A Quick and Easy Bevel Board
I
t seems that quite a few of the readers here are “hands on” boat owners and like to do as much of their own work as is reasonable. I think that is great and would encourage people to do so if they have the time and are willing to develop the skills. Yes, much of the carpentry on a boat is considered “tricky” but if you are prepared to plan out the steps carefully and have the patience to take the time that is needed, you will probably do just fine.
Where am I going with this? Well, I thought that I would write a few posts that are aimed at people that would like to tackle more of their own carpentry projects. This will include some drawings for some basic shop fixtures, design details and some resources to help you get your boating projects done.
Shipwright Style Quick and Easy Bevel Board
Here is the first one: a Quick and Easy Bevel Board. I’ve made nice plexiglass ones, and lost them. I’ve used protractors and though they got the job done, I thought that they were awkward at best. If my bevel board was in my tool box on a boat and I was back in the shop, well I didn’t have it where I needed it. Not wanting to handcraft several of these or buy two or three at $20 apiece I started looking at alternatives. One afternoon I was at my computer drawing some cabinet details and a simple solution popped into my head, I could just draw one in SketchUp and print them out as needed. It took about ten minutes to draw. I have some 8.5×11, full sheet label paper, so I set up a pdf page with three bevel boards on it and printed it out. I cut them out on a paper cutter, though a sharp knife and a straight edge wold work just fine, peeled the backing off and stuck it to a a piece of 6mm Aquatek plywood. It worked great and is very accurate . I did cover the paper face with a layer of clear packing tape to protect it. You can download the pdf file here
If you don’t have full sheet label paper, regular good quality printer paper should work fine. Stick the paper to the plywood with a spray adhesive.
You will need a Sliding T Bevel to to grab the angle and then read it on the bevel board, as shown in the picture below.
sliding t bevel measuring an angle on a bevel board
Dan