August 10, 1997 - Sunday I made a outfeed table going out the window of my shop that was 16 feet long. I ripped the wood to 5/16" thick, planed it to 1/4" and the added the cove and bead. This was very boring and took most of the day. It created huge amounts of saw dust. August 11, 1997 - Monday Called Noah's and asked Jason if the plans had been mailed. I was informed that they were mailed out the middle of the previous week because they had to be ordered form Bear Mountain. (I should have ordered the plans directly from Bear Mountain.) That night I attended a Woodworkers Guild of Georgia meeting and purchased a 8' piece of ash for the accent stripe and gunwales. I still may use redwood from Peachstate Lumber. It depends on the color of the red cedar. Aug 12, 1997 - Tuesday The plans arrived in the mail and I was off to the drug store to buy tracing paper. I cut out the patterns for the stems. Each form has about nine 2" diameter holes for using clamps to bend the stem. Aug 13, 1997 - Wednesday Once back from work, I cleaned the bath tub for soaking the stem laminations. The pieces just barely fit into the tub. I soaked them in hot water for three hours. While they were soaking I went to Home Depot to buy some more clamps and a good quality (expensive) level. I traced out the patterns for #6, #1, and #2 forms. The ash bent very well around the stem form. I left them with seven clamps on each. Aug 14, 1997 - Thursday I cut out patterns #6, #1, and #2. The patterns were so big that I had to add additional support for cutting them on the band saw. The bent stems were removed from the mold and hung to dry. Aug 15, 1997 - Friday I stopped by E & B Discount Marine for the 105 Resin and 207 Hardener. This cost $220. Wow! Later that night I spent about two hours drawing the rest of the molds onto the particle board and I also mixed up epoxy for pouring on the scraps of red cedar to see the color of the wood. Most of the boards are about the same color. Aug 16, 1997 - Saturday The weekend is finally here. I started by driving to Peachstate Lumber to buy some Paduak for the gunwales and an accent stripe. I realize that I will have to coat the paduak before the rest of the hull to keep the red dye from running onto the red cedar. Back at the shop, I used the particle board for an outfeed table for cutting, planing and milling the paduak. I made a holder for planks that suspends them from the ceiling. This keeps the strips handy and also keeps each group separate based on which plank they were cut from. I have decided to build it in the basement because of the high humidity outside. I finished up by cutting the rest of the forms and cleaned up the shop by about 5 o'clock. Aug 17, 1997 - Sunday Started the day by epoxying up the stems. This takes every clamp that I have. The rest of the day is spent cleaning up and moving the strongback to the basement. I ended up epoxying it to the floor late on Sunday night. The strongback is much more stable on the concrete than the wood porch floor. Hopefully I will be able to get the canoe out the window. Aug 18, 1997 - Monday I stopped by Home Depot and bought 3/8" and 1/2" staples, screws, 1" masking tape for the forms, washers, and 32 oz of Titebond wood glue. Once home I sanded the stems so that they would break apart. I then attached the Stem and #6 form to the strongback. Once they were attached I realized that the ends of the strongback allowed too much twist. I will fix this on Tuesday by screwing a piece of plywood to the end and gluing it to the floor. This should stop the twist. Working on the forms is very tedious work and requires a lot of concentration. If they are off, the whole canoe will be twisted. Aug. 19, 1997 - Tuesday I started tonight by adding boards to the end of the strongback. I wanted to stabilize the twisting action of the strongback. I later decided that this caused more problems than solutions. All of the forms were installed. The Hiawatha is starting to take form. The last activity of the evening was to tape some of the forms in preparation for the wax coating. Aug. 20, 1997 - Wednesday I started off the night by determining where the stems needed to be sanded to produce a flat surface for the strips. Basically, the stems need to be 1/8" on the from end in order to leave enough material to provide a profile for the outer stems. The inside width ended up being about 1/2" wide. Since the width is less than the 5/8" particleboard, some of it had to be sanded away. This was not a problem with 60 grit sandpaper on a belt sander. The profile near the top has to wait until I get some strips on the stem. I ordered the fiberglass. They said it should arrive before Labor Day. Aug. 21, 1997 - Thursday I had to stop by the Home Depot to get a new belt for the sander. I finished sanding the stems and started preparing for attaching the strips. I am a little nervous about the forms. I hope they are all positioned properly. I guess I will find out. Tomorrow is the day. Aug. 22, 1997 - Friday I started by fine tuning the stems one last time and secured them with drywall screws that had their heads trimmed to 3/8" on the grinder with help of the drill. I