Planking Stock

[Alan Peck]

OK, I have a question that must come up a lot, yet I can't seem to find any information on it.

I am going to plank a small boat carvel. I think I have a pretty clear idea about how to spile the planks.

However, I need to order the planking stock, and I don't know how to determine the width of the stock that I should order.

I know how wide each of the actual planks will be, but because of the fact that the planks are curved, the planking stock will have to be a good bit wider than the actual widths along the actual planks.

It seems like a chicken or egg type question. I don't know how to determine the width of the stock I need without spiling, but I can't do the spiling except as each plank is cut out and fastened.

I would appreciate advice on this. Also, I am having very little luck in finding western red cedar or eastern white cedar for the planking. Can anyone recommend a couple of reliable sources that will provide quality material sight unseen. Since I am sure I will have to have it shipped some distance, I won't be able to select the stock myself.

Thanks

[Bob Smalser]

When I mill it to sell for generic small boats under 20', my preferred dimension is 5/4 X 8 1/2" X 12' Long as the most economical.

1) 5/4 thickness allows spiling one plank and resawing to get out the other.

2) 8" wide is a good compromise between narrow strakes and waste and wide planks, as the stock can be edgejoined before dogleg scarfing to obtain wider garboards. Accordingly you'll also hear of 6" widths and 10" widths being preferred. Lack of VG wood and cupping in flatsawn wood become issues at over 8" in large cedars and narrower than that in smaller logs.

3) Small boats with noisy sheers require dogleg scarfs to preclude grain runout, and 10-12' is generally as long a run as can be had.

For best economy, you can easily make a cardboard model and tailor all this to a specific boat.

[Bob Cleek]

Smalser's da man! Right on. I'd add that if you can find a sawyer who's got some logs to saw, you might ask him to leave them "flitch cut" for you. This means they don't run the slabs off the log through the dimensioning saw. What you have is just the slab with the bark still on. Sometimes you can even find somewhat curved logs that will give you curved flitches, which is exactly what you want for curved planks. Maybe Smalser knows somebody up his way in the foggy damp forests who can get some flitch cut stock out for you.

[Mrleft8]

Florida is a lumber wasteland. Never seen such poor pickings in my life! BUT..... If you poke around, ask some people, you should be able to find locally grown cypress, or White Cedar I'd think.
s Bob suggested, 8 1/2" inches wide by 5/4 thick...... BUT I'd look for stock that's a foot or two longer than your boat. I think I got 16' boards for the Catspaw, but then again, I bought some of those for a Piscataqua river wherry before I started the Catspaw.....

[Bob Smalser]

For a 12-14' cedar-planked skiff like David Mede's below, 12' stock provides an 8' and a 4' to nicely accommodate two dogleg scarfs per plank with 4-8-4 stock. A 16' hull would benefit from 14-foot stock, but only to maximize the usefulness of the offcuts....otherwise you could buy 8' stock and still minimize waste.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2595357/335899260.jpg

The reason of course to plan all this out is that often the longer the stock over 8', the more you pay per board foot for it......if you don't really need it, you're wasting money.