Now, as you can see below, I have a nice flat surface to add layers of keel
The challenge is that I am again dealing with big and very long lumps of hard wood. And if they came of the timber merchant’s saw straight, they certainly aren’t straight after sitting in my shed for a few months. I need straight and flat.
In a perfect world, I would have a seriously large planer-thicknesses to get the pieces to correct size (and straightness). Of course, I could find a woodwork shop with appropriate equipment, but where is the fun in that. So, crank up the little bench planer and my handheld electric planer and keep sharpening the blades.
Producing lots of expensive (but not valuable) sawdust in the process.
The piece to be fitted first at the fore end will need shaping and I start this before fixing in place, albeit leaving the final shaping until all the pieces are glued.
First layer, fore end fixed in place…
The picture below shows both layers in place reading to be shaped and finished.
