Mission Statement

Boat theme this post.  This is the form for the the small flat bottomed skiff I started last summer.  Didn't get it finished, but I did get the sides planked, the bottom planked and caulked (I went with pine boards with a spline and cotton caulk) and the inner and outer stem and faired.  Oh, and the transom.  And the keel and skeg.  It really amazed me how long the various steps took.  I'd like to think I'm pretty good with hand tools, and when the plans said beginners should do x step in so much time, it left me wondering who these beginners were.

 Anyway, here's a side shot, showing the battens that allow the planks to be spiled and faired.  In other words, it gives a way to place the planks so they look nice and even, and don't end up lumpy.   I'll tell ya, fairing the stem was tricky tricky.  One thing that is hard is knowing what is good and what isn't.  What I mean by that is like with the chairs, I now know what will work and what won't, so I know immediately what to do.  But when I started out, I would spend bunches of time just trying to figure out if something would work.  Same with the boat.  I couldn't just move from step to step, I had to figure out how to make stuff perfect, which is good, but I think a lot of stuff was close enough.

 Here's the transom and where the bottom plank meets the deadwood.  I didn't know any of these terms either, really learned a lot on this one.  Like the importance of proper countersinking and the magical abilities of epoxy and 3M caulking.  

 Tangent--Here's the brand I use to sign my chairs once they are done and pass muster.  It may sound corny, but this is the last thing I do on a chair or a piece of furniture.  I look it over and then put my name on it, so future generations will know who built this piece.  Which brings me to a mission statement---

I saw this mission statement doing a homework assignment for a business class and now this copy hangs in my shop.  It sums up exactly my philosophy on building my furniture.  I'd say more, but I don't have to. 

See how I brought the ship theme around...