Wood lost to sawdust
Would a new boat built entirely from wood ordered in the round have su cient volume to accommodate the waste? It could well be a close-run thing, because losses can be staggering. A good proportion goes simply in converting a log to workable boards, throwing aside the live-edged sapwood, unfavourable grain, pockets of resin, rot and useless oddments. Then, having laid in stick for seasoning, what looked good a year ago is further whittled down to reject boards now showing splits and shakes, meanwhile rough-planing others to get rid of twist, cupping and bowing. What remains seems a mere shadow of the tree it once was, albeit of the clear timber dreamily specified in the plans. But there’s more heartbreak to come when spiling those oh-so-curvy planks onto stiy rectangular boards consigns yet more hard-won timber to the fire.
Even timber bought seasoned, squared up and free of defects may require resawing to a required thickness, with losses to sawdust mounting up like desert dunes. Using a coarse 6- or 7-point, sharp and well-set ripsaw that makes the sawing bearable, I’d suggest John Leather’s suggestion of allowing "at least 1/8in (3mm)" for the "loss in thickness taken by the saw" to be a conservative estimate, because you have also to allow for planing away the saw marks and possibly correcting deviations from the line if you’re prone to distraction. Resawing a board by hand will often provide both required examples of what’s meant by ‘full’ (slightly oversize) and ‘bare’ (slightly undersize).
1 Resawing a small reclaimed oak board 2 Wood lost to a heap of sawdust