Keel pt 1

Tried to run one of my 4.8m x 270mm boards through the thicknesser with no infeed or outfeed table and by myself, as I suspected would be the case, it didn't work too well. The reason I tried to do it was to get a better look at the grain for selecting a piece for the keel.

So I gave up on that idea and checked the edge of the board and sure enough it wasn't straight. So I set about putting a straight edge on it, which is much easier typed than done, took me two go's. I am going to think about better ways to do it. Doing this however has left me with a board a little over the required width for the keel. I still need to run it through the table saw to clean up the other edge, but it's progress.

Then I put the board through the thicknesser again, much easier this time, still by myself but the board was manageable, trick was taking just enough of the weight, I judged this using the rollers on the infeed & outfeed table of the thicknesser, taking weight until they stopped rolling and then releasing a little to keep them rolling. Worked great I am pleased with the result.

So I now have most of my first keel lamination, it's too short by about 2-1/2". I am going to cut it back to frame 1 and put the scarf joint so that the centre of the joint is on the frame. For the second lamination I'll put the joint up at frame 6.

Thicknessing the first board produced an insane amount of saw dust, I need to find something to do with it. I filled my shop vac twice