just need to remember to take them out when I get the strips on. I started with a nice quarter sawn strip and secured it to the workbench side of the strongback. Next I did the same on the other side. I used a level to make sure that they were level. The hard part was determining how much curve to have at the end of the canoe. I too much is used the paduak accent strips might not make the curve. If to little it might look boring. I let the strips lay and then lowered the 1.5" . This looked nice. I continued until I reached the to of the stems. The canoe was taking shape. Aug. 23, 1997 - Saturday I started by trimming the top of the stems to accept the strips. I used a plane and a scrapper. Tapered filler strips were needed to make it easier to lay the strips. One side was finished up to the center (keel) line. My hand were very sore, after all, I had used over 700 staples in the last too days. Aug. 24, 1997 - Sunday I went canoeing today at Stone Mountain Park and was tired. So after a nap I started on the canoe about 4 PM. the center line needed to be trimmed up before I could start work on " filling the football." Trimming was done with knives, chisels, and planes. The work took about an hour. I have been filling the ends of the canoe with small strips to fill up to the sheer line. This was completed today. It took nine strips. These will be trimmed later with the help of a pattern. I filled in three strips. This work is difficult but looks nice. The planks have to be placed and then glued. Each end is planed to fit to the center line. The rest of the strips will take at least two evenings to complete. The canoe looks great! Aug. 25, 1997 - Monday Installed nine strips in the half football. The last three strips will be quite difficult because of the bend required. To make it easier, I have soaked them in hot water and then bent them around a form on the workbench. Hopefully they will retain their shape for a few hours while I shape them and glue them in. I will not work on the canoe until Wednesday due to a Braves game on Aug. 26, 1997 - Tuesday Braves Game. Braves beat Houston in the 11th 7-6. Aug. 27, 1997 - Wednesday Started the evening off by filling in the last three strips. Bending the strips was a good idea. They fit in quite well. Once the last strip was placed into position, I dismantled the strip holder that was attached to the ceiling. I kept on hitting my head on it. Fitted the outer stem on the canoe on the workbench end. I used 1-5/8" drywall screws with washers to prevent splitting the ash. I also waxed them so they would be easy to remove. Aug. 28, 1997 - Thursday Removed the screws from the workbench stem. Installed the window outer stem. It is amazing how hard epoxy dries. The workbench stem is like a rock. I started to fair a little but decided to take it easy and read my new copy of Wooden Boat. Aug. 29, 1997 - Friday Sanded both stems with the belt sander. This went pretty fast. Started sanding with the random-orbit sander. I started pulling the staples. This is easy for the staples that are raised above the surface. For the ones that are located on the surface, I grinded a small screwdriver into a sharp tool that could be slid under the staple. I levered against a small section of hack saw blade to prevent denting the soft cedar. Aug. 30, 1997 - Saturday Started by pulling the rest of the 1,120 staples. I had to wrap tape around my fingers in order to prevent blisters from forming. This process went rather quickly. Used the belt sander to smooth the sides of the canoe. This is very tricky work because if the sander is allowed it will cut through the soft cedar. It is best to hold the sander in the vertical position and keep it moving. I used 120 grit for this work. Once the strips are smoothed out, precede with the orbital sander. I used 60 grit to cover the whole canoe. This will produce an incredible amount of dust. I hooked up my random-orbital sander to the shop vacuum with a creative mix of hoses and duct tape. The electrical cord can be taped to the hose making less mess to have to deal with. The 60 grit paper cuts the wood to its final shape. I proceeded to use 100 and 150 grit paper. The hull will become quite smooth. The sheer line was cut to the hull with a template. I left the line a little strong. I finished the night by filling all of the larger gaps with a thick mix of epoxy and dust from the belt sander. Aug. 31, 1997 - Sunday Started by sanding all of the areas with the thick epoxy mix. Stopped and cleaned up the dust off of the hull. I went to E & B Discount Marine to buy rollers and squeegees. I got back and coated the hull with a primer coat of epoxy. This coat will prevent air bubbles from forming under the fiberglass. This is supposed to be a good idea. Hopefully the 'glass will arrive this week when I am gone to Ohio. September 1, 1997 - Monday Washer off the Amine Blush with a Scotchbrite pad and water. The water began to get cloudy, so I assume that the Amine Blush was coming off. Afterwards I sanded the whole canoe with 220 grit sandpaper and then washed off the dust with water. September 2, 1997 - Tuesday I got off from work and dropped by Home