Assembling the strongback

Once you've got your station molds cut out, it's time to build the strongback - a long, narrow table where you'll mount the molds, evenly spaced. This will form the overall canoe mold to which you'll mount strips of cedar that will eventually become a beautiful, hand-made canoe. 

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I sat the station mold piles aside and took out a 4' x 8' sheet of MDF, measured and marked cut lines, cut the sides, ends, and support pieces, then using screws and washers, began assembling the longest and most narrow table I've ever built. 

With construction of the strongback finished, its time to add the station molds. The bow and aft pieces are mounted at either end, then the pieces that form the basic shape of the canoe are evenly spaced throughout the length of the strongback. Since wood glue is used to bind the bead to the cove of the adjacent strip of cedar, the edges of the station molds were covered with a strip of duct tape so as to prevent the wood glue from bonding to the mold as well.