Capt.Bob

Extravagance in the pursuit of excellence is no vice.

Extravagance in the pursuit of excellence is no vice.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 132 – Forward Lockers
 
There were two forward lockers that abutted the forecastle breast beam and the bulwarks at the side.  The enclosure on the port side was evidently (also?) used as a toilet.  These were undoubtedly used to stow gear that needed more protection than that afforded under the open forecastle.
 
With the windlass permanently installed, these enclosures could be constructed and the ladder ways between them and the windlass also installed.  In the first picture a panel of siding has been edge glued and is being fitted between the rails of the port bulwark.
 

 
 
After fitting, the panel would be cut off square to size.  These would most likely have been made using tongued-and-grooved planks maybe 2½” thick.  To accentuate the plank joints, the edges were rounded before edge gluing – as was done for all the other deck structures.
 
The next picture shows some pieces in assembly.
 
 

 
Although the workshop is in the basement, I get very bright sunlight through the windows this time of year – hence some overexposure in some of the pics.  In the next picture the end walls have been fitted and the fore-and-aft wall with the door is being test fit.
 

 
In the next picture the wall has been installed, the roof has been planked and is being smoothed out.
 

 
The flat faced curved riffler is being used for this.  Note that door hardware was installed prior to setting the wall.  In the next picture the edges of the roof planks are being pared flush with the chisel.
 

 
The next picture shows both enclosures installed.
 

 
The ladder way on the starboard side is also installed and the glue on some decking for the port ladder is drying.  In the last picture the second ladder way has been installed and roof planking on both enclosures painted.
 

 
 
 
Ed

Hello Bob,
 
For some reason your post of 22 December just popped up on the blog so I apologize for the delayed response.  The mislabeling of the toptimbers on pattern sheet 2f is clearly another one of those typos - if I may use that term to describe minor glitches in labeling on the drawings.  A revised pattern sheet is attached.
 
Ed
 
2f.pdf

daves,
 
Thank you for your comments and for the opportunity for me to expand on the decision I made for the iron strapping.
 
While it is true that the method of iron strapping used on Young America, built in 1852-53, is uncertain, it is by no means cclear that outside strapping was widely used at the time or that internal strapping was rare.  It is true that outside strapping appears to have become more prevalent after the 1850’s.  Space did not permit a full discussion of the history of iron strapping, nor was in-depth construction history the primary purpose of the book.  I did discuss the decision to use internal strapping in Chapter 8 of the book and quote the relevant passage:
 
“A lattice of diagonal iron bands came into use in the early 19th century to help stiffen wooden hulls against hogging strains.  Young America had such banding.  The bands were normally about 4" wide by ¾" thick, spaced on a grid about four feet apart.  The lattice extended over most of the hull length between the floor heads and the main deck clamps.  The bands were set into scores cut into each frame to provide a flush surface for planking. They were bolted through every frame and where they overlapped.  This configuration was documented for Challenge, a similar clipper launched by Webb two years earlier.  However, it is not known whether the ironwork on either of these ships was installed inside or outside of the frames.  Both methods were in use, with outside installation becoming more common in later years.  Although it offered some technical advantage, outside strapping was much more difficult and time consuming to install.  After reviewing available information and considering the urgencies of the times on construction schedules, I decided to adopt the internal installation for the model.”
 
A more thorough discussion of the topic was included by Bill Crothers in his book The American-built Clipper Ship pp 195-196.  I believe he summarized the issue quite well – and the uncertainty.  As with many of the undocumented details of the model, choices have had to be made – or there would be no model.  After reviewing available information on the subject this appeared to indeed be a toss-up issue.  I was influenced in my decision by the following factors:
 
-          The internal or “Admiralty” system, developed for use by the Royal Navy was prevalent during the first half of the 19th Century.
 
-          Webb was the first American builder to adopt iron strapping on Challenge in 1851.
 
-          Webb used internal iron strapping on Ocean Monarch in 1856 as referenced by Crothers based on Webb’s published Plans of Wooden Vessels.
 
-          American Lloyds’ Registry of American and Foreign Shipping, 1859 includes the following passage under Rules for Inspection and Classification:  “Ships exceeding four times their breadth in length, should be cross(X) iron strapped diagonally on the inside – outside strapping leakage through the seams of outside plank will corrode and destroy the iron.  The bolts through the straps either from out or inside should go through and clinch.”
 
