Re: planing the shearclam

Posted by Chuck Rhodes on Jun 26, 2006

Bill:

I am building a 17(LT) and have built a C-17 last year. Just this last weekend I finished planing my shearclamps on the 17(LT) as well as affixing the deckbeam. As for planing the shear clamps the key is to have, and keep, your hand plane sharp and properly set so that you can shave off a nice thin ribbon of wood. If you find yourself using excessive force and getting gouges or having difficulty getting the plane to move along, you probably have the blade extended too far out. If you can easily move it along but notice that little wood is being shaved off, then it is probably not far out enough. I recommend you practice on a piece of scrap wood or cut off shearclamp pieces to get the right setting. Also you can push the plane along in front of you or pull it back toward you. Just ensure you have firm even pressure and try to get it to shave a clean cut as you go along. Additionally, if after awhile it starts to not shave as cleanly as before requiring more effort, you are going to have to sharpen the blade with a good sharpening stone etc. Check the CLC "The New Kayak Shop, for tips on how to do this. Use the templates frequently as you plane along to check for the proper angle of cut. After you start doing it you will get the hang of how to slowly rotate and/or angle the hand plane as you go along to get the proper cut and angle required. The part from the Deckbeam to the Rear bulkhead requires you to eye ball a nice clean transistion from the larger aft radius to the smaller forward radius. This is not difficult, just trust your eye. In regards to the deck beam I leave the screws in but use a couter sink on my drill to widen out the hole on each side just enough so that the entire head of each screw was set in just beneath the surface of the hull panel. Then when I epoxied the beam onto the shearclamp, I coated the screws with epoxy mixed with cab-o-sil, screwed them in tight, and then used some cab-o-sil mix to fill the screw head hole flush with the hull panel. If you want to better match the color of the filler used over the screw head with the hull wood/epoxy color, then use a little wood flour mixed with Cab-o-sil until you get the right tint. Good luck with your 17(LT) project.

Chuck

In Response to: Re: planing the shearclam by Laszlo on Jun 26, 2006

Replies:

• Re: planing the shearclam by Laszlo on Jun 27, 2006
  • Re: planing the shearclam by Bill Lapcevic on Jul 1, 2006