My gunwales scarf themselves.

That's how I roll. I don't have to scarf my gunwales, they'll do it themselves!

Check my mad scarfing skills:




So I decided to officially scarf my gunwales today, since I'm using temporary cheapo cedar to hold the shape of the hull. Last week I milled two .75"x4's (approx) into .75"x2's. Very close to the metric shape called for in the plans, actually, a little thinner and a smaller, but close enough. So I take one gunwale and just for kicks gently bend it around the starboard stern and CRACK!!! it breaks in two. I'm a tad perplexed, I didn't even it get it close to boat. So I grab the other gunwale from the 2nd stock, and it bends fine, as does its mate. Now I suspect the wood itself. I pick up the mate from the broken gunwale and ever so gently press it against the floor... CRACK! it splits in two with hardly any pressure what-so-ever on my end. I am dissapointed and perplexed. Its very fine Douglas fir with a nice even tight pattern, but now it would take multiple scarfs to get it to work.

Otherwise, I removed the screws from the bottom, ended up breaking the heads off of three of them, leaving the shafts in the wood (dammit). I also sat her down on the floor to see how she balanced and to enjoy that beautiful rocker. She's pretty.