I wondered about the shape of the ends too.
Pictures I've seen show two basic types. pointy or blunt.
Certainly the blunt ended is less labor but with chain saws
its neglegible.
I'm thinking that the pointy ended is a more highly developed hull shape
and that the blunt one is more primitive but also may be a way to deal
with inevitable checking of the wood from the end.
From what Ive seen, the blunt end boats were carved from the inside
first, burned out actually. These hulls are basically log shaped so the
carving of the outside would be pretty straight foward.
With a pointed end boat, I would have a hard time shaping and
visualizing the negative space of the hull if starting from the inside.
I think I can visualize and carve the outer shape preety much by eye
though.
I'm mostly worried about controlling checking and figuring out the final
shape when its done. Since this hull will be sprung out from the inside
I'm wondering how much it will spring and how thick I'd need to make the
wood to resist splitting it. Will speading the gunnals apart result in
hogging the bottom?
I was also wondering if the charring used to remove wood also adds to
rot resistence or if it was simply the only way to remove the wood
before steel was available.

Backyard Renegade wrote:
steveJ wrote in message ...
snip
and broad hatchet, sharpen both ends of the log so

that,in plan,the sheer is shaped the way I want it except a little
skinnier in the middle because the log is only about 24 inches across.
Then shape the profile view using chain saw and adze.
Then shape the rest of the outside of the hull using a large shallow
gouge or sculptors adze.

snip

When the hull is near the final thickness, drill holes through the hull
and insert dowels to the depth I want the hull thickness to be so that
when I get down to them, I can see where I am and fine tune the
thickness with shallow gouges.

snip

The only thing that strikes me here is I keep saying to myself, he
should carve the inside first. I think the outside will be easier to
shape, and control the shaping tools, then if you make a mistake on
the inside, or find a major flaw, you have material to work with to
shape the outside a little different if necessary. As to the shape of
the thing, I would try to get as much out of it as possible. I have
seen pictures where they are more or less rounded for and aft as
opposed to pointy ends, this makes shaping easier too.
Scotty