popeye2sea

Block and Tackle for Cannons:

I have been working for some time on a method for stropping blocks with hooks and I think I've decided on a workable solution.  The blocks I am using for the gun and train tackles for the cannons are Chuck Passaro's 2 mm blocks.  The strops are made with black polyester sewing thread and the hooks are formed from 28 gauge steel wire.  For this 2 mm block the strop is about 9 mm long.

An eye is made in the thread by tucking the end twice between the strands.

The serving machine is employed to serve over a couple of turns of the thread.

Hooks are either with the eye perpendicular to the hook or with the eye on the same plane.

A hook is threaded onto the strop and the ends of the strop closed by passing the end of the thread through the eyes of the strop.

I made a seizing jig by filing a pin down to fit the holes of a 2 mm block and placing a few more pins to tension the hook and strop on the block

Another pin is inserted to form the eye of the strop around

The free end is passed around the strop between the pin and the block to seize the sides of the strop together, hove tight, and secured with a clove hitch.

The finished blocks:

The 2 mm blocks are really hard to work with because they are so small.  I think as I get better with this I want to make the eye of the hook smaller, the eye of the strop smaller, and the strop itself thinner diameter.  They all seem to be a little large for this block.

Next up is figuring out how to make a good looking becket for the standing part of the tackle to seize to.

The yard tackles and stay tackles, or tackles set up between the mast pendants would be used.  Basically the boat would be lifted vertically under the stay tackles, then as the yard tackles were hauled the stay tackles were eased which would swing the boat over the side until it hung vertically under the yard tackles.  The yard tackles would then lower away till the boat was in the water.

Lots of vessels still use the same method to load cargo now, except now its done with booms instead of yards.

Anderson suggests that topsail bunt lines may not have been in use at this time period, but if they were used they would follow the Dutch practice of leading through a single block on the stay collar and then belay in the top somewhere abaft the mast.  No tackles are suggested.

I know there are some modelers who are against leaving the gold bright.  They don't feel that it would have been like that on the real ship.  Personally I like the way it pops against the french blue.  It gives the model a more wow effect.

That is why I decided to use it.  I am wondering if I can maintain some more of the brilliance by using a satin finish or if it will look strange next to the dull cote sides.

I used 28 gauge steel wire.  The trick to achieving smooth and consistent bends is to use the pliers to hold the wire while you bend the wire around them with your free hand.

The first loop I make is the eye, completely closing it around the pliers.  Then I shift the grip of the pliers to the other end of the loop so that I can bend the shank back till it is in line with the center of the loop.  I then shift the grip again to the point along the shank I want to start the hook and bend the wire about 45 degrees.  The grip is then shifted again to the other side of the 45 degree bend and the final bend forms the hook.  Cut the finished hook off of the wire stock and go on with the next.

If you make sure the wire is always gripped perpendicular to the pliers all the bends will be on the same plane and you should not have to do any adjusting to get flat hooks

I had a bit of a set back (at least in my mind) and I would like your opinions.  After taking a long time with painting all of that gilt work on the ships sides, stern and quarter galleries, I wanted to put a coat of lacquer over all to protect the paint.  I sprayed the sides with dull cote and the result is to my eye a bit disheartening.  I do not like how dull the gold becomes, but I do not think there is any way to fix it, or if I should even try.

I am thinking of leaving the quarter galleries and stern with more of a bright finish even though there will be a contrast with the sides.

What do you think?   Any suggestions?

Here is a sample of hooks I have made so far.  The top is with a hook on the same plane as the eye and the bottom is with the hook perpendicular to the eye.  Sorry for the poor picture, I don't have a good macro lens yet.

They look Ok.  They are about 4 mm long, with the bottom one being about a 0.5 mm shorter due to a  shorter shank.  I plan to use them for 2 mm blocks so they look a bit out of proportion to the blocks.  The finished block with its strop is about 3 mm.

I made these using only a pair of round nose pliers.  The eye is still a little large for the strop.  That is because the tip of the pliers is about 1.5 mm (even though advertised as 1.0 mm)

I struggled for some time trying to make a jig small enough to make hooks, but nothing seemed to work out right.  Found a pair of round nose pliers online from a company called Micro-Tools.  The tips are 1 mm.  I believe they will do the job well enough.  I am going to start making hooks for Chucks 2 mm blocks. I think I have a good method for stropping them also.  The only thing left to work out now is beckets for attaching the standing end of the tackle to the **** of the blocks.  Although that may be a bit of overkill for 2 mm blocks

Make sure they include a scuttle (hole) to ladle water out of....wouldn't want to deprive the crew of the benefits of scuttle-butt

The only thing I see that may be wrong is the Naval Officer and sailors in the second photo might not be right for in the fighting tops.

BTW,  we have discovered that in order to maintain a constant rate of fire you need 6 Marines,  5 loading muskets to pass to one sharpshooter.

Whats wrong with those figures?  The Marines are spot on.  Take a look at my uniform on my 4th of July on Constitution post.

The first picture looks like part of the windlass.  Not sure what the hole in the second picture is.

Do you have a picture or a description of the item that we can go by?

White stuff was made from whale or fish oil, pine pitch, and sulfer so I'm sure the color would vary depending on the mixture.

John,

Not wishing to hijack your build log again, I will post some pics of 4th of July in a separate thread.  Come see it there.

Roger,

The Burton Pendant is rigged first. (the thimble on the end will take a tackle for hoisting heavier objects from the deck).  The pendants (port and starboard are joined together with a cont splice sized to fit the masthead(forms an eye in the middle of a rope). The cont splice is dropped over the masthead so that the pendants hang down beside the mast.

Next the shrouds go on in pairs.  A length of rope is doubled and an eye is seized in the bight (loop) to fit the masthead. The first pair is set up on the starboard side, then the forward pair on the port side.  Continue for the required number of shrouds.  The final odd number shrouds for the port and starboard side are set up like the burton pendant with a cont splice.

The upper deadeyes get turned in on the lower end of each shroud.  When set up all the deadeyes should be in a horizontal line.  This is what the jig is for.

First set up the lower deadeyes to the channels.  Make sure that the middle hole of the deadeye is down (lower than the other two).  Using the jig to give the proper spacing turn the upper deadeye  in on the end of the shroud.  The shroud will pass around the deadeye and get seized to itself.  Make sure that the middle hole of the upper deadeye is up.  Reeve the deadeye lanyard  through the upper and lower deadeyes.  The lanyard always starts on the upper deadeye with a stopper knot on the inboard side. It will start at the aft upper hole on the port deadeyes and the forward upper hole on the starboard. 

The end of the lanyard will go from the lower deadeye up to the shroud where it will be hitched around the shroud with a cow hitch and the end brought back down and seized to itself.

Src,

The only spacing guidance that I am aware of for shrouds is that the are spaced so that their associated chains do not pass in front of any gunports.

John,  look me up when you get into town.  I'll make sure you get the full tour.

Giving a tour to some of our privateer friends from Rhode Island

Me giving a tour last year....

 Oh, and no ship that's not crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil that Hell itself spat him back out could possibly have black sails, therefore couldn't possibly be any other ship than the Black Pearl. Is that what you're telling me?       

Can I get an Amen and a Hallelujah!      

If you consider that the sewn lines are the seams of the sail cloths used to construct the sail, then the emblem would have been an additional piece sewn over  the cloths.  Hence the seams would be hidden by the emblem.

Dan,

Does Lee suggest that one of the parrel rope methods is older than the other.  I would think that the one that brings the end of the parrel strop to the deck to be the later of the two.