liteflight

Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts.
 
My belated tuppence worth:
All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid.  I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement)
Better turning  = less rudder movement to get the required turn
Less rudder movement = greater boat speed
 
I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log.  
What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker.  ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake)
 
Good jig for the mast steps!
andrew

Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts.
 
My belated tuppence worth:
All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid.  I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement)
Better turning  = less rudder movement to get the required turn
Less rudder movement = greater boat speed
 
I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log.  
What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker.  ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake)
 
Good jig for the mast steps!
andrew

Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts.
 
My belated tuppence worth:
All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid.  I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement)
Better turning  = less rudder movement to get the required turn
Less rudder movement = greater boat speed
 
I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log.  
What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker.  ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake)
 
Good jig for the mast steps!
andrew

Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts.
 
My belated tuppence worth:
All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid.  I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement)
Better turning  = less rudder movement to get the required turn
Less rudder movement = greater boat speed
 
I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log.  
What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker.  ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake)
 
Good jig for the mast steps!
andrew

Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts.
 
My belated tuppence worth:
All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid.  I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement)
Better turning  = less rudder movement to get the required turn
Less rudder movement = greater boat speed
 
I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log.  
What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker.  ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake)
 
Good jig for the mast steps!
andrew

Lovely work Steven, and fascinating research and evidence from the massed ranks of MSW stalwarts.
 
My belated tuppence worth:
All that has been said about curved keels is true and very valid.  I can attest to the fact that even the slightest rocker in a keel improves turning ability enormously ( I used to race R/C yachts for amusement)
Better turning  = less rudder movement to get the required turn
Less rudder movement = greater boat speed
 
I remember reading the detail of the keel of one of the big, excavated Viking burial ships (almost certainly Oseberg) and learning that the main keel member was a single riven oak log.  
What boggled my tiny mind was that the overall length was iirc over 80 feet ( 24M) with over a foot ( 300mm) of rocker.  ( as well as the complex cross section to accept the garboard strake)
 
Good jig for the mast steps!
andrew

Well, I took a few weeks' break - it'd stopped being fun. One of the problems was that the fore-topgallant yard broke just after I'd tensioned all the lines leading to it. It had been broken when I started repairing the ship, and I'd glued it back together, so of course it failed just as I'd finished all the fiddly stuff attached to it.
 

 
You can see the break in the yard about halfway between the mast and the end. I tried fishing it - you can see the attempted fish is the lighter (straight) piece of wood behind the yard. Didn't work. 
 
So I undid some of the lines, and cut the robands, intending to sew around the fish and hold it to the broken yard. No good.
 
Eventually, I decided the yard was beyond saving, so I removed it and made a new one, whilst cutting as few lies as possible to reduce the work I'd have to do to put it all together again (for example, I kept the sheets and bowlines attached to the sail), so all I'd have to do would be to sew the sail onto the new yard. Nup. No good. I ended up cutting or undoing all the lines - it was just too ridiculously fiddly.
 

 
So I made a whole new yard, sanded it down, made it very pretty but a little thicker than the original so it would be stronger. Added the blocks for the lifts and the clewlines. Looked really good. Left it on the cutting board overnight.
 
Came back in the morning and moved the cutting board further back on the table, then went and did something else. Came back later - where's the yard? GONE!
 
Huge search. Never found it. I think it must have got caught on my sleeve when I moved the cutting board and dropped off somewhere in the house - it certainly wasn't in the workshop.
 
So I gave up and watched Youtube videos for about a week.
 
Day before yesterday I'd recovered enough to start again. Only took me a few hours to complete. So here's the progress of the new topgallant yard (plus blocks).
 
Yard made (with the piece of wood it was carved from off to the left.)
 

One block carved and attached to its strop on one side, plus another block in the process of being made.

 
Second block ready to be cut off and finally shaped.

Yard and all the blocks with strops partly attached (plus two spares, just in case) - with a giant match to show the scale.
 
