Techniques, jigs, and tools; building a Jimmy Skiff

 My first thought is that I should have bought the kit offered from CLC. It would have been cheaper and single sourced. However with the pandemic I did not know how it would have passed customs. Most of my supplies were from Noahs (http://www.noahsmarine.com) they were excellent source, maybe a bit expensive. The kit would have supplied me with precut supplies. It took more than a week to scarf and cut the panels. This would have already been prepared in the kits.

Trestles

I built several sawhorses from two by fours.(  https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/how-to/g2456/how-to-build-stackable-sawhorses-from-a-few-2x4s  )  It is important to make the centre piece of the I beam shorter than the two faces. This allows for clamping items all around the trestle. I did stiffen the some of the the trestles with an X across the legs with half inch by two inch braces. This would make it harder to stack. I made one the height of the table saw for aid cutting longer lumber and plywood. 

Gougeon Scarfer 

View of the blade in scarfer bolted to saw.

Addressing the scarfer to the plywood. 

I used the Gougeon scrafer to scarf the plywood. It is bolted to a builders saw. Setting up the scarfer takes a while. A sharp blade is needed. The blade is arranged in the scarfer guide so the blade is at the right angle.A couple of trials then it is easy to scarf the plywood to eight to one. It is a type of tool that its use is so quick that you may not appreciate how much time it saves. I stacked up most of the blanks separated by plastic. I used a stapler through the panels to hold them in place. I used the stapler all through the project to hold items in place. 

Table scarf guide

Lumber clamped to fence 

Table saw scarf in action

To speed things up I also had a table saw jig to scarf lumber. This is a simple device to guide lumber through the saw at a 8:1 scarf. It is repeatable. As with the plywood scrafer it was quick. 

Veritas standard block plane 

I bought a Veritas ( www.leevalley.com ) standard block plane with the high end PVM-111 blade.(I promised not to plane through nails.) The tool is heavy but it's momentum led to smooth planing. Above you can see the pencil line that I had to plane down to. I made short work of this. (You can see the wire holes.) The blade is still fairly sharp with no nicks. I will sharpen the blade when I get a finer whetstone. 

Veritas mk II honing jig

I use a Veritas honing jig to sharpen chisels and plane blades. A guide is used to set the blade on the jig to a 25 degree angle. I had bought a 220/1000 whetstone. It is great to rough sharpen beat up blades and chisels. However I will have to get a finer stone, say 4,000 grit whetstone, to do final honing. 

Empty thread bobbin

Trim bobbin

Saw bobbin lengthwise

Final sanding tool

I fabricated a sanding tool from a sewing machine thread bobbin. I trimmed it to fit a 1/4 piece of sandpaper. The piece of sandpaper is wrapped around the bobbin and slid into the slot. This device made for a quick cleanup of the inside corners of the  flour/epoxy joints. I sanded the skin of my fingers using this. Next time I should wear gloves.

Saw guide in use

Saw guide

One of the most important jigs is the saw guide. This is a simple plywood jig used to cut lumber accurately, straight and a the correct angle (normally at 90 degrees). In the first picture I have set it up to rip the mast up to size. I stapled through the guide into the mast blank to hold it in place. Clamps were used to attach to saw horse. Perhaps a longer guide would have been better. (As an aside you can see the X bracing on the sawhorses.) 

Foreshortened mast

I wanted to test the the mast design. I built a five foot mast out of two by fours. . Below the mast deck partners it is to scale. The line is the height of the deck partner.  The top is tapered to one inch. I used all the router bits recommended. This process gave me the confidence to do the full scale mast. It came out beautiful. I do not want to throw it out. This mast fit perfectly into the boat. 

Lastly I built the Jimmy Skiff  from blank wood. The intricate cutouts in laminated pieces are best cut after the laminating. The centre board handle and the mast partner are two examples. They are much easier to cut out after laminating. Inside cuts are hard to cut and hard to line up. The inside corners are best cut with drill hole saws then the rest of the cutout extended with a jig saw. 

After the fact I addressed the dust control. I bought a Festool CTIS 15 E HEPA dust extractor. This a fancy name for a high end vacuum cleaner. It is great. It does not fall over. It is quiet. It plugs into the palm sander and the table saw. It cleans out the van. It is wet dry. Boy it is expensive though. The hose is a bit cheap. It works but the fittings are not solidly attached. 

I also cleaned up the storage in the garage.I was constantly losing tools and hardware. Now I have a system of drawers and storage. Should have started with this. 

I hope this helps fellow builders.