Hi Salamander,

 I think this forum is your best tool. Lots of info in the strip construction section of the "Tips for boatbuilders"  tab if you haven't found it already. We just finished our first strip build (thanks for the compliment) and found the information here to be our best resource. I would advise you to pick out a beginer friendly design you like and get started. Solve the problems as they arise, and be patient.

 We ripped our material with a circular saw and beveled the strips where needed instead of going bead and cove. The most used tools were a fine pull saw and block plane. Did I mention patience?

 Good luck, do it.

Welcome to the forum, 

The best thing I can recomend is to get the books ( The Strip-Built Sea Kayak ) and ( Building Strip-Planked Boats ) both by Nick Schade.

Every thing you need to know  plus plans for several designs.  Building strip-Planked Boats has the plans for the Nymph Canoe.  A cedar strip canoe design.

This forum is a great place for information.

If you buy a cedar strip kit from CLC you will get Nick Schades book with it.

If you build from scratch, the books are a must have !!!

Good luck and have a blast building your canoe.

Lou

Thanks for the info on the books Iwas looking for a good boat book anways

I was wonderingwhat is wood flour

                                                   Thank you again for the info

I checked out the boat builders tips and the videos were most helpfull to figure out to glass and make the finish a really shinny

Is there a reason you beveled instead of bead and cove

i have gotten my plans picked out i want to do a chesnut kruge

Length	16'
Beam (BOA)	33-1/2""
Beam (BWL)	29"
Weight	55 lbs.
Displacement (Capacity)	450 lbs
Draft (at Capacity)	3.14"
Center Depth	12.66"
Depth at Bow	23.26"
Rocker	1.5"

 The reason we decided to rip our material and not use bead and cove was to save a buck. The shape of the WD10 was part of the decision also, not too many curves there so the beveling wasn't too time consuming. We went into the builds with a minimal budget hence we built from plans. In hindsight I think if you can afford the kit the money may be well spent,as the build will go much faster. We spent two days cutting and sanding panels and temp forms.

Hi Salamander

Wood flour is just very fine sawdust. You can "make" your own by saving the dust from a belt sander, but it's relatively inexpensive to purchase, and less chance than having "lumps" like from do-it-yourself sawdust.

It is used as a "filler" to be mixed with epoxy when doing fillets. Mixed thick enough, it stays where you put it. It is relatively easy to sand compared to epoxy when used with some other fillers.

Different fillers are used for different purposes. sometimes you want something that is easy to sand (wood flour or micro-baloons) and sometimes you want something with high structural strength... e.g. for mounting a winch. For fillets, wood flour should be fine. You can also mix some cell-o-fill with it too for a slightly "stronger" mix. I got a large bag of cell-o-fill from CLC. It will probably last me several years. Cabosil or fumed silica is the old 'high strength" filler. You need to be careful with it and not breath in the dust. With cell-o-fill it is just a "nuisance" dust and not a real health hazard.

If you need to fill gaps between cedar strips, and it will be varnished, epoxy and wood flour would be pretty good if brown is OK. If you want it lighter in colour, add some cell-o-fill.

thanks for teling me about the wood flour and cell-o-foam i wiil keep that in mind for many of wood projects to come