 

My patented method for holding the strops while they're wrapped around the blocks and the glue dries.

And tightening the strops around the free end.

And ready to attach.

Blocks in place for the lifts.

And finished.

Topsail clewline blocks.

Voila!

 
Naturally, I've put this in a safe place where I can't lose it again. Next step is to attach the sail, add the parrel trucks and attach to the mast. Starting to become fun again.
 
Steven
 
 
 
 
 

First model ship kit build: First build log on MSW.  Be still my beating heart!
 
The Kit:
Billings large model of the Oseberg Ship (1/25).  This turned out to be Billings part number 720 and has plywood laser-cut shields, and laser-scored scrollwork in ply
(More on the laser and ply later as the build commences)
The kit was a Christmas present (2018) from my lovely Admiral, and was ordered and obtained from our local model boat shop Float-a-Boat.  It took about 6 months to arrive but this was not a worry, as we both had plenty to do since we had just moved house.  By the way, "Oseberg" in Australia is pronounced "Osssburg"
I'm sure I could have obtained it cheaper and faster, but the end cost would be huge, as real model shops will not be there unless we use them
 
I failed to take the ceremonial unboxing and layout on the carpet pictures.  Sorry
Not much in the box, as longships do a LOT with a little material. 
Some dowels, stripwood  - all obechi as far as I can see, sail material, build instructions (which make IKEA instructions look encyclopaedic by comparison) and a double sided full size plan, which includes (some) dimensions for the build Jig
 
Why a Longship?
I love them!
I went to see the Sutton Hoo museum in Suffolk, UK and was smockraffled by the model of the reconstructed boat in the entrance.  It's about 1.5m long and I remember seeing it's bow from water level and realising that I want to make one of them.
So since that I have been reading about the construction - actual and model. 
I have learned of the wide range of boats in this style of construction then and now.
I can remember walking round Stavanger harbour in the 1980s and seeing small boats whose construction and fastenings are clearly cousins of the Oseberg ship
 
Confession.  I have Previous Form
In the early part of this century I raced Footy Radio-control (sometimes) yachts and progressed from state-of-the-art carbon masterpieces designed by Angus Richardson (he designed the 507 Footy still sold by Melbourne's RadioSailingShop) to satisfying scale gaff-riggers such as Presto (https://www.woodenboat.com/boat-plans-kits/presto-footy)
 
I was asked by Angus to make him a Drakkar to the Footy rules to act as his Admiral's barge on ceremonial occasions, so I made one, learned a LOT and made him the requested Drakkar called Rodolm with an Angus-designed pattern on the sail (photos follow if anyone is interested) 
The lower hull was carved blue foam (to the sections of the Gokstad ship) with about 3 strakes above the foam to make the hull.  The keel allowed a removable polycarbonate keel with lead ballast to be inserted.  Mast was exactly in the centre of everything and sail was fixed to the mast.  Both rotated up to 180 degrees to allow close-hauled sailing on either tack.
Now regrettably Angus had poor sight, and Rodolm had low and symmetrical prow and stern (as it had to comply with the Footy rules) and sailing her turned out to be a challenge for him.  I added a staff and mylar streamer to the stern to help him with orientation and wind direction.
 
Info: "Footy" yachts have to fit in a Box 12 inches long  x 6 inches wide x 12 inches deep. (Rodolm did)
 
I am aware of venturing into a huge forum of skilled experts with diverse knowledge. 
 
