I decided to cut my own strips. My question is this; how essential is "vertical grain" and "knot free". Those two things impact price HUGELY. I can get vertical grain knot free for 2.80 a linear foot in western red cedar 18 feet long 1"X4".

This will be my first boat, so I don't mind using a lower grade lumber, as long as it will build as well as the higher grades. Do the knots and not so vertical grain really make it so impossible to rip strips and build?

You do not want knots. See Cedarboys post on cedar in the gear forum.
You also don't want vertical grain (or quartersawn) lumber, you'd actually want a flatsawn piece of lumber. When you slice a flatsawn board into 1/4" strips, you will end up with quartersawn strips. If you started with a quartersawn board you'd actually end up with flatsawn strips. hope that makes sense.

You do want quartersawn strips as an end result because they are more stable and will bend more consistently while resisting splitting.

You're going to find you have a lot of waste, too. I don't know if this is true or not, but I use much wider boards to rip - 1 x 8 or 10 or 12. I have the impression I have less waste with those that with narrower boards.

Some folks like the longer boards, but I always used shorter ones and butt-jointed them on the forms (be sure not to line them up). They're a lot cheaper and easier to find than the long boards.

I also don't mind a knot or two, just so that they are not lined up, or too many of them. Since you can't use the knot part, you end up with two shorter strips. I think that is OK since you need many shorter strips anyway.

every year i say i am just going to order the strips precut but i dont. i think is easier to sand also if you go with flat grain. if you can work some knots in it adds character but they dont bend well.

New to building canoes. have thought about doing it for along time and when my trip got cancelled this year I said I am going to build a canoe. I have a couple of question. where do most people get there wood from and what other types have you tried?

Thanks for all the great advice.

If I was closer to the twin cities I would prolly buy the strips premade from Northwest Canoe Works. The price of their strips is about equal to the price of lumber here. By ripping my own I will only be saving the shipping costs of 300 bucks. I am thinking about driving up to buy the strips while gas is still cheap. Or pass through on my way back from BWCA this year if I get a chance to go.

For my first canoe I went to a "premium" lumber yard. I got a couple of nice boards but also paid a hefty price.

The next two canoes I made I bought the lumber at Menards. That takes a lot more effort because I had to do a lot of sorting. Not only are you looking for straight grain and few knots, but also light weight and color. You would believe the variance in weight between dimensionally identical lumber. I made many trips to Menards to find the boards I wanted. I saved a lot more money at the cost of a lot more time.

For my next one I don't know what I'll do. I'll either do the Menards thing again or buy pre-cut strips. It'll depend on whether I want a project from stratch or if I want to get to the stripping sooner.

i found a cabinet maker who is willing to rip it all down for me when he is slow.