Necessity is the father of invention

Not the typical way you see that quote, but since I'm on my own this week I found it to be true. Between pool, school, parks and the grocery store there wasn't much time for boat building. At nap time I felt like I needed a nap too! Today I was determined to get something done so I set out to cut some of the pieces I still need. I am still waiting for someone to donate a table saw to my cause so I went with my trusty saw guide method. Check it out from a few months ago when I started with these pieces. I have the wood for the chines, sheers and battens so I thought. "Why not." I started with the 16 footer; I was cutting off a 2 in. chine from it. The setup is the long leg, the cut was quick. One chine down. But now there was not enough board to clamp the guide to. So I needed a new plan. Out came the idea that my Dad told me about from when he built his boat. A table saw, in it's most basic form is just a saw, held upside down, on a table. I have a saw, a piece of 1/2 in. oak plywood and two saw horses. Mix it with some leftover bolts and drywall screws and you get:

So now I have a table saw. (But if anyone wants to donate one, feel free.) It is a little rickety and the fence is not the best design, but I thought it would get the job done. I added two small pieces of 1/2 in. plywood to the saw horse for supporting those really big pieces. Most (good table saws use cast iron; the weight makes the table wobble less so you get better cuts. And check out these other features!

That's what the wood working community calls a "zero clearance throat plate." To make the hole for the blade I put the saw on the wood and lowered it through. There is quite literally zero extra clearance around the blade. This keeps the small bits from being sucked into the gap. I don't really need this feature but it is was the only way I knew how to get the blade through the table. Also note the recessed fasteners. The table is 1/2 in. thick and the head on these bolts was about 3/16 in. This doesn't leave a lot to support the saw, but it doesn't have to last forever.

You can see the bolts I used here to hold the saw in place. The saw only had two holes the right size originally so I had to add some more to make sure it didn't jump off and chase me. Also note the romex wire twisted around the trigger. This makes the power cord you see in the first picture the on/off switch. So far, so good. Now to put it to the test. My first fence extended past the edges of the table itself. I set up an "out feed table" to catch the board as I cut it. Here goes nothing.

Check out these beautiful cuts! I had no idea that wood had residual stress in it. I have actually read about air vs. kiln drying wood and how each effects the wood.. But I couldn't believe how much the wood moved when I cut it! As I was cutting, the cut end would look like it was peeling away from the main piece. If your fence is set up right this is not a problem. But mine was set up with the piece pinched between the blade and the fence. Every 5 inches the blade would bind up because of the curve that was coming out. The warp was so bad I had to drop the wood straight down on top of the blade. I left a few spots uncut so the warp wouldn't come out and bite me. Then I cut through these pieces and out came these pieces. The pieces I need all ended up with the same curve, so that is a plus. These are going to be the battens so I hope that they work out.

This one wasn't so lucky. There was a crack in the wood that I wanted to work around so I cut this small piece out of the middle. If you look (not so) closely you can see that it roves around all over the place. I think that this crack should have been a sign that a monster was lurking in this piece. Knowledge doesn't always come cheap. I still have to finish the chines so I hope they don't have that much twist in them too.

P.S. I tried the one chine I had cut in the notches I made. Bad news is the notch is too big for the wood (or the wood is not big enough.) Good news is this is not the first time I messed something up so I am already coming up with a fix. I'll probably just add some filler. The project moves on.