Day 4:

Cutting Spars using a feather-board

Graham tells like it is.

We had a much shorter class today, because in the morning and afternoon we had a “Health Day.” However we were able to squeeze in one session at night where we made some headway on our boat.  Each of the three groups split off to complete their different projects.   Group three is in charge of all the spars of the boat, including the mast.   The mast was the main project we focused on tonight.  We started off by cutting the 16 foot pieces of 2x4’s so they would be only 5 inches in width.  After hauling the pieces into the basement, we began scarfing the wood.  This meant we were taking the 16 foot pieces of wood and joining them together with smaller pieces that were about 5 feet long, which would give us a total of about a 21 foot mast.   In order to do so, we had to shave down both pieces of wood at the same angle so that we could glue them together more easily.   Before glueing the shaved wood together, a sheet of plastic was placed between the wood and the sawhorse because the Epoxy glue doesn’t stick to plastic. After applying two coats of the Epoxy glue onto both pieces of wood, we clamped them together and left them for the night to dry.  – Emily Klein

Henry Wagner keeps it straight.

Scarf Joint