I have been making quite a pile of wood shavings and sawdust today. I began the morning making three relatively minor cuts with my new saw. (Have I mentioned how much I enjoy my new Japanese saw? Thought so!) I trimmed the hardwood leading edge stave - it had been cut an inch too long on the theory that we'd cut all the staves an inch too long to allow for cutting the ends square. Of course, we forgot to cut the wrc staves too long, so rather than cutting the entire end of the blank square, I cut the extra inch off the one stave.
The second cut removed a small triangle from what used to be corner of the blank, but is now the lower aft section of the rudder. I measured 8" up the trailing edge of the blank, and 1-5/8" from the lower corner along the bottom edge of the blank, marking each measurement. Drawing a line between the two marks, I double-checked the plans, the measurements (converting the plan's metric dimensions to Imperial units - yes, I know metric is much more logical, but having learned inches/feet/yards, I am much more comfortable with them), and my marks before making the cut.
The third cut turned yesterday's foil template into two pieces - one for the leading edge, the other for the trailing edge.
I sharpened the plane and went to work shaping... it is a long, slow process that produces a great deal of wood shavings and quite a mess! Still, it is rewarding work to see the rudder take shape under one's own hand. While much progress was made, I estimate another evening or two of work will be needed to finish the shaping of the rudder. Once the shaping is done the rudder will be covered with fiberglass, faired, and painted.
I am quite pleased with the plane (even though I suspect the iron can be better sharpened). There were a few moments today when I thought, "A larger plane would be useful here." I will watch eBay for a bench plane.
Today I read a thread on the Wooden Boat Forum about scarfing wood. The question was from a builder who has not ever had to scarf wood together (I fit that description, and I will need to do some scarfing during this project). Scarfing is a method of joining two (or more) pieces of wood together to create whatever length is needed. For instance, I will need inwales measuring 17 feet in length. It will be less expensive to scarf 3 pieces of 6' lumber together than it would be to purchase a 17-18' piece of lumber. In a scarf joint, the two pieces are cut on a diagonal, usually at an 8:1 or 10:1 ratio. (a 1" thick piece of wood would be cut on a diagonal 8 or 10 inches long. That is a very poor description. Perhaps I can find a link to show what a scarf joint looks like.) The diagonals are then glued together. One of the posts in the thread included plans for a scarfing jig to be used with a router. This is a very simple jig to make, and I am seriously considering making one for the scarfs I know are ahead of me... Here are the plans (sorry this image is so large)
Here is a link to the WBF thread. The post with the plans and pictures of a scarf joint is about a third of the way down the thread. (As soon as I find my notes, I'll be able to do this better!)
http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95521
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