Well, the good news is that I was able to cut the stem from a single 1×2 on the table saw. The bad news is that I still didn’t like the result.
What I wasn’t appreciating last week was how I could set the table saw fence much closer to the blade than otherwise (or even looks wise), since the blade is tilted away from the fence when cutting a bevel. So I was able to get right into the middle of the 1×2.
The resulting 2 pieces weren’t quite symmetrical, though. I didn’t like them. So I went with the alternate method of cutting off the left side of a 24″ 2×4. And the resulting stem is pretty much perfect. Love it.
And I also cut the gussets, although I ended up going with the sliding chop saw instead of the table saw. I also tacked the two pieces together with staples over jute, the way that Beede uses for clamping the butt blocks. Cutting the gussets together this way made them exactly symmetrical.
Somehow I screwed up the layout, though. I still got the 106° angle, but they’re not isosceles triangles. One leg is the 6″ I was aiming for, but the other only ended up being like 5-1/4″. Oh, well. Measure once, cut twice. And it’s the angle that’s the important measurement, and it’s right.
I screwed together the frame, or at least the part of the frame that will end up as the frame of the boat. I have an idea to sister some pieces to the bottom and sides, temporarily, to help with alignment when attaching the plywood sides to the side frame members. And there’ll be a top stretcher to the frame, again temporarily.
And it was a three-day weekend and I only got an hour or so of work on Monday afternoon. (Met up with family, including seeing Dad’s gravestone at Arlington on Saturday, then had St. Andrew’s Day and the Bishop’s visit and the potluck on Sunday.) Maybe one night this coming week I can make & attach those frame parts, as well as make up the transom story assembly. We’re going on vacation first thing next Saturday morning, so I’m going to miss a weekend of working on the boat.
Lesson(s): Stapling the plywood together wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Sometimes the staple wouldn’t go in far enough, sometimes it went too far in, and sometimes it crumpled and didn’t go in much at all. And the jute wasn’t much use underneath the staples to pull them out. I ended up using the lineman’s pliers instead.
Lesson: The sliding miter saw is a thing of beauty, especially with the laser line showing where the cut will be. I’ve still got the saw in the basement, though. The garage is crowded enough. But I’m thinking of dragging it out to the garage anyway. How much crosscutting is left? I’ll have to calculate that.