Scarph Joints are done!

The first joined board is on the floor...you can see the joint where the wood has a darker stripe. The second and third are setting. Because I did the second and third at the same time, I saved a day of waiting for the glue to dry. Tomorrow...drawing lines on the panels!

"Need Motivation? Declare Deadlines"

We were given an article in class today on deadlines. I am a procrastinator, so deadlines are probably a great thing for me to create for myself. Unfortunately, I always procrastinate on setting the deadlines as well. I think I do fear the disapproval of others when I do not meet deadlines, and I often convince myself that the pressure of doing things last minute means I am more efficient and productive. These are probably just excuses, and setting deadlines would definitely be a good thing for me to try doing.
I wish the article had gone into more depth on what motivates people, but like the other said, he had a deadline to meet, and pushed his article off.

Epoxying my first joint

So, I went for it! I epoxied my first scarph joint this afternoon, all by myself. I bundled up in goggles, a face mask, bandanna  and rubber gloves up to my elbows, and went to work. It was easy! Because Teg had walked my through the steps, the whole thing went very quickly and easily. No rashes or lung damage, as far as I can tell. As Teg said, if you can smell it, you're already in too far. Well, I still haven't a clue what epoxy smells like. It'll have set fully by the time I get up in the morning, and we'll see how it turned out!

The Survival of the Bark Canoe

I'm a few chapters into John McPhee's account of Henri Vaillancourt's endeavor to save the lost art of birch bark canoe building.  At the time of the book's publication (1975), Vaillancourt was one of four in the world who specialized was considered an expert in birch bark canoe building. He dedicated his whole life to it, made almost no money off of it, and did work near perfection with only a handful of tools. He claims he could build a canoe with only a crooked knife. He never measured anything, yet his worked was extremely precise and accurate, and was always amazingly symmetrical. He could give you the measurements of exactly how long the pieces should be, using only his eyes.
Though I'm only a little of the way into John McPhee's wonderful tale, I'm already so impressed by this man's dedication. He's less a builder than an artist. He dedicated his lfe to preserving such an obscure craft. You read it and think, Why? Why does he spend all his time doing this? But at the same time, you can see exactly why he does what he does, and you feel a crazy urge to find your own obscure lost art and dedicate your own life to it, just like him.

It isn't that scary, after all

I emailed Teg, the boat builder, asking if he has any advice on how to use epoxy. He called me back within an hour, and we talked for 25 minutes. He was so helpful. He uses epoxy all the time, and went over everything I'd need to know, while I frantically scrambled to write it all down. He always eased my fears about the fumes and the danger it can cause. He told me that a respirator is not necessary, but maybe a carbon filter mask would be a good idea. Because he filled me in on the exact process, from mixing, measuring, glueing, clamping, etc, I feel a lot more confident that this is something I can do by myself. The big thing is that the weather has to be right. A slight breeze, and somewhere between 60 and 80 degrees. Fingers crossed that happens soon!

Mentor Meeting

Today I met with Mr. Heurich, and we talked a lot about the epoxy. We're both nervous about using it-even more so after reading about experienced boat builders coughing up blood because of lung irritation. We agreed that this is something I should probably do with someone else. My dad and I could do it at the end of next week-which is kind of far away. There are many other things that I could do in the meantime, however.
I also emailed Teg, the man I interviewed in the beginning who has built boats, asking if he haas any recommendations on how to best use epoxy.
My Heurich and I also looked into renting a respirator. We called a couple of places around town, the words "hepatitis" and "turbuculosis" were tossed around, and we discovered that no one rents them out. Home Depot sells them for $27. In addition, we thought that wearing a tyvek suit would be a good idea. These cost about $5.

Two Requirements-that I'd use my hands, and that I'd get messy

We had class today, because it's Monday, and we started talking about how we'll schedule our final presentations. The end is really soon! Suddenly there is not an infinite amount of time to work on the project, which is both exciting and stressful. 

After school, I came home and went to work in the garage. It was sunny, and peacefully quiet (until I plugged in the power tools), and I was happy to be there. I finished cutting the second scarph joint, and am almost finished with the third. I was thinking today about my original proposal. When I began to think up my  project, there were two requirements-that I'd use my hands, and that I'd get messy. (Well, when I think of the things I like to do-sewing, painting, building castles out of silverware at the dinner table-they all make use of my hands.  I like to make messes and experiment and see what emerges) Finally, I'm doing both of those things. I'm pulling splinters out of my hands and feeling the smoothness of the wood. I'm using tools and moving things around. I'm shaking out the sawdust from my clothes. There is a layer of grime every time I finish for the day. It's great. 

