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Here's one I've repeated too many times to count: there's a time to transition from spokeshave/plane to sandpaper, and it's most important when the grain swaps direction on a piece. A blade can easily pull some wood that goes deeper than the target finished dimension. "Aw f#@&*!#^!!"

Sailsman63, interesting. I too discovered how porous (grippy) the surface of glass is when I tried to scrape some cured epoxy off a nice piece of 10mm shower glass-- scratched the glass in the process. Because wood has virtually no coefficient of expansion (temperature) but glass does, you...

YC, perhaps the instructions on the can are hinting that a mug of whiskey is needed in advance in order to brave the contents of the can; if weight is an issue, maybe leave the can behind and double up on the whiskey.

Before finishing and after.

I try to catch the Kevlar/G/flex bumper strip when it's like hard rubber, similar to a hockey puck. It's not sticky, and I can use a spokeshave. Depending on temperature, this is around about 12 hours. After full cure, I do the final shaping with 100 and 120 grit sandpaper stuck onto boards--...

The shears are "Wiss KV2" Kevlar shears. https://www.motioncanada.ca/productDetail.jsp?sku=02429538 is one place the may be found-- the shears are very basic, but work well for Kevlar cloth and mat. Mine are worn out, but I've had them for 10 years. There are other newer designs, but...

Very nice work Canotrouge. Here are some photos of my roughed-in edging using Kevlar mat and G/flex epoxy.

Here's a pine paddle with walnut trim.

Thanks Jim-- and yes, it makes a pile of shavings-- appetizers for the fireplace. The blank is 1- 5/16 and the shaft will be finished to 1-1/4; the blade is quickly slimmed with band saw and draw knife.

Sitka Beavertail continued.

A river runs through it-- the jewel of the high plains desert is the Bow River, which runs through the heart of the city of Calgary Alberta. We did a short trip today to kick off the 2016 season.

I will look into the Tonkinois varnish, thanks. I use foam brushes for varnish too; I warm the room in advance and I also warm the varnish. I didn't know the Lee Valley foam brushes were more dense-- I will pick some up next time I'm there. We refer to Lee Valley as "The 200 Dollar Store"!

That's a nice boat. We had a 17-foot Duck Hunter that was (I think) a Revelation hull.

That insert looks great. You do beautiful work! Epifanes spar varnish is simply the best.

There are many solutions to the paddle bumper strip, and Kevlar felt is one I've used before. The weak link seems to be the wood/epoxy interface, especially if the wood is dense and doesn't drink much epoxy. Dynel is popular for paddle blade trim, but Kevlar is a better structural match with...

The blade is 6.25 X 26, and the shaft is 32. For a 'traveling' paddle like this, I prefer a round (or nearly round) shaft because I use a lot of in-water recoveries with full rotation of the paddle-- the oval shaft feels too busy in rotation. I like the shaft straight in the area I grip most--...

I don't know if its kiln or air-dried-- is there a way to tell? It was stored in somebody's rafters for some decades. I thought I might use it for gunwales, but it had several cracks at both ends of the 16-foot board. I got a 10-foot piece out of it that I sawed in 2 and glued together. It's...

I finally got started on the Sitka Spruce Beavertail.

I only speak for myself: the most effective back relief is derived from the entire seating 'system', which is a suite of elements. First I position the seat (fore and aft) with the aim of trimming the boat when empty. In a symmetrical canoe, that's about 1" higher in the bow, with the paddler...

2017 is Canada's sesquicentennial (150). Who's planning to paddle some segment of the Voyageur's routes?