Depot. I picked up four 1x4x8 pine boards. This wood is for the adjustable horses that will support the canoe once the fiberglass is applied to the outside of the canoe. The construction went pretty quickly. I didn't worry too much about quality, just get the job done. September 3, 1997 - Wednesday I arrived in Cleveland, Ohio. I called up Noah's during a break and learned that the shipper they were using in Buffalo, NY was not shipping things out as quickly as they should. Rick at Noah's gave me the UPS number which is 1ZX140930344490835. UPS said the earliest that the package would arrive is on Friday. Rats! September 4, 1997 - Thursday I got an e-mail telling me that the 'glass arrived yesterday. I guess that is why the UPS web site did not know were it was. I am quite pleased. I can start on Saturday after I sand down the hull one last time on Friday. I think that the curing process over the last four days may have caused more amine blush to form. This process is exciting. September 5, 1997 - Friday Washed the hull and sanded it with 220 grit paper. I am ready for the fiberglass. The reason that I could not track it was because I had the wrong tracking number. September 6, 1997 - Saturday Cleaned up some before starting. Got the heater out to get the temperature up to 78. The weather has turned cooler and the lows are now about 55 or so. The epoxy needs at least 75. The epoxy was quite a job. The first coat which included the wet out took 2.5 hours. Epoxy was everywhere! The second coat went on in just 1.5 hours and the third went on in just under one hour. The smoother the hull the easier it was to put on. I also managed to SMASH my face into the strip support (2x4) suspended from the ceiling. I got two gashes between my eyes. September 7, 1997 - Sunday Started sanding. This is very slow and takes 60 grit paper. I only got one side completed. This could take the rest of the week. September 8, 1997 - Monday Tragedy!!!! While starting to sand the other side I ran into a few soft wet spots. There areas were picked at revealing that the last batch of epoxy was not mixed correctly. Either I did not count the pumps or I forgot to stir. Either way I have to remove the hard top two layers to get at the soft fiberglass. This also means that I have to apply new fiberglass and epoxy. There goes the schedule for another week. This is pretty depressing. The damage seems to be all within the area of my last batch. I guess when you get to the end, you get careless. Have to get some more sandpaper. Operation "Repair" starts Tuesday. September 9, 1997 - Tuesday My sister is coming over to look at the canoe. Bad timing. September 10, 1997 - Wednesday I sanded down the rest of the canoe with 60 grit. This went quite well. I cleaned up the bad area and have almost removed all of the uncured epoxy. I should be able to finish cleaning up the area Thursday and put down a sealer coat of epoxy. Then I can apply the glass on Friday and two coats on Saturday. Sunday I can sand and the remove it from the forms. Yeah!! September 11, 1997 - Thursday I spent about two hours on the canoe tonight. The first hour was spent making sure I had all of the bad epoxy sanded off. After that I sanded the entire canoe with 100 grit paper. I didn't get any finer than that because I will have to sand the repair area down on Sunday. The second hour was spent cleaning the canoe and applying epoxy to the damaged area. Once the epoxy went on the color was restored and my hopes were restored. Tomorrow I can stop by the stop and get some 6 oz glass for the repair. I need about 30" x 6 feet. This will overlap the old glass by about six inches and provide an good transition. September 12, 1997 - Friday I stopped by E & B Discount on the way home from work in order to get some fiberglass to fix the 'bad' area. Cleaned up the canoe in preparation for epoxy. I started the epoxy about 7:30 p.m. This lasted about one hour and fifteen minutes. The fiberglass has a tendency to slide down the repair section. I had to push it up with my hands every 10 minutes or until the epoxy started to hold it. Finally I got to eat dinner. After watching Daylight (Kinda Sucked), I put on a second coat of epoxy. I kept a little of each batch to see if it hardened properly. If it did, I toss it. Luckily they all did fine. Got done about 1 am. 5:30 am - Woke up after only four hours sleep for the final and third coat. I got to bed at 6:30 or so. (It was still dark!) September 13, 1997 - Saturday Had to wait for all of the epoxy to cure before sanding. Did the yard. 8pm - Sanded all of the repair area down. Looking good. Sanded up to 100 grit. September 14, 1997 - Sunday Started by sanding with 150 and 220 grit paper. There are still some scratches but the varnish should fill them in. I suspended the canoe from the ceiling while I removed the forms. It turned out that I did not need to use the suspension system. I lifted each side off of the strongback one side at a time onto the sawhorses. I had a hard time walking around the strongback and canoe. It was a little frustrating. Once the strongback was gone it got better. I ran into my second little problem. One of the stem