building a form

I am in the process of building a form for wanigans and another for a book case. My question is: Why is the form covered with 1" or so pieces?
Question two: Should I be looking at quarter sawn or rift sawn cedar for ribs and/or planking?

 

Less work and waste around the curves?

 

Yup, you'd spend a lot of time trying to fair it around the curves if you laid big slabs of wood on it, they wouldnt conform to the bend at all. Here's a picture of my smaller form, and one i took off yesterday. Remember to put some clear packing tape over the steel to keep from staining your ribs unless you pop for glavanized steel.

 

Hi ralph

You can always come over and use one of my forms. I think the 3/4" or 1" stock that is used is to make it solid and for ease of building it. --- If I understand the question.
I try to select quater sawn for planks and let the flat sawn stuff get used for ribs. but that's for canoes. I suppose wanigans are the same.
Oh, and for bookcases, I use the lesser quality wood for that regardless how its sawn. I haven't made one in a long time.

 

Ribs on Wanigan

Andre your wanigan looks beautiful. Its a project I have been thinking about for some time. I noticed that you have the ribs on the inside of the wanigan. I thought they needed to be on the outside to interlock with the ribs of the canoe. Please help me out with this detail.

 

Don't be fooled by those. They aren't users. Too pretty. And pot sets don't conform to a curved surface.
http://forums.wcha.org/images/icons/icon7.gif

 

Built out of cedar and with rope handles they are certainly users, but Rob is correct in that the fancier woods are too heavy and nice to beat up. His objection to traditional curved wanigans apparently arises from their inability to accept the pot he needs them to accommodate.
On a serious note, outside ribs would lock them into the boat they are intended for, provided you have the dimensions and measurements to lay on the bottom. Done correctly you could build a form on your boats inside dimensions and have it conform perfectly, requiring a capsize to remove it.

 

Seems to me, if you build it with ribs spaced to interlock with the canoe ribs, the weight of the wanigan would be resting on the planking alone. Would you want to stress the planking that much?

 

I suppose you could make the wanigan ribs thinner than the boats and it would still rest on the boat ribs rather than just on planking, and still lock in for rough rides.

 

Building a mold

Guys, I was wondering why the mold is made the way it is, with 1" or so pieces. I did make mine that way but wondered why a 6" board down the center would work as well as 6 one inch pieces. I "get it" about going around the curves.
Andre, I bought your old wanigan form at Keuka a couple of years ago. I have since built another as well as one 4' long for a book case.
I was wondering if/why quarter sawn was used in either planking or rib stock. I did not pay any attention to that when I made my wanigan but everything worked.

 

Wow, 4' long - canoe shaped or Wanigan? either way thats lots of clenching!
Like Dave said, flat sawn is easiest for ribs in most cases. How bout some pictures of your products?

 

Another non-user.
Had some of Badger Paddles' hemp oil given to me to try out, the first coat looks fantastic. Lots of their paddles have it and it makes a great finish. Mike donated a paddle to the auction last year, if you want to try a great food safe, clean finish its worth a try ( even if he does spell gunnel strangely)
http://www.badgerpaddles.com/paddles/Paddle_and_Gunnel_Oil.html

 

More good info and thanks.

 

I've used the Badger oil on my paddles....great product....by great folks