michael mott

My Condolences Suzanne and Carla. Michael

Pavel, your work on the finishing of the hull planking looks very nice, I like the colours. Michael

Great start Mark, 9 inches is only 1/8th wow! I still have trouble getting my head around how small these models of huge ships are. I'm used to 1/8th equaling 1 inch. Michael

Ed, like others have said it is difficult to find words to describe my admiration for your workmanship. Your model is inspiring and sets a very high standard for me to work toward. Michael

Thanks for the link Sjors. Michael

Sjors Your model is coming along well! I noticed that you avatar is a Routmaster Bus, When I was growing up in London I used to collect Bus numbers ( a strange hobby only engaged in by British schoolboys I know) and I remember seeing the very first Routmaster bus out of the Park Royal plant where they were built. I lived not far from Park Royal One of my Brothers drove London Buses for 25 years, he quit when they stopped using Conductors. Incidentally I saw and cataloged every trolleybus on the London Transport system that were in service in 1963, I would ride my bicycle all over London finding the last few buses. A strange world we live in! Michael

Been there done that! my second son was colicky and a lot of long nights walking and soothing, thankfully he is 30 now and is a wonderful Father to two boys himself. The rail looks great Daniel. Michael

Bob, I am really looking forward to getting her wet. I did manage to do a little work yesterday and today, I worked on the Jib stay, I might just sew this into the sail and have it fly and not hank it to a stay I made a thimble for the 1/16th cable first I filed a couple of grooves at each end I annealed the centre part only and shaped the thimble using the same tools and methods as before At the moment it is attached to the bowsprit end cap but it will be attached to a traveler on the bowsprit, so that it can be hauled it to change sheets. Started working on the Gaff, by planing down a square of spruce to a tapered round section This evening I spent a couple of hours making one of the blocks for the gaff up-haul Michael

Russ, I know how you feel these last few days. Nice work on the cleats. Michael

Sherry the ship is looking very fine I would agree with Russ if I were going to cut holes for cannons then I would do it before the second planking it will allow you the added ability to ensure that the finished holes are clean and accurate and square, I say this not because I think that you are not capable of making them clean and square in the first place, it is just an insurance policy. And I like to have a fall back position. wood sometimes does not behave itself. Michael

Mark Thanks for the link, Might I suggest that you make that one a sticky, at the beginning of tools. I use and do all of those suggestions and the author did a superb job of illustrating and explaining them. Michael

Hi Tony here is a sketch of what I was explaining. Michael

Gaetan, it is great that you have continued this build log after the crash, I also like to see the pictures where I can see the workshop tools and how you work, I learn something every time. Michael

Buck beautiful job on the boat! Michael

Harvey, Tony, Mark, yes this thread is interesting for all the reasons that you have all mentioned. Tony your comments about the fence and Harvey making the comment about having trouble with his fence on the full size saw brings to mind that I have had the same issues with fences. It seem to me that the issue happens after the wood being cut passes the blade. I believe this is because as we cut the wood we release some of the built in tensions that are inherent in the materials, after all they are organic and have grown in varying conditions. The nature of the blade is to cut a straight line, and if the wood begins to spring away from the blade on the open side there usually is not a problem, if however the wood springs toward the fence lets say even 50% of the time then we fin that two things occur at the same time. The wood is being moved away from the fence and simultaneously jamming at the side of the rotating blade, this can potentially cause some burning (certainly has on some of my wood) this is why I have spent some time looking at how I use my saw and how fences work in general. on another thread I spoke about keeping the larger portion of the wood next to the fence and so the piece being cut off has more of a tendency to curl should it be incline to do so. Something that has just occurred to me would be to set up the fence with a parallel strip say 1/8thand use some double sided tape and stick it to the fence so that one end is just past the trailing edge of the blade, so that as the wood passes the blade the wood has some "breathing "room as it passes the blade. I would only use this set up if I was using the fence as the limiting factor of setting the width. I still prefer to keep the wider part of the wood between the blade and the fence and increment it across with each pass, using the stop that was discussed here . Our experiences with all of our tools can give us new insights as to ways and ideas that can build the general body of knowledge, this is one of the things that I enjoy so much about this site. Michael

Bob I see that you are coming to this problem from the logical step. Revisit the templates and adjust accordingly. I am sure that you will move forward with certainty. I look forward to the next step. Michael

This issue seems to me that of wanting to use thin blades to save on the costs of cutting up expensive raw materials ie. exotic hardwoods. I again will go back to the same comments that I made earlier, "slitting saws" were not designed for cutting strip-wood they were designed for slitting metal with lots of lubricants. Speed seems also to be a concern, given the time that it seems to take to build models with exotic hard woods what is the rush with regards to making strips? I have posted elsewhere that making thin strips of wood can be accomplished with full sized commercial saws or with hand tools. I think and this is my own personal opinion that we get pulled into having to do something a particular way because we are led to believe that this should be possible, and sometimes it is not necessarily the best way. That said I am a firm believer in using the right tool for the job. The best intentions of those selling "Model Making Tools" might not be the best tool for the Job. and further to that the makers of such Model making tools had certain limitations in mind when they designed those tools. I fear that sometimes they are pushed beyond their limits, and then the toolmaker is blamed. I will get down off the soapbox now! Michael

Excellent work Ilhan. Michael

Albert, it is good to see that you are posting again the continuation of your magnificent build. Michael

Good Morning Carl , thanks , Yes I did stand on a stool but I'm not good with heights so I thought it prudent to lower the model to complete the work on the topmast fittings. I have been involved in a few other projects that have needed to be taken off the plate so have only managed a few minutes here and there nothing of consequence this last week or so. I am hoping that by Wednesday next week I will be able to get some decent work done. every time I walk by the model I give the mast a pull to one side and pretend that she is in the water heeling over a few degrees and smile to myself. Michael

Tony thanks for your kind comment. Offhand I do not have an answer to your question, but what about the various U tube demonstrations, I have seen a couple of them admittedly for an unrelated subject, it is not a resource I use very often, but I know that some of it is very good. The other thought that comes to mind is to visit a model engineering group, these are the folk who build the most amazing things with small machine tools. The link I provided is one of many, just a start. Michael

Because I was curious about the power and speed issues with the slitting blades I set up an experiment on the lathe to test my thoughts about the power and speed. The 3/16 thick ebony was cut at 375 RPM The Apple was cut with the back gear set and the speed was 25 rpm The slitting saw was 1 3/4 inch diameter x .014 thick The slower speed was harder to feed through but did not burn or clog. Neither did the ebony. My conclusion from this limited experiment is that with a slow speed you need a lot of power or a gear head drive that will not bog down, A rheostat generally reduces the amount of electricity to create the slower speed and so the motor cannot operate with full power. Michael

Exquisite finish on the hull Dan. Michael

2 and 3 look like suspects to my eye. Michael

Interesting pictures Harvey I would be curious as to what happens if you wax the blade after cleaning the resin off it and then try the cherry again. I just thought about the issue of the fast Vs slow speed. Does the motor slow down as a result of a rheostat or is the voltage modulated but at full power. if it is a rheostat then that would be why the motor bogs down at low speed, it would be underpowered. Michael