November 23, 2009

Build a Dinghy: Part 21

I made my quarter knees--the corner braces at the transom-from a glue-up of 1-by pine.I lapped the corners and and sed four boards for each "blank." I the cut the actual knees to shape, beveling their sides to fit the flare of the boat sides and the rake of the transom. Gluing up this way allowed me to orient the grain in the direction of the stresses. It is stronger than a solid piece of wood and easier than laminating curved pieces or steam bending. Here's a pic of the blanks in which you can see how I arranged the overlapping glue-up. I will post a picture of the final shaped knees later. Here, I have beveled the arms that rest along the transom, using a block plane. More shaping and beveling to come.

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