Perls

Hi Bob,
 
I've read through your build log on the Bluenose a few times now and I think your work is great.
 
Right now, I'm starting to do the gaffs, booms, mast masts on my Smuggler and I can only aspire to the level of work you've done on the Bluenose. As a matter of fact, I've sort of decided to concentrate on schooners going forward and recently purchased the MS Bluenose as my next build. My thinking was that I love schooners, I can leverage what I've learned on the Smuggler, do a POB build, and learn sails.
 
Anyway, I plan on using your build as a practicum (royalties coming in due course! ). Again I appreciate the work you've done and that you've chosen to share it.
 
Best,
Steve
 
ps. I see that you live in CT. I'm in New Canaan and grew up in Glastonbury. S.

Hi Brian,
 
I with the majority and think your doing a fine job. I've not even tackled planking yet and still find myself thinking about it while falling asleep. You have given me great encouragement and support so....right back atcha!! I'm enjoying your build and learning a lot (vicariously).
 
Best,
Steve

Do not wear gloves or a ring. No loose sleeved shirts.
Do not wear gloves or a ring. No loose sleeved shirts.
Do not wear gloves or a ring. No loose sleeved shirts.
Do not wear gloves or a ring. No loose sleeved shirts.
Cant repeat that one enough!!!!
Think of putting your hand/shirt etc into a rose bush and pulling back HARD. That blade is going to grab those gloves, shirt, pony tail, whatever and go to town on you.  
 
A 40 tooth blade at 3500 RPM is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2300 razor sharp knifes gobbeling up irreplaceable fingers PER SECOND.
Nope, Do not wear gloves or a ring. No loose sleeved shirts.
 
Not trying to scare you out of using a very productive and SAFE tool - with the right respect, but few weeks ago we had a guy at work remove part of the pad of his thumb on the table saw. He reached around the blade with his left hand to retrieve some cut off and brushed his thumb across the blade. It happened so fast he really didnt realize what he had done at first. Of course his first mistake was removing the blade guard. Had he been wearing gloves he would have mangled, at best, his thumb. More than likely some fingers would have been mangled or amputated also.
 
As others have said, your best defense is common sense.
 
Sam

To add my 2 cents, I've been using full size woodworking saws most of my life.  They are as safe as you make them.  My number one safety rule: never, never, NEVER wear any loose clothing around the cutting area. This applies not only to saws, but drills, routers, mills, all of them.  Loose clothing can get pulled into a blade faster than you can ever react to and it will be a horrible injury.
 
Table saws are safe as long as you use them safely.  It's been a long time since I read any table saw books but I'm sure they all talk about safety.  If you follow common sense safety rules, always use pushsticks, and start using the saw slowly to get a feel for it you'll be fine.  Don't grab a piece of 8/4 (2") hard maple and run it through using a crappy blade for your first cut.  All that will do is scare you and make a bunch of smoke (yes, hardwood will smoke on a saw from to fast a feed rate, excess friction and dull blades).  Once you get a few simple cuts under your belt your confidence will increase and you can move on to more involved cuts.
 
Google "table saw kick back" and I'm sure you'll get some eye opening horror stories, and 99.9% of them were probably caused by doing something stupid...
 
NEVER, NEVER crosscut anything using the miter gauge that is riding against the rip fence all the way through the blade.  This is kickback no-no #1.  You may get away with it once, or a hundred times (if your lucky) but eventually it will happen and it's DANGEROUS!
 
Use the most expensive blades you can afford.  For 10" table saws expect to pay 75-100$ for the good ones.  Don't expect a 25$ cheapo to cut like a 75$ blade.  They won't!  Especially when you move to hardwoods.  And, dull blades are DANGEROUS!
 
Use them as designed, think safely, and you'll be fine. If anything you're about to do makes your butt pucker up, stop and think of another way - even if it means using a hand tool.  

Hi everyone. I've glued the ships boats permanently onto their davits. Ingomar's just about completed, apart from the display stand. Here's the latest photos. Thanks for everyone's comments and support. It means a lot to me.
 
