Ripping the Cedar Strips

It seems like a reoccurring theme to always be writing late, so I may as well keep with it. Over the past week I have converted 5 (1in x 12in x 12ft) Western Red Cedar boards into strips (the picture only shows four...) , routed both edges, and cut the scarf joint. I have decided to save the reader from one giant blog post, so I have decided to split it into three: ripping the cedar strips, routing the strips, scarfing the strips. The first step produced a lot of sawdust, and therefore the respirator mask came in handy. Each strip ideally was cut to 1/4in. by 7/8in. I originally had wished that the strips were 3/4 in, but since they came from McCabe Lumber that way, I did not want to sand and plane them down an eighth of an inch. Since we do not live in a perfect world, no piece of wood was perfect, and by this I mean... full of knots. Knots, as interesting as they may look on the cedar plank, made having 12 ft. strips a little harder, since they had to be removed due to weakening the frame. However, I would not have been able to have rip the boards were it not for the help my dad. He was in charge of placing the weight against the guider board on the table saw, and I was to pull the board through the saw and place them on the table. I eventually after watching his position was able to stand next to the table saw and switch jobs for some good minutes. It was very helpful for not only using a table saw for one of my first times, but learning how it worked as well. At the end, the knot-filled strips were strewed across the table, and I spent a couple hours chop sawing them out. and thus I moved to the next part...