Finishing the Frame

Over the past several weeks I have finished the frame, talked to a number of people about how I'm going to waterproof the finished board and decided to make the envelope of the board entirely out of cedar. Cedar is nice because it has natural water and insect resistance qualities; it's abundantly available here in the Northwest; and the local tribes revere it for its spiritual significance.

In the spirit of previous posts the following photos and descriptions show how this thing is being built and just how complicated this project I've decided to take on really is.

New tools! A Japanese saw for cutting the tabs of the ribs off where there protrude beyond the rail braces as you can see above to the right of the chisels(!). I bought a new set of chisels to cut the notches from the nose and tail blocks that you'll see later.

On the left you can see the little tab of rib that sticks out past the rail braces. The rail braces are the bent strips of wood that serve as the outline of the board and to which I'll glue the rail material later.

Below are the nose and tail blocks cut out from some 3/8" thick scrap I had left over from making the stringer. The notches for receiving the rail braces have yet to be cut. The shape of these doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be close. I used the tri-square (below on the right) to get approximate dimensions and then layout the design for the blocks on the wood.

Next I had to chisel out some of the block material to receive the rail braces. You can best see the outline of one of the channels on the lower-right piece of wood.

Here I've clamped the tail block piece down while I cut out the notch. I'm about half-way through this one. Only seven more to go. :-)

 

And this photo shows the tail blocks after they've been glued to the stringer with the clamps holding the newly epoxied rail braces into the notches.

And in this shot you can see the nose blocks being glued to the stringer using a clamp arrangement similar to what I used for the ribs.

I'm getting so close now I can taste it! The epoxy on the stringer-side of the nose blocks has dried, solidly connecting them. So now I'm attaching short nose braces to either side, clamping them down and inward while the epoxy dries. The near side has already glued up nicely.

The nose has been set free. Next I'll glue the rail braces together and then use the Japanese saw to cut off the ends.

My next post will show the completed frame in all its glory!