Wood

Selecting

The selection of the (ply)wood, depends mainly on the taste of the consumer... It's main function is to provide a form to put the fiberglass and epoxy on.

It's mainly sold as a cover for (interior) doors. Here it is available in panels around 1.6 m wide and just over 2.1 metres long. Most providers have them in 3 and 4 mm thickness.

On one side is the higher quality type of wood one pays for. The other side and in between, are cheaper woods of very different colors.

The cheapest kind is probably pinewood, though cedar sold for the same price where I bought it. Other kinds were too expensive for this proyect. The pine panels were of very inferior quality. They even let the light pass through, indicating that the middle layer was missing... Watch out!

Trying to select three panels of the same colour and texture is daunting. I tried and, after applying epoxy found they changed colour completely.

Mechanical strength will be provided by the glass and epoxy. If you like, use the 3 mm panels. I choose the 4 mm, mainly because I am a beginner... (And the price didn't differ too much)

Do check the other side, and check the borders to see if the middle layer is continuous.

The techinique to realize a strong joint between two pieces of wood is called scarping, and this is done by overlapping the parts by at least 8 times the thickness of the plywood. To get the right angle more easily, I used the 'ramp' technique as pictured below. The plates (now 80cm by about 220cm) are piled up, with the short borders displaced by 8 times the thickness - in my case 32 mm - each. MIND the correct order of the pieces! After planing and sanding, they have to be rotated to fit onto esch other with the 'good' side up. So it's necessary to think about the correct order before starting to plane.

Photos

	The panels normally bear a seal from the manufacturer in one of the corners, indicating thickness, quality, wood, and origin.
On the 'bad' side, frequently serious errors are corrected by the manufacturer (like this cut).
	Sometimes the problem is not corrected, like this spot. Check if the problems have a solution... before buying!
First step is cutting the three panels lengthwise. Press them together with the good sides in, to protect them while cutting. This results in six panels, 80 cm wide and 2.1 metres long.
	Pressing them is important, this helps to make a clean cut at the good side.
To obtain 5.2 metre panels, it's necessary to join the pieces in a special way, called scarfing. To make the union as strong as the rest of the panel, the joint must be at least 8 times the thickness (24 mm for 3mm ply, 32 mm for 4 mm plywood).
	This is NOT easy! Think a lot about which side of each panel must be up. Some of them must be turned before gluing. Adding a piece of scrap wood make a staircase with 24 or 32 mm wide steps.
The idea is progressively converting this staircase in a slope. Most of the wood can be removed using a plane. Termination must be done using a (preferably) belt sander or manually. Always sand in the direction of the 'good' wood's grain
	Finish using the sander, and 50 grain then 80. Try to maintain the border as straight as possible.
Then it's time to glue them together. Though it's possible to use ordinary glue (it will be protected by epoxy later), I prefer using special epoxy wood glue, or, simpler, just mix a batch of clear epoxy. I'd suggest mixing 10% of talc to strengthen the joints.
	In one session, I glued all panels. To avoid glueing them together, I sandwiched in 'Saran'-style kitchen foil. This doesn't adhere to the epoxy once hard. More film below and above, and a piece of wood, and then enlisting help of everything heavy: bags of cement, paint and other weighty elements.

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(c) John Coppens ON6JC/LW3HAZ

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