On Thu, 02 Nov 2006 23:53:57 GMT, "NE Sailboat"
wrote:

I've never given this one thought ... is there some reason to use lamination
when fabricating a tiller?

If one was to take a solid piece of wood, cut it to size, finish it up,,, a
little varnish ... would that do the trick?

No problem if you have a straight tiller. If you want it to curve
however then you need laminated strips that will bend easily without
creating a grain weakness.

I once discussed the procedure with an old time boat builder. His
advice was to sketch the desired curve full size on a wood plank with
the same thickness as the tiller width. He would then use a bandsaw
to cut the plank into two pieces along the curved line. Next step is
to stack the wood strips with slow curing glue/epoxy and clamp between
the two pieces of the plank until cured, using wax paper as a
separator to avoid gluing the strips to the form.