Working with wood doesn't have to be hard. Power tools are readily available, at least back home here in Canada, and much cheaper than they were a few decades ago! I don't have a lot of space, just a garage, so I have only the smaller power tools. While these do not have all the power, features and accessories of the larger, floor-mounted power tools, good work can be done with modest equipment. The trick is to use simple jigs to keep the tool and workpiece aligned while the tool is doing its job. Here I show some of the gadgets I use for boatbuilding and other precision woodwork. They're not all my ideas, by the way.
Scarf Joints
A scarf is a joint between 2 strips of wood of the same thickness and width. The joint between them is cut at a fine angle and glued. This is far stronger than a butt joint where the ends of the wood pieces are trimmed at right angles, and neater than a butt joint reinforced by a butt block across the side of the joint. The fine angle reduces exposure of end grain, which tends to soak up the glue before it has a chance to set, and creates a longer joint. The strength of the joint increases as the square of its length. A snug-fitting joint is at least as strong as the wood once the angle reaches or exceeds 4:1, but finer angles are used up to 12:1. Using a finer angle simplifies clamping, by reducing the tendency of the 2 pieces to slide apart on the slippery glue, and it's better if the plank will be bent severely at the joint.
Cutting a Scarf Joint 1: with a miter saw
In the previous picture a miter or chop saw has been set up for accurate cutting of the scarf faces. First a pair of guide blocks of the same thickness as the wood strips are trimmed square, and the blade is set to the desired scarf angle, 7 degrees for a 8:1 angle in this case. Then the blocks are attached to the base of the saw. For small work, double-sided tape works fine, although clamps are advisable for a bigger job. The space between them is a snug fit for the wood strips. The saw blade is then run through the jig to show where the cut will be.
In this picture a wood strip is shown in place for cutting. Note that a spring clamp has been placed on the strip, and is touching the edge of one of the guide blocks. This prevents the strip being pulled in by the blade, which would cause the cut face to be inaccurate. The blade can now be run through the strip. I find that the finish is good enough for immediate gluing. A fresh cut is best for the gluing surface.
Cutting a Scarf Joint 2: with a bench disc sander
Since getting my bench sander this has become my favorite method. First the guide plate of the sander must be set up perfectly at right-angles (90 deg) to the disc. A short guide batten is clamped to the plate at the required angle (typically 1:6 or 9.5 deg). The batten faces should be accurately square or when the two pieces are joined the result will be twisted. A test piece of wood should be used to check this; ensure the edges of the bevel must be square to the edges of the test piece.
This is easy and quick to setup and no fancy jig is needed. Cutting the scarfs is fast and accurate, and the sanded surface is ready for gluing without further trimming.
The Scarf Joint Gluing jig
After the scarfs are cut, this simple jig can be used to assemble 2 pieces of a thin wood strip such as a chine log, the strips for a strip-built boat or the inwales or outwales.
It consists of a ply base with a notch to clear the clamps, a straight alignment strip, and 2 toggle clamps. The jig holds the 2 strips being glued in perfect alignment during the gluing, and allows the joint to be clamped. The toggle clamps are available from tools stores like Lee Valley tools, and allow the strips to be clamped one at a time.
The strips in the picture have already been cut for scarfing, the slightly lighter color of the freshly cut wood can be seen. Note that the "sharp ends" are exactly square across the width, showing that they were cut accurately.
Gluing a Scarf Joint
In this picture the 2 pieces of wood have been glued and clamped, with a small piece of waxed paper between the jig and the wood strips.
It's best to clamp the wood strips in position without glue initially, line up the joint then make a pencil mark across the edge. Then remove the top strip, replace it with glue, aligning the pencil marks. Small battens above and below the joint protect the strips from the clamps.
If a water-based glue is used the glued and clamped strip can be removed allowing the next joint to be glued, but not when using epoxy which remains slippery for some time. I usually glue up a batch, enough for all the long strips needed for a new boat, all in one session, which saves time.
Circular Saw Tricks: 1
Here's a couple of tips that I got from a guy with a big table saw. A handheld circular saw tends to make a rough cut and step one is to change the cheap blade that comes with it for a professional quality finish cut blade. The one here cost almost as much as the saw and it was worth every penny. It's fast, cuts a thin slot (or kerf) which reduces waste and dust, and the finish is glue-ready.
Step two is to get a cleaner cut using the zero-clearance base shown here: it is a plywood rectangle attached to the saw's base plate. Once attached to the saw, the blade is lowered through the ply, cutting a narrow slot that surrounds the blade snugly and prevents splinters. The improvement to the cut quality has to be seen to be believed. Most cuts are made with the blade upright; the base must be removed for cutting at other angles. Next time I will make it an inch bigger all round, which will simplfy clamping on a cutting guide, and I will leave off the guide battens along 2 edges since the saw blade in its narrow slot is an adequate guide. I will also make another identical one for my other saw, and arrange the distance from the blade to the edges of the plywood plate to be the same for both saws; then either saw will work with the long cutting guides shown below.
The Cutting Table
My boats have a lot of plywood in them. I use marine ply which is much nicer (and more expensive) than the average hardware store variety. I made this table, shown here upside-down, so I could cut it accurately and cleanly with minimum waste and mistakes. It is just a light wooden frame surfaced with insulating foam. Shown upside-down here, it can be seen right-side up on the Canoe page. With the plywood resting on top of the table, I can cut with my modified circular saw very precisely.