After thinking about that, I found my first blog entry again, the entry that introduces the reader to the project. Ms. Lord always tells us to pull this out every once and a while, but I really haven't. I was happy with what I saw. I still have the same fears, and I still know that I'll make mistakes. (In fact, I already have.) But I love the attitude-there's a lot of optimism in here, and re-reading was a good reminder to not get too worked up too often. 

I've been told it will be hard to do-that it takes time, care, patience, and skill. 

I have many fears: that I won't finish in time, that my hand will slip and I'll slice the boat in half, that I will put my boat in the lake and it will leak through all the seams and I'll have to swim ashore. The list goes on and on. But I then remember that this is indeed an experiment. I know I'll make mistakes, and I look forward to those. I want to jump right in and see what happens. By June I hope to have learned something. Maybe it will be how to build a boat the wrong way, or maybe how to tell a good canoe joke. We'll have to wait and see.

Epoxies and Hardeners Are Quite Frightening

I went to look for epoxy over the weekend with my dad, at the Sailing Center. Not only must you buy the epoxy (99$ a gallon), but you must buy hardener (45$) and pumps (13$). It comes with massive amounts of writing on how to use it, and how dangerous it can be. This is a lot of money to spend, and there were a lot of different things to consider. I wanted to just take the manual home, read it, think, and then make some choices. I've never been good at making decisions, and they sort of stress me out. But, no one really listened to me. Suddenly I found myself leaving. epoxy in hand. I wasn't even sure epoxy was the best way to go. But now I have it, which means I can keep moving forward, which is great. I'm very grateful that I have it now-I'm just a little nervous.

Why am I afraid to use epoxy?
It came with a 30 page user's manual.
It is a skin irritant, which can cause a rash similar to poison ivy.
It irritates the eyes, and especially the lungs. A respirator or a mask is required for its use.
Large quantities (over 8 fluid ounces) can melt plastic containers, then burn you.
And epoxy's hardener can spontaneously combust if it comes into contact with sawdust. (!)
All of these hazards apply until the epoxy has cured fully, which can take a couple of hours.
Disposal is extremely particular (to avoid explosions, melted plastic, and the risk of accidental contact later), the temperature you can use it in is extremely particular (70 degrees is perfect)
What happens if you spill this stuff? (There are spill clean-up directions, but still)
There is a very short amount of time where the epoxy and its hardener are in "open time" or a liquid phase, which means you have to use it very fast.

Here are the precautions I'll need to take before using:
Wear skin cream (which acts as protection over the skin)
Cover as much skin as possible.
Rubber gloves
Eye protection (and I'm worried the goggles I have now are not going to be quite enough)
Ventilation-which the best I can do is have the door and windows of the garage open and have a fan/several fans going.
Wear a respirator (A friend recommended a place to get one, the auto body repair shop on the old route 13)
And I'll add my own: having lots of soap and water near by.

Scarph Joints 101

Scarph Joints. First off, what is it? A scarph joint in a way of joining two peices of wood so they are flat. The two peices slope in at their edges when they come together. This makes a stronger joint than a butt joint, where the two peices come together squarely.

This would be one half of the joint, with the other lying on top of it. (This was a practice piece.)

So how do you do it?  What I found out is that the joint should be in an 8:1 ratio. So because my wood is 1/4 inch thick, the joint would use two inches of wood on either side. So two inches out from the edge of the wood, you use a planer to create a slope. I had originally been using a hand planer, but I traded that for an electric one for the sake of efficiency.

The planer is the tool in the picture, and it shaves the wood at an angle, very slightly. I kept making cuts that seemed huge, but in fact they were 1/32nd of an inch. The 2x4 behind the planer was there to make sure I did not cut behind the 2" line. 

Then I sanded the joint down, both with this orbital sander, and with sand paper. I almost feel like I'm cheating by using the sander. Hand sanding really makes me feel like I'm doing the building. 

I finished the first piece, and did the second. I lined them up to see how they fit together, and they were uneven and not angled enough. They came together roughly. So I clamped them to the table again, this time side-by-side, and sanded/planed them at the same time. The lines of the layers of the plywood make eyeballing how far you've cut very easy. Now, they come together almost perfectly. 

 Here the two peices are side by side: 

 And here they are held together: 

The next step is to glue them with epoxy, then clamp them and wait for them to dry. And what is epoxy exactly? It's extremely waterproof glue. It can be used for a variety of purposes, as the man who sold it explained, but for boat building, it's the best there is. In addition to the epoxy, I also now own a users manual and a copy of Epoxy Works magazine, both of which were recommended I read before use. 

