to work on the inner gunnel/spacer blocks. Then the most anticipated part is to begin the aft seats, which will be made out of the curly birdseye maple that I have been saving for 20+ years. (Literally!) So those two steps,h the black walnut spacer blocks and the maple seats, (trimmed with mahogany strips) are two of the most beautiful woods that I have, at least in what I anticipate seeing when done. Hoping for a weekend while my wife is visiting a friend in a couple of weeks.

As to woods used, for the stem I used Douglas Fir. Ripped into 1/8th strips, steam bent and laminated. For the keel I used Port Orford white Cedar. I used that because it would be easier to shape with a hand plane. Having never done that, I was a little nervous. Not sure I would do that again, just because it's pretty soft. Covered with Doug Fir for the skeg, bilge runners and stem, and those all capped with bronze 1/2 round, it's not going to be a problem.

Looking forward to seeing you progress!

Ken