Making a couple of spars

[Doug Hermann]

To fill time as epoxy sets, I have just about completed the 2 spars. I laminated Douglas fir and cedar to make light weight and a little different look spars. I made a spar marking jig to lay out the lines to cut the blanks into octagons. Pythagorean theorem works beautifully.

hand planing and hand sanding these were remarkably therapeutic. very enjoyable seeing these tapered pieces getting more and more elegant as you work away.

a block plane and the tabletop belt sander made quick work of getting the octagon to a circle.

Then I used a 2’ long, 2”diameter piece of PVC pipe and sticky back roll sand paper to put the final,touches and finishing. 80 grit, 150 grit and 220 grit.

to attach the hook onto the boom spar. I used a couple of machine thread/wood thread screws.Epoxied them to the hook first and then set into slightly larger holes in boom with thickened epoxy. Came out great

next up will be to make up the mast – need to get to lumberyard for more raw materials

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