In the next month or so I will be building at least one boat with my son Theo and his cousin Stellan. In preparation, I've done a lot of research, bought some equipment, and readied my shop.
The first boat we are going to build is tiny - 6 feet long. I found the plans in a recent issue of WoodenBoat magazine.
I purchased three pieces of equipment for this project: a wet grinder for sharpening tools, a planer for planing and sizing rough wood, and a jointer for making things square.
The wet grinder (made by Jet) is a wonderful tool. I have never been very good at getting chisels or planes sharp and boy does it make a huge difference. The wet grinder is a slow-speed grinder so you do not have to worry about overheating a tool (and, as such, destroying its hardness). It also has a lot of jigs that make it easy to establish proper angles on tools, etc. I can how shave my arm with my chisels and planer blades (this is the traditional ritual for establishing sharpness).
The planer and jointer are getting set up and I will test them out tomorrow. The first projects that will employ them are a drafting table and the construction frame for the first boat.
The drafting table will make it possible for me to loft the various plans I need in full scale to make the boat. I have a nice old-school drafting machine and the table will have a capacity of six feet by about three feet - plenty for the scale of boats I am interested in building.
The construction frame is essentially a "mold" that defines essential locations of the boat you are building. You build small boats upside-down on a mold and then flip them. The mold needs to be sturdy and level so the jointer will be the most useful tool as it is capable of making flat surfaces that are also square.
More to come as things progress.
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