Please feel entirely free to dive in and comment, help, suggest solutions and/or request more (or less) information
 
To come in next post:
The build so far
Mine is a Friday Kit
Decisions about Floor levels
There will be no Ply edge visible!
The Giants on whose shoulders I an planning to stand 
andrew

Hi, Pat
 
Noted!
AND
Following Welfalck's excellent suggestion of watchmaker's Pivot Drills 
https://www.esslinger.com/drill-press-drills-and-more/
https://watchmaking.weebly.com/drill-bits.html
 
and, as it happens they are precise spade drills, available in sets or singles (see first reference)
 
Googling the Bergeon (No. 1713) reference will extend your horological linguistic skills not a little
And yes, the homemade piano wire reamers/drills make a wire-size reamed hole which is not necessarily on the centreline of the gadget that turns them  but for thin brass they follow the centre-pop!
 
andrew
 

Preparing the Front Panels for Planking
 
This is an interesting process. In order to produce a concave or domed contour on the front and back of the cabin both surfaces are covered in 5 mm battens.  These are much like the ribs on a ship and are eventually faired to produce the curved shape to support the planking.Some of the steps are shown below:
 
Battening around widows and doors:
 

 
Horizontal battens on the top and sides of the front panel
 
 

 
Full  battening of the left side of the front panel
 

 
The completed battening:
 

 
The instructions suggest fairing the battens with course sand paper.  I started the process with a small Luthier's plane and finished off with sandpaper:
 

 
The completed fairing job is hard to photograph.  In the photo below you can see the general effect but the perspective makes it looks as if there are bumps and hollows.  In fact the curve goes very smoothly from about 5mm near the top of the door to virtually zero at the outside edges.
 

 
The horizontal planking which comes next will accentuated the domed shape.
 
By the way thanks for all the "likes" it is very encouraging.
 
John
 
 
 

Steven,
Blast from the past, which might be answered while you are gathering your equanimity
 
The shallop/ chaloupe/ ships boat.
it appears to be about the size of a ladybirds wingcases ( ladybug to our US cousins)
could you give me the overall length, please.

I have just looked back through your build and the wonderful pics of the finished boat.  Judging by the scale on your cutting board, and the VAST match, it seems to be close to 45mm long
 
I have a sudden fancy to (try to) make one, or more.  Once I have a form, I aim to try planking with thin pine (0.007”, 7 thou), paper and perhaps papier-mâché, oh and plunge-forming.
 
tia, Andrew
 

Steven,
Blast from the past, which might be answered while you are gathering your equanimity
 
The shallop/ chaloupe/ ships boat.
it appears to be about the size of a ladybirds wingcases ( ladybug to our US cousins)
could you give me the overall length, please.

I have just looked back through your build and the wonderful pics of the finished boat.  Judging by the scale on your cutting board, and the VAST match, it seems to be close to 45mm long
 
I have a sudden fancy to (try to) make one, or more.  Once I have a form, I aim to try planking with thin pine (0.007”, 7 thou), paper and perhaps papier-mâché, oh and plunge-forming.
 
tia, Andrew
 

Thanks Steven, I have now!  Thank you for that.
 
Warm thanks, too, to everyone who contacted me with messages of sympathy and support.  Much appreciated and very valuable to me at a difficult time.
 
So, as I was saying.......
I have reviewed Oseberg as she is and I find good news and less good news.
I had commenced the clinker planking, having decided that “my” overlap would be a thick 1mm
Easy decision, but how do I do that precisely and repeatable?
+
   
the current state of play:  both garboard strakes fitted with scarf joint between the two ( precut) parts of each strake
(just for reference, the clamps are  merely parked where they are)


i have added a second full strake on one side, using a method which I have not seen before, so probably worth describing ( even if only to give you a larf)
I aimed to scribe my fat 1mm overlap on the garboard strake.  
 
First attempt was using compasses, of which as a former Engineer I have a modest plethora.  None of them were designed to work or be rigid with a 1 mm gap.
Most were designed to use a lead about 2.5 mm dia, sharpened to a chisel point by arcane methods known (only) to draughtspeople.  However sharp the lead it gave a bad result!
 
