Arctic Tern Build

May 14, 2017

Cutting the Okoume Plywood for the Garboard Planks and Scarfing

I first cut one sheet of Okoume plywood to give me four 10” strips and one 8” strip.  I planned on using the 8” strip to practice making scarfs. 

The Okoume plywood I am using is 9mm (3/8”) thick so I am using an 8:1 ratio for my scarfs.  Which equates to 3” overall for the scarf. 

Next step was to practice scarfing.  I first built a jig as described in Iain’s book entitled “Clinker Plywood Boat Building Manual”.  With the jig I attempted to use a hand plane and found that this was quite a slow and labor intensive process and decided that I would make another jig utilizing my router. 

 

 

After making the router jig I attempted to cut a scarf.  Unfortunately, it did not work out as I envisioned it.  In fact, it was a disaster, as you can see from the pictures. 

I then experimented with a combination of using a hand plane, a hand power plane, and my belt sander.  That combination seemed to do the trick and I was pretty pleased with the outcome. 

So after some more practice scarfing on my practice boards I decided to begin scarfing the actual Okoume planks that I will be using for the Garboards.  I used a board that was about 12” wide on which I clamped the Okoume plywood to.  I then proceeded to scarf the marked end with the combination of a hand plane, a power hand plane, and a belt sander.  Finishing up with a sanding block.  I have to admit that I was pretty pleased with the outcome but decided to scarf the opposite ends of each plank just in case I damaged one accidently.

My overall thoughts on scarfing are that I think one can get better at it, as one practices.  I spent a good 2 to 3 hours to obtain the scarfs required for just the Garboard planks.  I have in the back of my mind that there are 6 planks required for each side of the boat (12 total) and that half of those planks will require more than one scarf per plank.  Lots of scarfing practice ahead of me.  I would also highly recommend to anyone scarfing that they definitely wear a dust mask.  Using a hand power planer along with a belt sander creates a mass of chips and sawdust.    

Next step will be epoxy the Okoume strips together.