Going to Pieces (Literally!)

It's wood cutting day! Finally! 

 Cutting the wood! I used the jigsaw while my dad held the ruler.

The pieces! (In an extra clean garage-I might never get over that)

Next steps: Scarph Joints and resin!

4/15 Wise Class

Today in class Ms. Lord told us that she didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up. A lot of the class seemed a little confused by what she meant, because after all, she is a grown-up. But for some reason, this made a lot of sense to me. I think sometimes were sent the message that you should play, learn, experiment, ask questions and make mistakes when you're young, and then move on to more serious things. For some reason, kids believe adults already know all the answers. I'm not an adult, so perhaps I'm quite off, but I would think that there is always chance to change, grow, try out new things. Isn't there always the question of whether what you do every day is right or wrong? Isn't there always the mystery of what you'll be doing next and how you'll end up there? I found Ms. Lord's statement refreshing, especially as our class leaves the high school in June and heads off for new places.

The Weekend

This weekend was quite busy in terms of WISE projects.

Here is the workspace, completely clean:

This is a planer, used to slope edges. I used this to practice making a scarph joint, the type of joint I will need to connect my pieces together. I think I need to find a more efficient way to do this. 

This is the part of the wood I practiced on. See the slope?

Then my dad showed my how to use this jigsaw-which is probably the coolest tool I've used so far. 

I practiced cutting some curved and straight edges. 

Also this weekend, I went looking for resin. Agway referred me to Ithaca Plastics, which was closed, as was the Sailing Center, but they'll be open this week. 

Back to Reality

Break has ended, and I am back, ready to keep plugging away at my project. I am meeting with Mr. Heurich today, 4th period. While I was away, my uncle recommended a book to me, called The Survival of The Bark Canoe, by John McPhee.  He was really excited about it, and said he had loved reading it, so I will hopefully be able to find a copy from around town somewhere.

Task Force Journal Review Response

I want to say a big thank you to Ms. Maddren for reviewing my journal-she did a lovely job! Everything was so positive and encouraging, and her response was incredibly in-depth. You could tell she took a long time reading and answering thoughtfully...thank you Ms. Maddren!

Here was her advice:
Add details: define more words, pretend reader has no idea how to build a canoe
Fix the $ sidebar..it is indeed lacking currently. Her advice was to do an entry about it, rather than try to keep track of it on a separate page.
Continue to add to the bibliography, and keep it as up-to-date as possible.

Sounds

It's probably a strange sight to see a high school girl sitting in her driveway in the middle of the city trying to build a boat. However, as a pedestrian, it's probably made even stranger to hear her talking to herself about wood and lines and where she left the cup of coffee she brought outside with her.  It seems that when I'm working on the canoe, I have a running conversation going with no one in particular. I comment on the weather, talk to the sun, and tell the wood how much I love the wavy lines in it. Sometimes I sing, which is frightening, and I hope no one has had to hear that, for their sake. Though I'm muttering my thoughts out loud, I also like to listen. I like to guess which animal is causing the leaves behind the garage to stir, and hear the crinkling of the wind in the trees. I like to eavesdrop on the conversations of people passing by, and guess how fast the cars driving by are going. Mostly, I just like being outside, even though that still means bundling up in a couple of sweaters.

Breaks are tough when it comes to WISE projects

I haven't posted in a while. It's April break, and I have just returned home from Vermont, where I was not able to work on my project. In a day or so I'll be heading to Baltimore, which means I'm not left with too many mornings to spend getting messy in the driveway. I didn't really realize how much of this break I would be away for. However, during my visit to Vermont, my uncle, who does a ton of woodworking, carpentry, and building, gave me a lot of useful advice. We talked about how to use jigsaws, which kind of blade, how to bevel (or sort of slope) the edges of a piece of wood, and several other things. This was all very helpful. (Thank you uncle Joe!)

I spent this morning attempting to draw the lines for the bottom plank of wood. I used the chalk line (thank you Mr. Heurich for telling me how that works), found it to be very cool and fun to use.  But, there is a problem that I cannot seem to figure out for the life of me. The cutting guide in the plans tell me that if I draw the center line diagonally across the 4x8, I should have a line that is 12' 4''. No matter how I measure it is only ever 9 ft. I've done the triangle math, measured, and measured again, and I'm still really not sure how this one is supposed to work. Perhaps it is cut as two different pieces, but this is said no where in the plans, and it worries me to have a seam across the bottom of the boat. Perhaps a little more puzzling will help me figure it out.