popeye2sea

Anything that needs hauling by hand will most likely stay hemp. Even if other parts of tackle (pendants, etc.) were chain or wire. For example, in clipper rigs, the sheets for the courses were chain from the sail to just through the quarter block, then wire down to the tackle block, and the blocks were rove with hemp. Regards, Henry

There is also the fact that all these lines work as part of a system. Where one line is pulling upwards or outwards, an opposite line is pulling downwards or inwards. You get your tension set up automatically that way. For instance, your boom probably has a sheet line at the end of it that will add a downward pull. Also, if you can arrange it while prepping for your build. Try adding weight to the parts by incorporating metal inserts or fittings. That might just add enough weight to snug up a line. Regards, Henry

The top figure employs the more modern style of rig (relatively) with the falls suspended from the mast tackle pendants and a triatic stay. The second figure shows the older method of employing a mast pendant and guy assembly (1600's to early 1700's, I believe). (Note the round tops and the tye and halliard arrangement for the yards). Regards, Henry

A block and tackle system can have blocks with multiple sheaves (pulleys). If there is only one block with a single sheave, then the tackle is called a whip. This type of system provides no additional mechanical advantage (purchase). It is in fact no more than a lead block, which is a block employed to change the direction of the pull, or lead. If you add another single block to the tackle system, now you have a two part, or two fold purchase. The load is supported by two parts of the rope, therefore the mechanical effort is halved. You can keep adding sheaves to the blocks and "purchase" more force applied to the load. You can have any combination of sheaves for the upper and lower blocks, single, double, triple, or more. One block will usually be fixed in place while the other moves with the load (see figure below). In the case of your halliard, the lower block is fixed to the deck and the upper block is spliced on to the end of the runner. Let us assume that you have a tackle arrangement where the hauling (running) end of the rope emerges from the top block. In order to haul that rope you have to be almost beneath the tackle. This limits the number of men that can be employed for the haul. If you add a lead block at the deck level you can change the direction of the pull to horizontal and now you can employ more hands to tail on the rope. Regards, Henry

Indeed, as is shown in the illustration the runner and halliard come down on opposite sides of the ship. The standing end of the runner (to the left in the picture) commonly had a hook spliced on to the end and was hooked to an eyebolt near the bulwark or rail. The halliard may be in two or more parts with its standing end hooked to an eyebolt opposite the eyebolt for the runner. The lower block of the halliard tackle would be hooked or seized to either another eyebolt close by or the same eyebolt. If the halliard was only a single whip (two part) there would be a leading block at the bottom instead of a tackle block. The hauling part of the halliard would belay to a pin on the rail. Typically, the halliards for the yards as you go up the masts would switch sides. For instance, the halliard for the topsail yard would come down on the starboard side while the one for the the topgallant yard would come down to port, while the royal would belay to starboard again. The halliards would also switch sides from mast to mast also. Regards, Henry

I have often wondered about this myself. If you have ever worked with canvas before you know that stowing it means it has to be folded and bundled. But I would not want to be the one that had to handle that bundle. A single topsail could weigh upwards of a ton. All of the gear (blocks, tackles and the like) would be stored in the boatswains store room. All of the cables would be coiled on the cable tier in the orlop. Stowage of sail cloth would be considerably easier because it is only 24 - 26 inches wide and would make a much smaller bundle. If not lashed in the channels, kedge, stream and spare anchors would be stowed in the orlop. You can see that the available storage space would be used up very quickly before you even consider shot, food and water. And, how in the world could you find and get to what you needed efficiently? Regards, Henry

Another important ratio: 10 blocks made = 1 swallow of your favorite alcoholic beverage. This ratio can also be acceptable as 5:1 when making particularly difficult blocks. Regards, Henry

I am waiting on delivery of another item before I dye the backs. There needs to be a little bit of thinning of the leather where some of the pieces come together. I am waiting on some alignment pins before I can get the locations for thinning marked. In the meantime I have started cutting leather for the cartouche boxes. Here are all of the pieces that make up the cartouche box. The body of the box is at bottom. It will be scored and folded to make the front, back, and lid of the box (lid on the right). The box end pieces with their linings are the tombstone shapes. The half circles are the lid ends. Beneath the lid ends are the buckle straps for the cross belt. Next to the right is the closure strap and two gussets for the access panel in the front of the box. Above is the keeper for the cross belts that run across the back of the box. All pieces will be black. I still need to punch all of the stitching holes. One last piece that I have not figured out how to make yet is a leather knob like object that fastens the box closed. Stay tuned. Regards, Henry

More progress on finishing the edges and backs. The edges round over and polish up nicely with the burnishing burr mounted on the drill. I am moving on to the backs of the pieces. The nap of the flesh side of the leather needs to be knocked down and polished and a coat of dye applied. I don't need it to be super finely finished because it will be on the inside of all the cross belts when worn. It just needs to be whiter instead of raw leather. Below are the items used to accomplish this part. Tokonole Burnishing Gum, a thin spreader, and a wood burnishing tool In this second photo, you can better see how much the nap is knocked down. The piece on top is finished ready for white dye. Next step is dying the backs white followed by white edge coat, and the pieces will be almost ready for assembly. Regards, Henry