-          Speed of construction was a primary driver in the hectic extreme clipper rage of the early 1850’s – driven by the demands of the California gold rush market.  Outside strapping was much more time consuming to install, especially in the days before pneumatic drills, chisels and hammers.  While not a primary argument for internal installation, it was a factor considered.
 
On balance, while not being clear cut, I believe the decision to use internal strapping on the model was reasonable and should be considered a more likely actual scenario than a one-off rarity.
 
Ed
 
 

Hi Daves,
 
when I saw Ed´s inside-strapping of the 1/72 YA,  I felt a bit confused :the revolutionary idea behind the installing of an iron "net" to the frames of composite clippers has been to strengthen the wooden hull by double-diagonal iron straps against warping and hogging and any other deformation by wind and sea. At least to my limited and more or less intuitive understanding of mechanical forces, this could only be achieved by bolting a net of these straps all around the outside of the hull like a string bag, thus absorbing and counteracting the flexing and compressing forces on the ship´s body by transforming them into tractive forces induced into the straps at the outside. The strapping installed at the inside of the frames would mainly pull and sheer at the fastening bolts and thus loosen them after a while, but in my opinion it can not keep the hull straight. My example of a string-bag keeping your shoppings together is maybe not so bad a picture.
 
As I wasn´t 100% sure about that, and because Ed is of course by far deeper in this business than me, I didn´t want to be precocious and kept this thought to myself. But to me it still seems to be the logical way of reinforcing a wooden - and of course - an iron hull.
Greetings to all.
Germanus

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the explanation.  I don't have CNC on my milling machine, so making the fixture manually will be a significant challenge.  I have been toying with some ideas about mass producing the hundreds of knees that will be required.  The idea would be to make a generic form similar to molding strips that are cut to size and individually sanded angles to fit each application.  The redundancy of frame fabrication has got me looking ahead.
 
HI druxey,
Nice alternative solution. Thanks, Bob 

Hi Ed,
Interesting process.  A couple of questions.  It appears that the 1/32 stock wire is "inserted" into the fixture and is restrained at the handle butt and the end of the pin shank.  Otherwise, the file pressure would risk bending the pin.  Its a little hard to determine from the photos.  True?  At what speed are you turning the stock?  With such close tolerances, alignment seem quite critical.  What cutters did you use to cut the handle profile on the mill?
 
The 0.021" shank of brass is obviously very thin and fragile.  Any problem with the pins bending?  I'm not familiar with iron pins.  Your prototypes seem to have a very long shank compared with the handle.  Is that typical of iron pins?   Will these be trimmed to a different length?
 
Always looking forward to your posts,  Bob
 
P.S. My YA is progressing,  I've been making frames, and frames, and frames, etc.

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the explanation.  I don't have CNC on my milling machine, so making the fixture manually will be a significant challenge.  I have been toying with some ideas about mass producing the hundreds of knees that will be required.  The idea would be to make a generic form similar to molding strips that are cut to size and individually sanded angles to fit each application.  The redundancy of frame fabrication has got me looking ahead.
 
HI druxey,
Nice alternative solution. Thanks, Bob 

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the explanation.  I don't have CNC on my milling machine, so making the fixture manually will be a significant challenge.  I have been toying with some ideas about mass producing the hundreds of knees that will be required.  The idea would be to make a generic form similar to molding strips that are cut to size and individually sanded angles to fit each application.  The redundancy of frame fabrication has got me looking ahead.
 
HI druxey,
Nice alternative solution. Thanks, Bob 

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the explanation.  I don't have CNC on my milling machine, so making the fixture manually will be a significant challenge.  I have been toying with some ideas about mass producing the hundreds of knees that will be required.  The idea would be to make a generic form similar to molding strips that are cut to size and individually sanded angles to fit each application.  The redundancy of frame fabrication has got me looking ahead.
 
