For my last round of crack filling I decided I wanted the finest sawdust possible so I used a strainer. When looking at the shavings/dust that I had collected it became apparent that there were some larger chunks in there that simply would not work as “putty” for filling the cracks so I needed a way to get them out. A cheap strainer from the grocery store worked just fine and took less than a minute to achieve fine dust.
As discussed before, the dust was mixed with glue to make a putty which was smeared into the cracks. Once dried this was once again sanded down with the random orbit and the long board.
At this point I had to make a call. Do I keep trying to fill the cracks (possibly for the rest of the summer) or do I call it sufficient for my first kayak and move on. Checking the inside I can see some pretty wide gaps where bevels didn’t quite fit together. The more I fill and sand the more likely I could actually be opening up the gaps even bigger as I would be eating away the points of the bevel. So I settled for the 3 foot test. If it looks good from at least 3 feet away I considered it acceptable and would put my efforts towards filling the gaps from the inside when I got to that point.
This was definitely a learning experience and a bit humbling too at the detail that needs to go into getting these strips to mate up perfectly, but again, this being my first I am still quite satisfied and feel it’s time to move on to the next steps.