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I know many of us SSW members have built or crafted something in the shop over time. What is the favorite thing that you have built in your shop. It doesn't have to be Side x Side related. Let's hear about some of your past projects and see some pics if that is possible.
My all time favorite project was my last High School Wood Shop project. During my Junior year of High School (20 Years ago), I embarked on the venture of building a Cedar Strip Canoe. This was an awesome year long project. I found the plans for the canoe in a book called Canoe Craft, which had several different canoe designs.
The project started with building the strong back form which was a plywood structure that would create the geometry of the Canoe. The Canoe itself consisted of a bunch of 1/4" x 3/4" wide Cedar strips that were ripped from 20+ foot long clear cedar boards. It was quite the challenge ripping a 20 + foot board cutting a 1/4" at a time.
Once the 100 + cedar strips were ripped, the shaper was setup to place a bead edge on one side of the strip, then a cove edge on the other side of the strip.
All of the strips were then stapled and to the strongback form and glued together. Once the canoe shell was complete, all of the staples were removed, the canoe was sanded smooth and the outside was fiberglassed with a Clear Fiberglass Resin. This fiberglass was then finished with multiple coats of Spar Utherane to aid in the protection from UV Rays.
Once the outside of the shell was complete, it was time to turn the canoe over and begin on the inside. The same process was utilized....sanding and Fiberglassing.. After the entire shell was fiberglassed, the Gunwale trim pieces were added along with the seats and the canoe interior.
The end result of this project was a 19' cedar strip canoe that weighed in a 55 lbs. The thing was beautiful and was a joy to use. I think back in the day I had $400 invested in materials. My local lumberyard had donated some Ash for the trim pieces on the canoe so that saved some expense. However, I believe the biggest Expense was the West Systems Fiberglass and Resin. I think that was almost $120 back then.
I was offered close to $2000 several times for my canoe back then, but refused to sell it, as I was very proud of that project (especially for a 17 year old kid).
I actually still have it today sitting in storage at my father-in-laws shop. One of these days I need to get this thing back out, dust it off, and take my kids out in it.
I really wish I would have documented this build with pictures back then. A poloroid would have been great LOL. However I did not :-( There were a couple of build pics in my yearbook that year, but I haven't a clue where those are either LOL.
Anyways, that is the build I am still the most proud of some 20 years later.
My all time favorite project was my last High School Wood Shop project. During my Junior year of High School (20 Years ago), I embarked on the venture of building a Cedar Strip Canoe. This was an awesome year long project. I found the plans for the canoe in a book called Canoe Craft, which had several different canoe designs.
The project started with building the strong back form which was a plywood structure that would create the geometry of the Canoe. The Canoe itself consisted of a bunch of 1/4" x 3/4" wide Cedar strips that were ripped from 20+ foot long clear cedar boards. It was quite the challenge ripping a 20 + foot board cutting a 1/4" at a time.
Once the 100 + cedar strips were ripped, the shaper was setup to place a bead edge on one side of the strip, then a cove edge on the other side of the strip.
All of the strips were then stapled and to the strongback form and glued together. Once the canoe shell was complete, all of the staples were removed, the canoe was sanded smooth and the outside was fiberglassed with a Clear Fiberglass Resin. This fiberglass was then finished with multiple coats of Spar Utherane to aid in the protection from UV Rays.
Once the outside of the shell was complete, it was time to turn the canoe over and begin on the inside. The same process was utilized....sanding and Fiberglassing.. After the entire shell was fiberglassed, the Gunwale trim pieces were added along with the seats and the canoe interior.
The end result of this project was a 19' cedar strip canoe that weighed in a 55 lbs. The thing was beautiful and was a joy to use. I think back in the day I had $400 invested in materials. My local lumberyard had donated some Ash for the trim pieces on the canoe so that saved some expense. However, I believe the biggest Expense was the West Systems Fiberglass and Resin. I think that was almost $120 back then.
I was offered close to $2000 several times for my canoe back then, but refused to sell it, as I was very proud of that project (especially for a 17 year old kid).
I actually still have it today sitting in storage at my father-in-laws shop. One of these days I need to get this thing back out, dust it off, and take my kids out in it.
I really wish I would have documented this build with pictures back then. A poloroid would have been great LOL. However I did not :-( There were a couple of build pics in my yearbook that year, but I haven't a clue where those are either LOL.
Anyways, that is the build I am still the most proud of some 20 years later.