HI druxey,
Nice alternative solution. Thanks, Bob 

Hi Ed,
Interesting process.  A couple of questions.  It appears that the 1/32 stock wire is "inserted" into the fixture and is restrained at the handle butt and the end of the pin shank.  Otherwise, the file pressure would risk bending the pin.  Its a little hard to determine from the photos.  True?  At what speed are you turning the stock?  With such close tolerances, alignment seem quite critical.  What cutters did you use to cut the handle profile on the mill?
 
The 0.021" shank of brass is obviously very thin and fragile.  Any problem with the pins bending?  I'm not familiar with iron pins.  Your prototypes seem to have a very long shank compared with the handle.  Is that typical of iron pins?   Will these be trimmed to a different length?
 
Always looking forward to your posts,  Bob
 
P.S. My YA is progressing,  I've been making frames, and frames, and frames, etc.

Hi Ed,
Thanks for the explanation.  I don't have CNC on my milling machine, so making the fixture manually will be a significant challenge.  I have been toying with some ideas about mass producing the hundreds of knees that will be required.  The idea would be to make a generic form similar to molding strips that are cut to size and individually sanded angles to fit each application.  The redundancy of frame fabrication has got me looking ahead.
 
HI druxey,
Nice alternative solution. Thanks, Bob 

Hello, Bob,
 
Glad to hear your model is progressing.
 
I will try to answer your questions.  First, whether the pins are wood or iron I would make them of brass because wood will not be strong enough on a rigged model at this small size.  I believe they are strong enough for the service using the hard brass.  The pins are on the long side.  I intend to trim them to a uniform length before final finishing rather than clip them accurately when separating them in the lathe.  They will be trimmed then pickled and blackened in one or two batches when all are made.
 
It is true that the wire is inserted into the guide by sliding the tailstock forward over the chucked wire, but it is not restrained at the tail end.  It is held down because the guide surfaces do not extend to the centerline of the part.  File pressure is light and there has been no problem with the wire staying in place.  Even the thin section at the lower end has not shown any deflection during filing.  I am using a medium file (#2 Grobet) on that section and on the handle end initially then a fine round and flat to finish.  They are then polished using crocus pushed down with a pencil eraser.
 
I am not sure of the speed, probably fairly low surface speed due to the small diameter.  Three cutters were used to make the guide  3/8" and 1/8" square end mills and a 1/8" ball end mill.
 
This is a new method for me and could perhaps benefit from some improvements.  One might be to leave the headstock end of the guide at full 1/4" rod diameter to more firmly hold the pin, although this has not been a problem.   Doing this at the handle end would make the end difficult to round and size. However, I do not see enough potential benefit to make a new guide.
 
Having made a few dozen of these, I am well satisfied with the final result and the efficiency.  I do worry a bit about the few hundred on-off cycles on the ancient Unimat motor however.  (I do have a spare.)
 
Ed

I agree that properly proportioned belaying pins on models are the exception rather than the rule! My own workaround was to make the pin in two parts: the straight shank and the contoured handle. The handles have short pins for insertion into the rack. Of course Remco's and your own solution to turning small diameter parts is far more elegant!

Hi Ed,
Interesting process.  A couple of questions.  It appears that the 1/32 stock wire is "inserted" into the fixture and is restrained at the handle butt and the end of the pin shank.  Otherwise, the file pressure would risk bending the pin.  Its a little hard to determine from the photos.  True?  At what speed are you turning the stock?  With such close tolerances, alignment seem quite critical.  What cutters did you use to cut the handle profile on the mill?
 
The 0.021" shank of brass is obviously very thin and fragile.  Any problem with the pins bending?  I'm not familiar with iron pins.  Your prototypes seem to have a very long shank compared with the handle.  Is that typical of iron pins?   Will these be trimmed to a different length?
 
Always looking forward to your posts,  Bob
 
P.S. My YA is progressing,  I've been making frames, and frames, and frames, etc.

Hi Ed,
Check on Bow Timbers pattern drawing,  Everything annotated "strb".  If correct, please explain.
Bob

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 129 – Windlass 2
 
After the ratchet gears, the wood spindles seemed an easy task.  The first step was to turn the o.d. and bore out the center to fit the axles.  The first picture shows this work completed.
 

 
The wood was first turned between centers.  This helped ensure centering for the axle hole.  The piece was then chucked as shown, the hole drilled and the o.d. finished.  The piece is long enough for both spindles.
 