forms would not come off. Well, it turns out that I forgot to remove three screws used to hold the stem down while I glued up the planks. I had to break up the particle board with pliers, chisels and a drill. I got a 3/8" x 24" bit out and drilled down into the form. Then it would break better and with less effort. Once I got to the edge of the stem it got a little harder. After two hours I got it all out and them broke off the drywall screws that were left. A little grinding and noone will notice until I point it out. Well, I can look forward to a long week of sanding. I plan to put on the epoxy next Saturday. It should be quick since I will leave it after the first coat to give better traction. September 15, 1997 - Monday Started for about one hour. Had trouble with the random orbital sander. The hooks on the pad are worn down and it will no longer hold paper. I took the pad off. I also realized that I would need a 1/4 sheet sander for the concave surfaces. September 16, 1997 - Tuesday Drove by Home Depot one the way home and bought a 1/4 sheet porter cable sander. I also bought a 3" thick section of foam at the cloth store for $2. I cut the foam to fit under the sandpaper. It work OK but not well. I sanded for a while. September 17, 1997 - Wednesday Sanded a bunch with the new orbital disk. This works pretty well. The disk is soft and conforms well to the concave surface. September 18, 1997 - Thursday Continued sanding. This is quite boring. Got up to 150 grit. September 19, 1997 - Friday Finished using 220 grit paper by hand. Cleaned up. September 20, 1997 - Saturday Cleaned up the basement with the shop vac. Tried to get rid of most of the dust. Put on primer coat of epoxy. September 21, 1997 - Sunday Washed and sanded the inside of the hull. Laid out the fiberglass and used clothespins to hold the cloth over the sides. This worked well. I think that I took too long before scraping off the excess. It turned out pretty well and I put on another coat just before bed. September 22-23, 1997 - Monday & Tuesday AGA Committee Meeting September 24, 1997 - Wednesday Sanded the inside if the canoe. Got rid of all of the bumps. September 25, 1997 - Thursday Finished sanding the canoe up to 220 grit. Wiped it out. September 26, 1997 - Friday Removed the canoe from the shop. Placed it on saw horses outside. Placed a tarp over it to protect from the rain. Started by making the seats. I glued them up in just under two hours. I then worked on the decks. I used Zebrawood and Wenge to make each deck. The deck will be cut on the underside every 1/2" so that the effective thickness is reduced to 1/4" thick. This should conform well to the sheer line. The edges should overlap the gunnels. This should look better than placing it between the inside gunnels. September 27, 1997 - Saturday I had to get some ash for the gunnels. I bought a piece of 16 foot 4/4 ash. Milling the ash takes a little while because the wood is so long. I worked on this and the seats until about 5 o'clock and then quit for the day. Went to see Peacemaker. September 28, 1997 - Sunday Worked on sculpting the gunnels. This was going to be easy until I realized that I could not cut out the wood with one pass with the router. I ended making numerous passes and used a chisel to clean up the cuts. I also made the thwart today. September 29, 1997 - Monday Bent the end of the inwales. Made a larger box to soak the inwales in. I also placed it in the yard so that if it leaked I would not get the shop wet. Tapered the outwales. This was hard work. The grain was always going in the wrong direction. That was about it for the night. September 30, 1997 - Tuesday I had to make another form for bending the gunnels. The first bend was not quite dry and will set for another 24 hours. I clamped the other end of the inwales and left them on the porch to dry. I wish I had a 20 foot long oven! I rounded over the edges on the outwales and placed them into the water to soak overnight. Lastly, I sanded the seats for about 45 minutes. Wednesday I will finish sanding them and start cleaning up the shop. October 1, 1997 - Wednesday Cut yet another form to bend the gunnels over. I sanded the seats down to 220 grit. This will require some more work. That's about it for today. October 2, 1997 - Thursday Finished sanding seats. Bent the last curves on the gunnels. October 3, 1997 - Friday - Vacation Day Started by working on the decks. I found the wood does not bend easily even if planed down to 3/16". By the end of the day I found that I would have to give up this idea. Instead I will place strips from inwale to inwale. The wood will join with a simple lap joint. This will easily conform to the curve of the sheer line. I have chosen padauk because of its exceptional stable characteristics. The inwales went on pretty well. It took a little persuasion to get them to bend to the sheer line. I could not imagine how hard it would be to do if I had not soaked them and bent them on a form. I found a great warehouse for fasteners. The place is called Threads of the South. I got all of the stainless hardware I needed for just $7. What a deal! October 4, 1997 - Saturday Started by