Hope you enjoy these photos.

Hi Joe,
 
I've actually used that technique for years when attaching veneers and appliqués to various kinds of substrates while furniture building. Usually I've attached large, highly figured, veneers and have used a household iron to heat everything so it didn't occur to me to use this idea for ship building. But I really like your idea of using the kind of iron Tower Hobbies sells for use with mono-cote etc. I'm definitately going to try it.
 
Best,
Steve

Hi All,
 
I've posted this idea a bunch of times on various forums. It's an old finish carpenters trick. Spread a thin layer of Titebond or Elmer's carpenter glue on one of the pieces to be glued and let dry. Spread another thin layer on the other piece and press together less than a minute.. You get a tight glue joint with finger pressure and it binds like contact cement but still gives you a little bit of work time to align the joint. It even works with end grain. Give it a try, experiment you'll be glad you did.
 
Best,
Steve

Kevin,
 
I'm thinking that as soon as she's rigged, you should hop in and sail her over the pond for a visit!! What do say?
 
Best,
Steve

Hi All,
 
I've posted this idea a bunch of times on various forums. It's an old finish carpenters trick. Spread a thin layer of Titebond or Elmer's carpenter glue on one of the pieces to be glued and let dry. Spread another thin layer on the other piece and press together less than a minute.. You get a tight glue joint with finger pressure and it binds like contact cement but still gives you a little bit of work time to align the joint. It even works with end grain. Give it a try, experiment you'll be glad you did.
 
Best,
Steve

Good afternoon everyone
 
After the excitement of the new build coming up, it was back to the Victory and the hammock netting, 
 
the build as stated before will be in a diorama setting, so the used look continues to apply (lol my excuse for totally getting it all wrong - and looking shabby)
 
some of the netting looks like it needs doing again - but for now i am happy
 
 

Markus I like the chopsticks device. however I would use a sled rather than the mitre gauge. I realize that you are using a very small saw. and understand the waste issue with regard to production methods. I find that sometimes we follow along a line of thinking that boxes us in, I have done this many times where because I have used a particular tool or method, I seem to be locked into that tool or method and attempt to do the next job or task using it instead of thinking about what the big picture actually requires.
 
As you pointed out using the chisel with the mirrored surface give a perfectly clean 90 degree cut exactly illustrates what I am saying.
 
I am fortunate to have a large number of good tools that I have acquired over many years, and like yourself they are used for much more than model ship building. It has been my personal preference to use larger tools that are capable of cutting small sizes to good tolerances that to attempt to use small tools that are pushed to their limit cutting large stock.
 
All that said I am enjoying seeing your innovative attachments and ideas for this very high quality small machine. 
 
Michael

Hi Markus,
 
I've read about your modifications/improvements to a tool which is pretty universally accepted (at least in this community) as the "best in class". But I'm starting to wonder about your motivation in what is beginning to me to appear as a witch hunt to find fault! How accurate is accurate?????? How many angels can dance on the head of of a pin??????????????????
 
The levels of fault you're reporting are far less than would occur through simple user error in an entire host of operations we all do in model building.
 
In the immortal words of Sargent Hulka in Stripes, " Lighten up Francis"
 
Steve

Hi Markus,
 
I've read about your modifications/improvements to a tool which is pretty universally accepted (at least in this community) as the "best in class". But I'm starting to wonder about your motivation in what is beginning to me to appear as a witch hunt to find fault! How accurate is accurate?????? How many angels can dance on the head of of a pin??????????????????
 
The levels of fault you're reporting are far less than would occur through simple user error in an entire host of operations we all do in model building.
 
In the immortal words of Sargent Hulka in Stripes, " Lighten up Francis"
 
Steve

Hi Markus,
 
I've read about your modifications/improvements to a tool which is pretty universally accepted (at least in this community) as the "best in class". But I'm starting to wonder about your motivation in what is beginning to me to appear as a witch hunt to find fault! How accurate is accurate?????? How many angels can dance on the head of of a pin??????????????????
 