To save myself the trouble of resetting the rotating head vertical and repeating all the alignments, I decided to mill the cog slots vertically as shown below.
 

 
There are six milled slots 2 ¼” deep and 2 ¼” wide – a convenient design for the 1/32” end mill.  The next picture shows the two spindles cut roughly to size with the other parts made so far.
 

 
These parts were then test fitted to a central shaft as shown below.
 

 
Because there is not enough space for one single shaft to be inserted between the carrick bits and the side bulwarks, the shaft is made in three pieces.  The rotating parts fit over a central shaft that reaches to about the midpoint of each wood spindle.  Short axle stubs are then inserted from outboard of the carrick bits to hold the assembly in place.
 
The next picture shows the assembly fitted with the frames of the two ratchet assemblies.
 

 
These assemblies were made from some ¼” x 1/8” rectangular brass tube.  The extended ends of the frames were made by slitting off some of the tube on the circular saw.  This capping piece was then silver soldered to a full section of tube as shown below.
 

 
In this picture the pieces have been pinned in place and silver solder paste applied to the joint.  After soldering, holes were drilled for pins to hold the connecting rods and the ratchet stops.  Then shapes of the frames were then cut off as shown below.
 

 
The gear end of each of these was sliced open and fitted into the grooves on either side of the ratchet gears.  In the next picture the wood spindles are being marked for final sizing to fit between the carrick bits.
 

 
The sides of the ratchet frames are very close to the central samson post.  To avoid contact between these parts, the two spacers between the gears needed to be replaced with slightly thicker versions to separate the large gears a bit.  In the last picture this has been done and the assembly set up on the bits.
 

 
The tops of the ratchet gears are very close to the underside of the breast beam – about 1”.  In retrospect, I would have paid more attention to the height of the carrick bits holes relative to the deck.  However, this clearance is sufficient – as is the clearance between the ratchet frames and the samson post.
 
The next task was to position the vertical connecting rods, cut holes for them through the deck, and install the seesaw brake.
 
 
Ed

Hi Mick,
It's 3:30AM.  Can't sleep.  I found Dieter "Schmid" Fine Tools. (www.fine-tools.com)  They have a lot of variety.  Thanks
Time for coffee and saw dust.
 
Bob

Hi Ed,
Thanks, no need for lengthy explanations.  Like you, I spent my career reading and writing technical documentation and contracts. Never found a perfect document.  I lost this site or I would have posted here.
 
Take care, Bob
P.S. Found a copy of William Crothers  "Freighters & Packets". My library is getting expansive as well as expensive. 

Hi Mick,
It's 3:30AM.  Can't sleep.  I found Dieter "Schmid" Fine Tools. (www.fine-tools.com)  They have a lot of variety.  Thanks
Time for coffee and saw dust.
 
Bob

Hi Mick,
I'm saving your thumbnails of the hawser frames for future reference when I get to the bow of YA. Very nicely done.
 
Have you got a web address for Dieter Smith Tools in Berlin??  I'm always looking for unique tools.
 
Also, I noted your Lie-Nielsen Model plane.  I've had one for years and wouldn't do without it.  The A2 tempered steel blade stays sharp forever.  I can't recall the last time I had to sharpen it.  I also have the Violin Maker Plane. Both are great for modeling.  I have been collecting their tools for over thirty years.  My son wants to make sure they are in my will.
 
Take care,  Bob

Hi Ed,
The top piece of the 1:72 Deadwood pattern.  Check it against the assembly template.  Seems to be cut short.
Just got a new milling machine.  I've stated a new folder with your machining thumbnails. So much to learn, so little time.  Something about a man's reach exceeding his grasp.
 
Take care,  Bob

Hi Mick,
It's 3:30AM.  Can't sleep.  I found Dieter "Schmid" Fine Tools. (www.fine-tools.com)  They have a lot of variety.  Thanks
Time for coffee and saw dust.
 
Bob

Hi Ed,
The top piece of the 1:72 Deadwood pattern.  Check it against the assembly template.  Seems to be cut short.
Just got a new milling machine.  I've stated a new folder with your machining thumbnails. So much to learn, so little time.  Something about a man's reach exceeding his grasp.
 
Take care,  Bob