Jaager

Wrong glue.
PVA  - yellow carpenters glue  Titebond II if a display model  Titebond III if it is RC
 
No glue is going to bond all that well to end grain. 
Scrap wood - tongue depressors or Birch coffee stirs can be scabbed on both faces of the plywood molds where the planking bonds to widen and have better grain.

I like the shape of the Fiskars Softgrip Ergonomic Detail Knife for hand feel.
 
A very common blade is the #11 shape.  Getting a 100 pack of a high quality #11 blade, not the OEM version is my choice.
When researching this, I just discovered that XActo - which as not been my choice for blades - has a XZ series that has a zirconium nitride coating
Feedback suggests that the hard coating makes the tip prone to snapping off - especially with lateral force.  If your cuts are straight line they might work.
 
An alternate direction is a double bevel 1/4" violin makers knife.  #11 shape - just a bar of steel with no handle.  Expensive but it is lifetime for one.  There are maybe 6 widths. 
 
With both disposable and permanent blades, very frequent shroping on leather charged with a green, red, or gold polishing compound crayon keeps a fine edge and reduces changes.  I do not know if zirconium is harder than the compounds.  It may require diamond.

I question if something that  ..... fixed .... specifically organized..?  would serve very well  with ship modeling - which has many varied stages - each with different tools.
 
I have had good luck   using project Styrofoam.
2 inches thick - about the size of a brick --  Home Depot sells smaller sheets of 1" project Styrofoam 
It is porous -so PVA will bond two cut to size pieces  which is then glued to a 1/2" plywood base with a lip/porch on all 4 sides - a longer porch on one side makes for a handy stage for in-use tools.
Punch holes in the top of the foam using the tool handles and they standup - fixed - visible and ready to grab -  there can be a different brick for each type of work. Easy to move and store.
 
PVA will not melt it - most plastic glues will - a hot glue gun was a disaster -  PVA does not work with most plastic but most plastic is not full of tiny holes.

from
American-Built Packets and Freighters of the 1850s
Wm Crothers
MacFarland & Co.  2013
 

The first step is to seal the cut ends.  What you use is not critical.  Hot paraffin, shellac,  old varnish,  old paint - oil based is probably better.  Thick - the object is to make it difficult for the water to get out at open ends of the tubes that are wood.  Different rates water migration produce stress = splitting and checking
 
Length:  that depends on you - close to the longest that you use on your bench - a tad more to account for loss from seasoning.
De-bark:  now if you have the patience.   It allows the water easier egress.  It removes the eggs and larvae of wood borers. 
A draw knife or spoke shave makes a quick job of it if the branch is secured from moving.
The old rule is one year per inch of thickness to reach water concentration equilibrium. 
I would aim at ~2" thickness and 2 foot length for my system.
Seal the ends NOW.
 
Wood can do ugly things as it dries,  splits and checks ate the worse-  bow and twist is not helpful -
Protect for the elements - no rain or snow - direct sun = uneven drying
good air flow around all sides = sticker the rick
Serious downward pressure - weights on top of the rick may reduce twist and bow
 
 

No experimental data, but for natural fibers:  linen and cotton  -   an alcohol dye solution should work as well as an aqueous dye. 
It should be as dyed as it is going to be - just as soon as it has soaked in - that is fairly close to immediately.
A continuous pulley set up  -  feed spool - down to a pulley in the alcohol solution - back up to a take up reel - would probably work for a long rope.
 
For man-made synthetic polymer line,  my guess is that it might not take at all.

Theory here:
 
It is difficult to get an acceptable finish on a gunport by cutting it and finishing the sides of the cut.
It may be a successful procedure to make the opening oversize and inserting a frame of a sill and lintel and having a veneer layer where the frame timbers would be.
If you are set on all rectangular openings, the same jig can be used for every port on a particular deck to glue up the framing.  It is then a matter of shimming each frame.  If the frames are mounted before placing the outside planking, .....
 

What PietFriet said, but it should probably be bookbinders pH neutral version of PVA.  It is white, dries clear, and does not potentially degrade natural fibers that are vulnerable to acid.  

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

1700 rpm is about the max  for any of this sort of sanding machine.  I have not done the experiment, but I suspect that  mush faster will produce a well charred surface.
If the rotation is in the direction of the feed, you will have an electric motor driven version of a medieval or Roman era projectile throwing weapon war machine.
Even at your slower 4500 rpm, any stock will probably deeply penetrate drywall.  Mere human flesh would not stand a chance.
 
I suggest dropping back 10 yards and buying a Byrnes Sander.  I have experience with making my own - from way before there was any commercial machine - and the ease of use and precision with the Byrnes makes any homemade machine an exercise in pointless frustration. 

1700 rpm is about the max  for any of this sort of sanding machine.  I have not done the experiment, but I suspect that  mush faster will produce a well charred surface.
If the rotation is in the direction of the feed, you will have an electric motor driven version of a medieval or Roman era projectile throwing weapon war machine.
Even at your slower 4500 rpm, any stock will probably deeply penetrate drywall.  Mere human flesh would not stand a chance.
 
I suggest dropping back 10 yards and buying a Byrnes Sander.  I have experience with making my own - from way before there was any commercial machine - and the ease of use and precision with the Byrnes makes any homemade machine an exercise in pointless frustration.