The saw blade is set just deep enough to cut through the ply; it makes shallow grooves in the insulating foam which has no effect whatsoever. The table is very light and easily moved for storage, and it is fastened together using screws so I can dismantle it. Next time I will attach a flat plank to the bottom edge so I have a place to anchor clamps.
Cutting Straight and Long
A standard plywood sheet is 8 feet long or 2.44 m. Since a lot of my designs have planks with long, straight edges I made a couple of cutting guides to help me. Here a fresh sheet of plywood is set up on the cutting table. On top of it is the guide (slightly darker in color) and the circular saw can be seen resting on the guide at the far end. The guide is simply a piece of plywood with a straight batten glued on top of it. The saw runs over the top of the plywood, and the saw base is guided by the batten. The first time it is used, the saw trims the edge of the guide , so in use that edge is simply lined up where the cut is required and the guide is clamped while the cut is made. I made 2 guides, 8 feet long and 4 feet long (1.22 m). Next time I will make the batten a little thicker and extend it beyond the end of the playwood to improve guiding at the start and end of each cut.
Cutting Long Strips for a Plank
Here the saw has been set up to cut lots of thin staves from the edge of a plank. This is a common task, cutting chine logs, inwales and outwales, making a hollow mast, or building a hull using the wood strip method. The tool of choice, without a doubt, is a table saw. I get similar results using the modified circular saw, with a guide strip clamped to its underside parallel to the blade. This controls the width of the stave. The end of the guide can be seen under the saw base: it should be at least twice as long as the saw base, three times is better, and it should extend out on both ends of it, to keep the cut straight at the start and end. Note that the power cord runs up to an outlet in the ceiling to make it easier to keep it under control during a long cut - one day I'll get battery tools . . .
Using this method has an advantage over using a table saw, since the plank can be almost as long as my workshop. with a table saw, if the plank is half as long as the workshop, or longer, a door at one or both ends must be opened to provide space, which can be a pain in the Winter.
Precision Routing
I do have a router table as it happens, but I rarely use it. It has the same disadvantage as a table saw when working on long pieces of wood. Also, the one I have takes too long to set up for routing; the underside is not flat so it is difficult to clamp things on the table, and the fence adjustment is hit-and-miss.
Here a handheld router is shown with a plywood base. This allows me to attach guides of all kinds for making accurate cuts. The arrangement shown is useful for cutting rabbets and trimming a plywood plank after it has been glued, and there is an overhanging edge that must be removed.
Clamping Tricks
It is not practical to show all the tricks that are used for clamping things together while the glue is setting. Here is a typical example. A chine log is being glued along the edge of a plywood plank. The problem is, the top of the chine log is beveled, so the clamps tend to slide off. The answer was to chop up a spare piece of chine log stock into lots of short pieces and stick them to the top of the chine log using double-sided tape. This presents a nice level surface to the clamp, which then stays put.
A lot of clamps are needed for boatbuilding. I made some cheap ones by slitting a piece of plastic pipe lengthwise and cutting it up into 1" (25 mm) lengths to make lots of C-shaped springs, which work very well; some are visible in the picture.
When gluing wood pieces together, the smart thing to do is have a dry run. Except for the simplest, most routine of gluing jobs, I always clamp or bind it together without glue first. This ensures I have a plan ready to go, and all the necessary clamps, tape, elastic cords, string etc. are within easy reach. Once the parts are dry fitted and clamped, I visualise what will happen when the glue is used. Wet glue is slippery, and additional clamping or other stuff may be needed to stop everything sliding around.
Beveling for the Bilge Planks
On the Canoe page there is a picture of me cutting bevels along the edges of the bottom and sheer planks of a canoe, ready for gluing the bilge planks to the hull. I am using a handheld power plane that has been modified. This is a good example of a task that cannot be done using a floor-standing tool!
Here the same plane is shown upside-down. The aluminum base was unscrewed and removed, and a much wider, delta-shaped plywood base has been added instead, using the same screws. The plywood base is wide enough to bridge the gap between the canoe's bottom and sheer plank, which ensures that the bevels line up with each other. That makes for a well-fitted joint on the finished hull.
The same trick works with a hand plane; wood or metal guides are attached to the cheeks of the plane to extend the base surface to each side, but the cheeks must be drilled and tapped.
When using a power plane, it is important to ensure that the bottom of the fixed base is in line with the tip of the blades as they rotate. This stops the plane dropping as it runs off the end of the work piece, leaving a nasty gouge. Note how close the front of the base is to the blades; this also helps to reduce the gouging. The original holes in the plate can still be seen - I had the plate too far back first time. Ideally the adjustable guide foot in front of the blades which controls cut depth should be parallel with the fixed base, which makes for an accurate start to the cut. These are good things to look for when buying a power plane and are far more important than the cutting rate and depth.
Rabbet Plane
This rabbet plane only took a couple of hours to make and works well. They're usually found only in specialist tool shops and are expensive! This one uses a 1/2 inch chisel held by a wooden wedge. using the forward chisel slot converts it into a bull-nose plane.
The body is 4 layers of 1/4" Baltic Birch Ply but any hard wood is fine. The blade angle is 40 deg. The wedge has a 12 degree angle, trimmed to accommodate the taper of the chisel, which is sharpened to 25 degrees.
The side cheeks limit cut depth to 1/2" which is all I need. Now I've tried it I realize I could have made the center web deeper.
Postscript
There are any number of other ideas I and others have thought up to make things easier or turn out better. There isn't room for them all here, but I encourage you to think outside the box! If the tool manufacturer didn't provide a needed feature or the tool doesn't do the job as well as you would like, you can usually fix it! Don't accept less than (near) perfection!