I promised you a short piece on sharpening, Here are some of the tools that need to be extremely sharp in order to get a clean cut when tooling leather, The other items across the top of the picture are the sharpening tools. The black box on the left holds a diamond grit sharpening stone with two sides; course 325 grit and Extra fine 1200 grit. I would prefer to have an additional intermediate grit, but I have not ordered that yet. I have been using the 1200 grit to keep my tools sharp. The 325 grit is really useful to put a fresh edge on a tool. It can remove a lot of metal. Next to it is a leather strop that has been charged with a polishing compound. I use this frequently between every few cuts to maintain a keen edge. In front of and to the right of the strop are a couple of gauges that can be used to keep the tool at the proper angle when honing the edge. The multi grooved tool at far right can be charge with polishing compound to hone the inside edges of curved and pointed gouges. Finally, the cone shaped item in front of the strop is a diamond grit round tool sharpener. The cone is hollow with diamond grit on the inside face also so that one can sharpen the inside and outside edges of round punches. Some of the tools are fairly straight forward to sharpen. Once you get the hang of keeping the correct angle the flat knives and tools are easy. What you are trying to achieve is the apex of the blade being centered and straight across the whole blade. When you get that right you will start to form a burr along the edge. The burr is essentially the sharp edge being tapered down to a microscopically fine point. You then knock the burr off by stropping and you are left with a very fine edge. The benefit to keeping your tools razor sharp will be very obvious as soon as you try to use a dull tool. You can still get the job done but it is going to require a whole lot more effort and your cuts will not be as clean, You are also asking for injury because as your effort goes up so does the risk of slipping and sending the tool where you do not want it to go (your hand). Here are some close ups of the above tools. This diamond awl has not been sharpened yet. I can almost guarantee that your tools will not be sharp enough straight from the manufacturer. This one is not bad but a few passes on stone and strop will polish the faces and make it push through and then pull out of the thickest leather easily. The edge beveler and the French edger are sharpened on their flat outside edges on the stone. The inside bevel is honed on the grooved honing block. The round punches are sharpened with the diamond grit cone. The sharpening cone is pushed up into the punch and rotated to sharpen the inside face of the punch and conversely, the punch is inserted into the hollow of the sharpening cone to put an edge on the outside face of the punch. The punch on the left is right from the factory while the punch on the right is after my sharpening. The most difficult tools to sharpen are the unusual shaped punches. The round end punches are not so bad, but getting inside the oblong punch is not easy. And the compound faces of the buttonhole punch are a bit difficult. You can see where I could not quite get to the round part where it butts up against the straight section. There is actually a good size nick in the blade there that I may have to do some more heavy grinding to get out. That is where the 325 grit diamond stone will come in handy. Finally we get to the diamond stitching punches. These tools make the line of stitching holes for saddle stitching leather pieces together. The problem with sharpening these is that the blades are only 3mm from tip to tip. Thankfully, you don't really have to sharpen them as much as polish up the faces in order to make them not get stuck in the leather. For these stitching irons I use a 240 grit sanding disk chucked into my Foredom drill handpiece that is held in the bench mount. The 240 grit is probably too aggressive but it is what I have on hand. I introduce the stitching iron to the disk at a relatively low speed with a very light touch to just polish the face. You don't want to change the shape of the blades. You can see, if you look closely, that the fourth blade from the top, I did just that. It is no longer perfectly even from end to end. It will not really affect the work, but I was highly annoyed when I did it. There you have it. Sharpening your tools is well worth the effort. It makes the crafting so much more enjoyable. Regards, Henry

Now that the fronts of the pieces are done and the leather has been re-moisturized with neats foot oil, it is time to start finishing the edges and backs. I set up my Foredom drill handpiece with a wooden burnishing tool. The desktop mount is a brand new acquisition. I found that setting the tool up in the drill press mount was a bit awkward. The first pass through the burnisher is with the edge wetted with a little water. This starts to shape and round over the edges. The next passes are done after applying a gum compound called Tokonole. It is a Japanese burnishing gum. A light coat of the Tokonole is applied to the edges and allowed to partially dry before burnishing. The result is a smooth, rounded edge, ready for a white edge coat. You can see the contrast with the raw rough edge in the pictures below. Now that I am looking at that last picture, I can see that I am not quite done. Another pass through the burnisher is due. Regards, Henry

I usually put the "assembled" strap back over the hooks of the serving machine, but your right, the final service must be put on by hand. Regards, Henry

If you have a serving machine that will allow you to set it up with hooks, there is a simple process that will produce a good looking strap. Set the distance between the hooks to twice the length of what your finished strap will be. Start with a looped end of thread over one hook and take a few turns around both hooks to build up the thickness of the strap. Make sure there is plenty of extra length for the serving. Put a half hitch or two near one of the hooks such that there will remain a small eye around the hook. Proceed to serve over the line between the hooks. When you reach the opposite hook, throw another half hitch to secure the line. Again make sure there is plenty of length of line left over. Your going to use this to finish serving over the eyes at the ends. Take your strap off the hooks. Bring the two ends together and lash the two eyes together end to end. Finally, continue the service over the two lashed eyes, meeting up with where you first started serving. Finish by tucking the end under the last few turns and cutting close. Regards, Henry

You should shoot for Sep. 19th timeframe. I can make it worth the trip with a Constitution turnaround cruise. Gregg will be there, also. Regards, Henry

Message me with your visit dates. Perhaps we can meet up for a private tour of the ship. Or, if your plans coincide, the ship is doing a turnaround cruise in the harbor on Sep. 19. I will get you on board. Regards, Henry