Ordering wood to plank ....how much to order

[bigcreekdad]

With Hobbymill going out of business, I want to buy enough swiss pear (hull) and holly (Decks) to plank my next three builds...Armed Virginia Sloop, Fair American, and Dos Amigos.

 

How do i determine how much to buy. Also, I've got a Byrnes saw so are sheets a better idea than strips?

[Jaager]

For the Holly,  you would need to factor in the kerf if you cut your own from a sheet, but you would be able to match the width to that of each vessel.  Being a bit compulsive, I  would order twice the amount I calculate as needed. 

For the Pear, with a sheet, you may be able to get more efficient use of the wood since you should be spilling the plank shapes.  You may be able to use the curve from a previous plank as the edge of the current one. 

 

Spilling = cut a piece of 3x5 or 4x6 index card to the shape that will fill the plank opening without any lateral bends - so that it lays in naturally.  Not often will it be a true rectangle.  More likely sort of parallel shallow curves, but the width tends to taper a bit.  Use the card board pattern to cut  the planks for each side. One hopes that bilateral symmetry is occuring, but adjustments as you go should correct a digression while it is minor.  If you calculate (say) six stakes between a pair of ribbands, rather than cutting all six, measure 1/6 th for the first, lay it in, measure 1/5 th for the next, etc.

[catopower]

If you're got a Byrnes table saw, get the .030" blade he sells for it. Rip your planking from sheet stock, but to get uniform strips, cut them edge-wise from a sheet. So, if you want 1/8" wide planks, get 1/8" thick sheets. Cut strips 1/32" thick (or whatever suits you) and all the planks will be perfectly uniform width. If you get a little variation in thickness, a little sanding of the deck will deal with that.

 

I agree with Jaager about buying more than you think you'll need – double sounds nice and safe. Figure 1/32" thickness and add the blade kerf. Divide the width of the sheet you want by that number and that will tell you about how many strips you'll get out of it. 

 

For the hull planking, you can take the same idea or follow what Jaager is saying if you intend to spile.

 

Clare

[bear]

Hi Guys

 

I buy sheets and strip out the planks I need. No saw used-just an xacto knife blade and  a 4" small Starrett combination square used.

 

I set the square's scale at the width that I want to cut,then I hold the combination squareup to the sheet and scribe along the rule that is at the width of the strip you will be using. I then scribe along the length of the steel scales end,then advance it down the sheet less than what the width of the scales end is. I continue to do this the total lenght of the sheet.

I then put the sheet down on my cutting board and trace thru the cuts that are the full lenght of the sheet with the Back edge of the xacto blade-not the cutting side(I do this because it will follow the scribed cut that you hvae first made down the lenght of the sheet. Being carfull to lightly do this at first,and being 90% to the sheet. If it is thin-say 1/32 you can after about four cuts just break off the strip from the sheet. I can keep mine within .003 over the lenght of the strip for width. It will take some practic,but you will not waste ant wood to a saw blade,save the wood for greater yeald from the strip.

 

Not have to spend a lot of money on a saw.

 

For thicker sheets I also use a .005 thich razor saw to finish cutting the strips . I have done this for years in building Gliders and other models. Works well on Evergreen Plastic sheet also.

 

As to figuring out the wood needed for a build,the decks are easy just figure out the area and yield on the strips you will be using. On the hull,I just ball park figure out the area and multiply it by 1-3/4.

I also use thick file paper for spliing my planks before cutting any wood.

Keith

[GuntherMT]

I ordered enough deck planks for my next three builds.  I just looked at the plans for the deck and counted the number of each size of plank, and ordered that many strips of that size plus a package.  This will likely leave me with a *bunch* of extra planks, since the decks are nowhere near 22-24" long, but that's ok, it's not like I won't be able to use it in the future on other builds, and since I plan to do butt-shift planking on everything I do going forward (unless I do a more modern build where that isn't correct), I can use it all more efficiently as well.

 

Being able to do my own strips is certainly something I hope to do in the future, but for now I wanted to make sure I was set, at least for the Holly which seems incredibly hard to source, for the next year or so.

[cwboland]

I would also recommend you add an additional 10% for wastage and bad cutting. Just a good rule of thumb in woodworking and carpentry