What Doesn't!
What Doesn't? When using your router, planer, or saw on a piece of straight grained wood and a small piece blows out and chips off, glue it back on.
But, not with Elmers Wood Glue! That would take for ever to set or dry.
What Works! I stopped by the hobby shop and picked up a CA glue (Cyanoacrylate) and Activator. You really need the activator to kick the glue, otherwise it takes a while for it to set and sometimes doesn't set or hold the piece at all. Some of these chips are not that small. One actually split the wood 14 inches down the board. I popped out the CA glue and hit it with activator and it was on to more work! Just like that! This really works, for non structural items of course.
What Works! This worked really well. With that same pattern I faired both sides so I had a pattern the same shape as my deck beams. I then used a router with a laminate trimming bit (flush trimmer with a ballbearing at the bottom end of the bit), laid my beam material on the plywood pattern, and trimmed the beam material following the plywood pattern. This gave me a very smooth line the same shape and lines of the plywood. This worked really well! Patterns are good.
What Works! If found two out of 18 boards that were not bent, full of knots, had a grain structure of 12 per inch or more, and grain that was not greater than 40 degrees.
This Works! I filled the small and tight knots with thin "Zap" cynoacrilite glue and kicker (accellerator) then sanded them down with the belt sander. This made the tight knots tighter and there was no way they were coming out, if not making them structural again.
Everyone makes mistakes, but what makes a carpenter (or boat builder) is how he fixes his mistakes.
Case-And-Point
What Doesn't Work? Cutting a groove for battens, sheers, or chines and a gap developing. The cut was wide, now what! Leaving this gap doesn't work!
What Works? Fill it? No, I mean FILLET! When a cut is wide and a gap develops you can fill that gap with epoxy and sawdust. It makes a great gap filling putty that sticks in place and doesn't sag. Round it off with your finger or round tool and this makes a FILLET. But wait! This is the best! After you get that epoxy mix in the gap use a little saliva (or spit) on your finger (your choice of fingers) and smooth out that epoxy. It makes a smooth, slick surface you won't have to sand as much.
What Works? Coating your wrenches, clamps and tools with oil or furniture polish before they get them coated with epoxy. I didn't do this and I know better again and now, but I don't think this wrench will be any better than a box end wrench now.
Back to Progress Page 4.
What Doesn't Work? The sandpaper getting all clogged up while sanding. This does not remove any material.
What Works! While sanding I hold a small wire brush in the other hand and frequently clean the sandpaper on the sander. Keep the sander running while doing so. This cleans the paper easier and faster. However, your sander will never get a break this way. It runs and runs and runs.
What Doesn't Work? Trying to draw a scribe line with a pencil on the underside of a board that needs to be cut exactly to the line.
What Works! Check out this picture. This is a pencil with the end cut off at a 45 and glued back together making a pencil with a 90 degree angle. With the very end around 3/4" I can now scribe the underside of the piece to be cut. This works really well and not hard to do.
What Doesn't Work? Trying to sand down a boat with a longboard. I fabricated a longboard out of 1/4" plywood and carved some handles for it. Boy does it wear me out. I get to breathing so hard I want to collapse.
What Works! An Air File! These sanders have foam bases and run on 100 psi pressure from you air compressor. These air files really takes off the material. I don't think you could build a boat without one. Photo to follow.
Piece of Equipment.
The 90 Degree Pencil.
What Doesn't Work? Dropping something in the boat when the floorboards are installed. If you drop a screw, where does it go? Into the bilge. However, it doesn't just lay on the first batten, but some how, that screw will bounce over all the battens and stop at the keel. The only place that is just out of reach of your fingertips. Everything you drop goes into the bilge. How this happens is beyond me. Everytime, it seems to find the only opening in the floorboards no matter how small, into the bilge it goes.
What Works? If you have lost something and can't find it anywhere, where can you find it? In the bilge. But, it is not just laying on the first batten, nooooo! It will be all the way down at the keel, just out of reach of your finger tips. How does this happen? Now What? Pull all the floorboards to get it. I don't get it!
Another Favorite Saying
If you have never made a mistake, you have never done anything.