Tools

These are a few of my favorite things

Half of being a good carpenter is having good tools. When you speak about tools, it is all about quality. But, let's face it, they just don’t make tools like they use to. Garage sales are a great place to find quality tools as are specialty stores like Lee Valley Hardware. Thankfully, skin-on-frame boats are not terribly tool intensive. A skilled carpenter could probably build a boat with an axe, a draw-knife and little else. Hope to be that guy one day soon! 'Till then these are the essentials:

- A quality sharpening stone and some honing compound. A dull tool is frustrating to use and also dangerous.

- A ¾ inch and ¾ inch chisel.

- A knife. I like Opinel for their quality and price

- A jack plane and a trimming plane will get a lot of use.

- I love spokeshaves. Give them a try.

- A crosscut saw. Japanese or quality Western is fine.

- An electric drill with assorted frostner bits. (a hand drill would work)

- You don’t need an axe but you would be surprised all you can do with a fine axe. If I had one tool it would be my Gransford forest axe.

- What you do need is at least 20 spring clamps. If you can afford 40 or 50, better. You can assemble a complete boat with clamps and then tweak things around searching for perfection before lashing. I like clamps for my birthday, for Christmas, for Valentine’s day, even for my wedding anniversary... You get the picture!

It would be great to have access to a table saw and a thickness planner to mill lumber to final dimensions. These are expensive tools to be purchased only once the bug has bitten you hard.

Generally, power tools will provide a finer level of finish and quicker completion of your boat. But, hand tools will give you more satisfaction as well as a more rustic finish (which I happen to like). Remember that the goal is to create a functional object, not a Shinto shrine. There is an expression I love that goes like this: “Let's kill the engineer and build that thing!”