The levels of fault you're reporting are far less than would occur through simple user error in an entire host of operations we all do in model building.
 
In the immortal words of Sargent Hulka in Stripes, " Lighten up Francis"
 
Steve

Hi Markus,
 
I've read about your modifications/improvements to a tool which is pretty universally accepted (at least in this community) as the "best in class". But I'm starting to wonder about your motivation in what is beginning to me to appear as a witch hunt to find fault! How accurate is accurate?????? How many angels can dance on the head of of a pin??????????????????
 
The levels of fault you're reporting are far less than would occur through simple user error in an entire host of operations we all do in model building.
 
In the immortal words of Sargent Hulka in Stripes, " Lighten up Francis"
 
Steve

Hi all.  Thanks Steve, Bob, Piet and everyone for your Likes and comments.
 
Ingomar's rigging continues.  However, tonight, I was mucking around with the camera and accidentally took a silhouette shot.  Didn't look too bad, I thought; so I ended up taking a few more.  Anyhow, here's what Ingomar looks like when you're chasing shadows!
 
All the best, everyone!

I have been busy with an old project (all will unfold in due course) so it was good to get back to Skipjack today.
I received a number of photographs today and some dimensions for Skipjack from Roger.
I will be asking permission to post some of the pictures that I have received.
 
 
Skipjack/floss Part 6
 
Based on the new information I have prepared a new drawing , the most significant detail change is that the skeg was removed from Skipjack a long time ago.
 
The overall length is 18 foot 6 inches, not 19 foot as was written in the article. The foredeck is 37 inches long and the stern deck is 27 inches long beam is 55 1/2 inches
 
here is the new drawing based on the new data
 

 
I have also renamed the thread Skipjack.
 
Michael

Michael,
 
Just the jig and moulds themselves are impressive as hell...   A scale model unto itself.

Floss Part 3
 
For the first test I am setting up 4 moulds and the stem, gripe stem knee and a section of keel.
 
The moulds are bolted to the cross beams with 4x40 cap screws,
 

 
The strips are 1/8th by 1/8th white pine that I will try as ribbands for the first test
 
I have discovered that I need to add a little side to side movement to fine tune the moulds to the centreline.
 

 
The moulds on the cross beams are positioned using some small engineers squares.
 

 
Michael
 
 
 

Floss/Skipjack  Part 1
 
History
 
Floss was one of a pair of Launches that were built in 1909 by Herbert Minett and was powered by a single cylinder Ferro engine, her sister named Skipjack pictured here had a two cylinder Buffalo engine.
 
These launches were built for Andrew Mellon the Pittsburgh Millionaire.
 
Model
I am still tracking down information about Floss, and I have a few leads. I am going to build this model the same way as the full size boats of this type were often built.
 
Moulds were suspended from the ceiling in some cases and others were built upside down. The Stem Keel and Stern timbers were set up and the moulds positioned.   In either case to build a model using either of these methods I will need to support the moulds and backbone to fix ribbands for setting the bent frames before planking.
 
After the ribbands are fixed to the Stem,  moulds and stern  the bent frames will be fitted to the keel  and  then temporarily attached to the ribbands with pins. Once all the frames are set the sheer clamps and bilge stringers  and floors will be added.
 
After the basic shell is assembled then the planking will commence.
 
In order to accomplish all this I needed to build a building board with some specific features.
Using odds and ends of materials I had laying around the shop I came up with an acceptable solution.
 
The base is 36inches by 10inches by 1 7/32 inches thick it was cut from and old office desk top.
The white square tubes are 3/4 inch railing bars left over from a project a couple of years ago.
The blue anodized aluminum tubes are also 3/4 inch diameter left over from another project.
The white plastic components were machined from some offcuts picked up at a commercial plastic supplier.
The aluminum rails are a low cost bar clamp that was cut in half and the clamp mechanisms removed.
The dome nuts are 5/16 and are threaded onto a length of 5/16 ready rod that causes the clamps to lock on the rails.
The cross rails are a sections of some 3/4 inch U channel that was slit down the middle in the table saw. The cross rails are clamped with some cherry blocks and 4x40 allen head cap screws.
 

