Out of My Head

...and into a heap of sawdust on the workshop floor. So goes my next kayak building project.

The Petrel, designed by Nick Schade of Guillemot Kayaks in Connecticut, is being lovingly built for my wife, Jennifer. Clearly she is much too petite for the first kayak I built her.

Sawdust production is probably my least favorite part of the project. I've read that there is actually an increasing demand for sawdust, which is used in particle board, fuel "logs," and such. The price being paid for a ton of sawdust is now $50US. I haven't quite got a ton of it here -- or maybe I do.

There it is, the kayak. Can't you see it? I can.

...okay, maybe it still needs a little shaping. All the strips are there, though -- and then some. Butternut, Aspen, Black Walnut, and Purpleheart.

After setting up the forms, the hull begins to take shape. I tend to fuss and wrestle with every strip -- "not good enough, not good enough, not good enough... that's it, I've had it with this one. Good enough already."

It ain't pretty.

But it will be.

Not perfect,

just beautiful. I'll have to settle for that.

Our local kayak building inspectors are not terribly impressed, however -- with neither the quantity, nor the quality of work done so far.

But they never complain about the mess. I'm grateful for that.

Uh-oh, power tool about to be used. To the Kitty Escape Hatch! Head to high ground! Go! Go! Go! Go!