The cedar is in the shop!

 A good part of yesterday was shoveling snow and going down the the Christmas Dinner at the Community Hall was dicy.  We probably got close to another foot of snow yesterday and I decided to head south this morning in search of good cedar.  From Buckley Bay down to Parksville the roads had only been plowed are were in good snow covered condition.  Once I hit Parksville you could tell that they had been using salt on the road as it was pretty sloppy.  I had 2 sources in mind: Westwind Hardwoods near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal and Coastal Pacific Forest Products in Cheminus (about 150 kms shorter round trip).  When I started out I was planning on going down to Victoria but the road conditions made me decide to check out CPFP on the way down – good choice!  They had a few 17-20 ft  2 inch thick clean planks of Western Red Cedar that I picked up along with some clean Yellow Cedar.  I was hoping to get it 5/8″ thick, so I’ll have a couple of extra steps in the cutting process.  I was told that this wood came from the Queen Charlotte Island and it is beautiful.  They had some beautiful mahogany there as well as Paduk and Purpleheart …  I should have enough cedar left over to get a good start on the next boat (can you believe it? I’m already thinking about my second boat!).  

Loading the wood onto the rack was a breeze.  The rachet tie downs really worked well and the wood didn’t move at all.  On the way back, I stopped in Nanaimo to do a little Christmas shopping.  Damn, there were a lot of people out shopping and I couldn’t get out of there soon enough.  It felt good leaving the salted roads behind in Parksville and driving through winter wonderland.  The sun came out in the afternoon and was postcard pretty.  I got off the main highway and took the coastal road the rest of the way up to Buckley Bay. It reminded me of when I was a kid and used to go to my grandparents place in rural Quebec for Christmas.  The trees and mountains looked spell binding covered with snow.  It was a really good day.

Tonight I moved a few things around in the shop and tried to figure out where the kayak will go while it is being built.  Of course this meant moving everything even if it didn’t need to.  I think I got it set up – very similar to what I envisioned back in July.  I need to move the stereo as it is taking up a fair amount of space.  

I also got some finishing done on my Dad and Norie’s gifts.  On my Dad’s toolbox, I applied 1 coat of Danish Oil and it now has 3 coats of wipe on poly.  The Danish Oil really brings out the grain on the walnut and mahogany and it feels so smooth.  I’ve just finished the sides that will be on the inside and will finish the rest of it after it has been put together.

This will be one of the first, if not, first post in the Cape Ann Storm category. I’ll have to figure out how to get them to show under the Cape Ann Storm page, but it’s late and I’m tired.  I have a fewgood  links to share, but they can wait til tomorrow …

Waiting for the ferry to come in

The obligatory pose …

The artistic shot

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