 

 

 
These lines are still being reviewed and updated as I get new information, When I am satisfied that they are as good as I can get then the build will actually start.
 

 
Floss lines.pdf
 
Until then I am getting on with some tests regarding bent frames and testing my ideas about the construction method, and finishing the elements of the building board.
 

 
Because of scale and look at the large scale of 1:8 the frames will need to be made of something different than oak it is just too coarse. these frames are 1 1/4 scale inches square Fir the wood was boiled for 15 minutes in water. The actual frames will likely be somewhere around 1 1/4 by 3/4 with the inside edges rounded off before bending. I am also testing without heating and just soaking overnight.
 
This will probably be a while in the making and I am in no rush I have lots of work doing the testing and research. it is a great diversion and a break from the intense work on the Pilot Cutter. Plus I needed something to fill in my spare time;>)
 
Michael
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hello Greg and welcome to this build. Lunch is fixed, so yes come along for some goodies
 
The Ferro engine will be a working gasoline engine as well. when I was 16 I made a working overhead valve gas engine that ran on lighter fluid the piston was made from an old spark plug and the crankshaft was made from a few sections of bicycle chain soldered together. the points were full size off an old car and the whole lot was soldered together with soft solder. it was very crude but it would run for about 30 seconds  before running out of fuel.
 
I have learned a few things since then so I would imagine that once I have the drawings of the Ferro Engine I will be able to build one.
 
The building board is designed to hold the mould boards while the ribbands are fitted with the boat held up about 2 1/2 inches off the base so that I can get to it all easily. The fixtures for holding the stem and stern posts are not yet made I will work on these as time permits.
 
Today I have a lot of snow to clear and it is -16 degrees and windy.
 
Michael

Hi all,
 
Years ago I read "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum, and in January 2012 I decided that I would build his boat, the "SPRAY", in 1/48 scale POF with bent framing. The way Slocum built it.  I started asking questions on this forum, and I want to thank all those who answerd with help.  The information on this forum is invaluable.
 
Then the research began.  In the first chapter of his book, Slocum said he was given an old "fishing smack".  So I looked for fishing smacks of 1800.  About when his was built.  Someone suggested the "Emma C Berry" for framing, so I hunted for information on that boat.  I also gathered as many plan drawings of the "Spray" as I could find.  About five.
 
Now it was time to check and redraw the plans.  The first thing I discovered was that ALL the plans had errors.  Things like, the shear and section views would agree and the shear and the plan views would agree, but the width of the plan was no where near the same as the width of the sections.  Of the drawings I had, the drawing from the appendix in the book was the closest.  So I traced that into an old copy of AutoCad and worked out the errors.
 
Checking the fishing smacks plans had shown a frame spacing of from 15" to 22" I chose 18" for framing the Spray.  I drew a section at each frame.  I offset a line .031" inside to subtract the 1.5" planking Slocum used.  The frames will be 3" X 5" so again I offset another line .062 inside the planking for the frames.  This gave me the section lines for the plug I will carve to shape the frames.
 
I am going to plank only half the deck and deck houses so I can show the insides, taken from the sketches in Slocum's book. (See below)
 
Bob
 

Hi Sjors,
 
I think it's a great I idea to post diagrams in a place where they can bee seen for continued reference.  But I also like to see how they knots actually come together.
 
Here is a great link that someone recently posted on knots.  I even enjoyed watching the animations for knots we don't use in ship building.
 
http://www.animatedknots.com/knotlist.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
 
Best,
Steve

Wow. I guess that's all I have to say!
 
Best,
Steve

Steve, I also enjoy making knots and hitches, one of the earliest I learned from a BM on the Ammen was the Mast Head Knot, stuck with me, probably because of the beginning overlapping 3 loops and then the use of both hands and your teeth. Think I have used it only once since learning it.
jud