cleaning up the shop. This took about one hour of dusty work. Varnished the seats in hope of getting the canoe in the water next Sunday. Don't think that I'll make it. Went shopping for varnish. Bear Mountain suggested Sikkens (Clear Varnish U/V)but I was unable to find it. I went to both E & B Discount marine and Boats U S. I also went by REI and picked up some non-slip canoe "cushions". These grip real well to the top of the car. All I need to do is get some straps for the front and back of the car. I might get them from Home Depot. I also purchased a JDS 2000 air filter. It cleans 450 cubic feet per minute. It is like being in the middle of a hurricane, a clean hurricane. October 5, 1997 - Sunday Installed the JDS 2000. It works real well. It is nice to be able to breathe clean air. I made new decks. The old ones would NOT bend to the sheer line. $20 of zebrawood went to waste. Damm. The new decks are made of padauk that it placed on perpendicular to the length of the canoe. This lets the deck curve to the sheer line. There is a little gap under some of the wide planks. The deck consists of six planks that go from 2" to 4.25". I did place another coat on the seats. I will have them ready for the cane by Wednesday. I will probably wait until Saturday to drill the 1/4" holes. I talked to Barry Andrews in Kennesaw. He used Behr varnish. I will call some varnish manufacturers on Monday to see what would be good for the canoe. I also talked to Bob Chruchill with E & B in Norcross. He said that he just uses Ultragold Polyurathane Varnish. Also he mentioned that the Wooden Boat Assn of Atlanta meets the first Thursday of each month. I will attempt to bend some Weng, in a few minutes. October 6, 1997 - Monday Busy! I sanded the bottom of the decks to better fit on the gunnels. This worked OK. Sanded the gunnels with 60 and 120 on the belt and 150 on the orbit. Epoxyed the decks on. Plugged the holes with wenge. Cut two strips for the curve on the decks. Varnished the seats. Wow. That was a lot for just 3.5 hours. October 7, 1997 - Tuesday Sanded decks and rounded over edges. Placed on end strip. Also placed a forth coat on the seats. October 8, 1997 - Wednesday Cleaned up the shop. Everything is fairly clean. It is now time to start varnishing. The seats are curing. On Saturday I will start the caning. October 9, 1997 - Thursday I sanded and vacuumed the canoe on the porch and then moved it into the yard to blow off the dust. Once inside the shop I washed the inside and dried it off. I did this three times. The Epifanes varnish is very dark. I called the manufacturer up and he said it is because the tung oil is very dark. The varnish needed to be thinned a little but went on real well. The varnish leveled off real well. October 10, 1997 - Friday Varnished inside. Did have a small problem with a little too much varnish in the V section of the canoe. I need to be careful not to put too much on. I didn't thin it too much tonight. October 11, 1997 - Saturday Varnished inside with last coat. Made a pattern of the holes and marked them with an awl. I took the drill press outside so that I would not get dust on the canoe. I used a countersink to make a nice radius for the cane. The caning was easier than I thought. It took about two hours per seat. The cross weaving was the hardest. Note: it would be good to place a coating of varnish in the drilled holes. I did not. Hopefully it won't matter. October 12, 1997 - Sunday Cleaned up all of my data on the canoe. Cleaned the porch and mowed the lawn. After dinner I flipped the canoe and sanded and cleaned the bottom of the hull. I started on the next quart of varnish. The varnishing went real well. One bug managed to make it into the coat. Oh well. Also I bought a set of water socks. October 13, 1997 - Monday The varnish dried nice and hard. I sanded with 400 grit and started another coat. I made the mistake of wiping the brush with a cloth after soaking it in mineral spirits. This got a bunch of dust into the varnish on the first two feet. One more night of varnish! October 14, 1997 - Tuesday The last of the varnish. The temp was too cool so I had to crank up the heat and thin the mix. The air in the basement became terrible because I could not vent because of the cool temps. Braves lost NLCS. Booo! October 15, 1997 - Wednesday Nothing. I did hear that the highs on Saturday would only be in the low 60's. I wish it would be in the 80's. It is amazing how much time one has when he does not have to spend 3 hours working on a canoe. I took the seats down to the canoe and placed them. The fit on the gunnels OK. I will cut the spacers and seats tomorrow night. October 16, 1997 - Thursday Fastened the brass rope holders. Cut spacers 1 1/2" long and bored them. I wish I could find screws 4" long in 10-24 or 10-32. I got the front seat ready to insert. Will finish tomorrow. I need to pick up eight #10 fender washers. These will spread the load on the bottom of the seats. October 17, 1997 - Friday Finished up installing the seats. The canoe is ready to go. October 18, 1997 - Saturday The Water Chisel finally went into the water at 10:30 am in Allatoona Lake in Acworth, GA!!!!