The Art Of Boat Building

Hollowing A Wood Plank By Backing Out (2x22)

Air date: Apr 12, 2020

Can you bend wood without steaming? In this episode I demonstrate a procedure called “backing out”. Backing out is the process of scooping out wood from the inside of a plank to give it a little hollow or concave surface. This allows the plank to appear to be bent and sit tight up against a curved frame. The degree of backing out changes along the plank’s length as the curve of the frames it rests on changes. I will do this with the round bottomed hollowing Plane I had created in an earlier episode. This plane, also referred to as a Coopering Plane, is an important tool for a shipwright who is “backing out planks” in carvel planking.