Which plane for scarph/scarfing plywood?

Hello,

I'm planning to make a simple duck boat, not go into boat production.

I'll need three 12' sheets of 6mm Okume ply.  This would be a 1:8 joint, or two inch set back.

I intend to use a plane and see that some people use a low angle, block plane.  Some use mega-long planes, but are doing all the joints at once.

If I just do two pieces of ply at a time/one joint, could I use my 7" block plane, my 9" smoothing plane, or a low angle 6-1/2" block plane?

What are your recommendations?

Thanks all!

Ken

Views: 508

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lawrence E. Long on October 6, 2015 at 7:15am

Ken: All the boats/canoes I have built were scarfed 1 joint at a time with 4 ft wide sheets of Merranti or Okume  with 1:8 scarfs.  Thicknesses were from 4 mm to 9mm depending on the boat.  Okume is much easier to work as Merranti "splinters" more and  The throat of the plane clogs up with ( I think)  the glue between plys. 

Whatever plane you use it should be  very sharp and you will need to keep it that way.  This might require several trips to the bench stone/strop between joints.  I like to use a jack plane or fore plane to do most of the work because it is longer/wider/heavier and seems to work easier and faster.  In cutting the scarf the plane will be at an angle( say 45 deg) to the axis of the scarf and will span more than 4 " as the joint is opened up. The longer plane will span the scarfs and help keep them flat.  When things are close to where you want them I will use a low angled block plane to dress off "wild" spots.

Don"t go out and buy another plane-  start with the 9" and finish off with the  low angle.  It might be smart to practice on some scraps of PW before taking on a full 4' sheet.

That's my dimes worth(inflation).  Others may have better advice.

Good Luck- tell us how it worked out.

Permalink Reply by Ken Shindledecker on October 13, 2015 at 9:10am

Thanks!  I actually ordered a low angle jack plane, with a 14" base.  I was going to stack 6 pieces of ply to make 3 joints, but I'll take your advice and just do one joint at a time.

Permalink Reply by Daniel Rogers on October 13, 2015 at 7:58am

Hi Ken,

My dad and I are finishing up our drift boat, and I wanted to suggest the method we used for scarfing: We used a hand-held belt sander, and sanded it til there was an equal distance between all the different layers of wood.

Hope this helps

Permalink Reply by Ken Shindledecker on October 13, 2015 at 9:11am

Thanks, Dan.  I was considering that, but am nervous 'bout over-sanding.  What grit did you use?

RSS

© 2024   Created by Randy Dersham.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service