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> I am considering building a wood-strip Kayak. I have been hesitant because
> of the cost of Cedar. I am learning that Pine could be used instead. Are
> there major draw backs for using pine?
I'm using pine, western red cedar, and walnut on my yak. Pine is the easiest to work with. I'm hand planing all of the strips (no cove and bead) and the pine is the easiest to plane and sand. I haven't had any problem with breakage, but when the curves get tight I go with 1/2 width strips. Pine has a lot of knots so it's hard to be able to cut full length strips, unless you buy clear pine. The price of clear pine is quite a bit more than regular knotty pine.
Cedar is lighter, but I find it harder to sand when trying to get the ends to fit just right. It also varies in color quite a bit. It doesn't plane as nicely either.
Walnut is heavy, hard, and doesn't plane very well. Suprisingly, it does bend quite nicely.
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Guillemot Kayak - High
Performance Wooden Sea Kayak Designs
