DaveyJones

Because the Byrnes saw lacks a splitter or riving knife, binding and kickback is always a possibility when ripping using a zero kerf blade, something these blades are not designed to do. The procedure described by Jeff Hayes whereby the fence is set at a slight angle is one way to minimise binding. Another technique that I have used for many years is to use an auxiliary fence. This is simply a short length of aluminium angle held against the Byrnes fence using two spring clamps. The end of the aluminium is set just short of the back edge of the saw blade as shown in the following image. This arrangement seems to work well for most straight grained timbers. Binding will still occur in difficult timber such as ebony and boxwood (Buxus). In these cases, I simply insert a wedge to relieve the pressure. There is one other use for the auxiliary fence. If you require a number of small identical pieces to be cut from stock, simply move the fence so that it sits short of the leading edge of the saw blade. The stock is then held against the mitre attachment and slid forward into the saw. The cut pieces (mostly) accumulate beside the spinning blade. I hope this information is of some use. Dave

Toni - with all due respect, we must be looking at different admiralty draughts. The images below are taken from my copies of the Atalanta NMM plans, and would seem to indicate that the fore topsail sheet crosspiece and the jeer bitt crosspieces are about the same size. Dave

Toni - Beautiful work as always. However, I am concerned that your new crosspiece fitted to the fore jeer bitt is out of scale. It should measure about 7 x 5 inches in section. That new piece looks larger than that to me. Dave

Thanks to everyone for the likes and comments. The’re very much appreciated. Toni, There is no build log. When I started this model there were already a number of excellent Swans (yours included) under construction by people with far more experience than myself. I felt that I would be just replicating the work of others. Dave

Chris (Cabbie) wrote: At the risk of hijacking Erik’s topic, here are three images of my swan class, HMS Fly The general consensus seems to be to be that leaving the planking in its natural state is preferable to paint. In which case I shall leave well enough alone. Dave

A word of caution when using cherry. I chose this timber to plank my current build, because I liked the dark reddish brown colour it takes on as it ages, The batch of timber I used showed some colour variation that was not too obvious during construction. However, a couple of the planks made from the lightest coloured timber completely failed to darken, as seen in the attached photo. I am so disappointed with the result that I will most likely paint the hull white below the waterline. Dave

I have just become aware of your build log of the Alert. Several years ago I constructed a fully framed model along similar lines to your build, photographs of which were posted on the old MSW website. Perhaps this is the model referred to in your first post. For those interested, I have today uploaded a few photographs to the Gallery of Completed Scratch-built Models. You have made an excellent start to your build, Christian. Very precise work. I shall follow your progress with great interest. Cheers, Dave