You might think I’m crazy, but I think shiplap fairies are real! I know what you’re thinking; shiplap fairies? Yes, and I’ll tell you why. I had been pricing out shiplap for my cottage, only to discover that I couldn’t justify the cost. The next day, my wood guy called out of the blue and asked if I still needed shiplap. Uh, yes!!! He gave me the deal of all deals and shiplap is back on the menu! The catch? I’m helping him make it, and I’m also bringing him lunches. Let the fun begin because we’re making shiplap! Woot-woot!
My wood guy
Keith is my wood guy’s name. He calls me Raccoon, though not usually to my face! He makes anything from windows to doors to cabinets and everything in between. I’m pretty sure he looked on in fascinated horror the first time he saw me apply my finishing techniques on a new build he did that needed to look vintage. His finishes are perfect. My goal is the opposite! But from that, a friendship was born.
We’re making shiplap!
To say I appreciate what goes into making shiplap is an understatement. My arms are sore from constantly moving lumber back and forth. We started with random pieces of raw lumber, which were inconsistent in size, width, length and thickness. We had to pick through and restack four huge pallets of wood to find enough to make shiplap for the walls. After that, we planed the wood to a consistent thickness. The amount of wood chips produced during this process is mind-boggling.
Jointing, trimming and shaping the wood
width using a table saw
Keith’s skill when using the Jointer to take the wobble out of the edge was quite something to watch, as each board needed several passes to get a straight edge. There is definitely a rhythm to it. After that, it was off to the table saw to rip the boards the same width. When that was done, they went through the Shaper to turn them into shiplap. A Shaper is kind of like a router on steroids!
And that’s how we made the shiplap for my cottage!
This project took five days of hard work. It would have been much easier to buy some, but the cost would have more than doubled. Also, I felt proud that I helped make the shiplap for my cottage. There was a lot of repetitive moving and stacking of lumber throughout this process, but I just think of it as the workouts I missed- in case my son/personal trainer is reading this!
It’s not getting painted, but…
My husband is a Forester. When he saw the wood (it’s red alder), he said, “You are not painting it! The wood is too nice!” He’s not wrong! However, my compromise is that I’ll be whitewashing it so the grain still comes through because it is too beautiful to cover up completely!