I then remembered cutting thin styrene sheet using a hard pin pushed through a balsa sheet with a ply edge guide.
So postage stamp size bit if hard 1/8 balsa with a length of thin ply sticking down 2mm to slide along the edge of the plank to be marked.  
Lay it on its back and put a strip of fat 1mm width against the shoulder.  
Push pin through touching the strip
replace pin with 0.5mm drawing pencil lead and adjust till it barely protrudes ( or if you prefer - till it sticks out a wee bit)
Viola! You have a cunning device which marks a fat 1mm from an edge
 
And yes, it works only when the curvature of the edge is very gentle.
And also yes, this concept can be developed to work with sharper curves, both concave and convex - but no need here.
 
So the  edges of both garboard strakes are clearly marked with the overlap.
A cardinal principle of my build is that I don’t want glue anywhere but in a joint, because it would require clean-up.  IMHO even a careful clean up of a wood glue is likely to afffect any subsequent finish, so I aim to avoid that by removing the possibility of glue being squooged out of joints.
 
My strakes will be fixed by heat-activated wood glue.
I believe  it would be helpful to know Exactly where the glue is, so I mixed acrylic paint with  neat PVA wood glue ( I seem to remember it was an umber)

Like this
 
i had masked to the pencil line with fine masking tape and applied two coats of the coloured glue
 
Reason for that type of colour - the future holds dark staining of some sort - and any accidents of a generally wood-like hue should be unobtrusive.
 
The less good news
On careful inspection, I found that a part of the glued strake is not stuck.  
I’m not downcast, however because:
I activated the heat sensitive adhesive with a full size family steam iron I cannot be sure that these areas were ever stuck - this was nearly 18 months ago. I have since been given not one, but two neat little devices intended for applying delicate heat shrink film to model aircraft ( airplanes to American friends) photos to follow Please feel free to guide me in matters of technique or writing style.  
I have written at length in this post to catch up with where the ship sits today, and because the PVA/ acrylic ( or watercolour) trick may help someone else.
 
andrew

Steven
The cloth of Gold sails are magnificent, they will be the eye-catching “stars” of the show ( and probably outshine Hal)
 
I’m sure you have documentary evidence for the Tudor clothes-peg
 
andrew

Thanks, Druxey. That certainly reduces the mucking around I have to do. I made sure I got some cotton thread today - not a perfect colour match, but close enough (particularly as thread thread this thin it's hard to make out the exact colour anyway).
 
I thought I'd post a few progress pics of the ship as it looks overall. Coming along nicely, but so many ropes. But I'm finding it gives me a more than just intellectual understanding of how everything works together - it's all been a bit vague and conceptual up to now, so the hands-on stuff is doing me good. Oh, and the painted sails are looking nice, too - (they're actually more colourful than they show in the photos).
 

 

 

 

Steven

Pat
This supplier stocks the Bergeon range of Watchmakers supplies, might be worth a call after the holiday.
 
https://www.australianwatchclocksupplies.com.au/tools.html
 
andrew

Pat
This supplier stocks the Bergeon range of Watchmakers supplies, might be worth a call after the holiday.
 
https://www.australianwatchclocksupplies.com.au/tools.html
 
andrew

Evening All,
 
Here we go with my next card model, another 1/250 offering from Paper Shipwright, after cutting my teeth on their model of Flamborough Head Lighthouse.  I did think of starting this one first but quickly changed my mind after looking at all the small parts and the diminutive size of this one and promptly changed my mind! 😲 - I have since read the front and it says Skill rating 'Difficult' and part count #250.  So I can't promise this build log will ever get re-titled with the word "Finished" tagged on the end, we shall see, but the blurb also says suitable for "ages over 12 and over" so on that count I am well over qualified! 😂
 
The first few pictures show what you get, six sheets of instructions and one A4 sized card of parts.
 
Hold tight folks I'm diving in!  
 
First couple of evenings have been cutting out the base; gluing with tiny dots of PVA onto my building base and laminating and then cutting out "ribs" to form the hull.  I completed adding these tonight, all seems to be going okay so far, but can see some of my cutting needs to be more precise, as I might need to add small 'shims' to level one or two of the ribs.
 
Think next up I shall need to sort out some paint mixing for the cut edges for the cream coloured deck, and various reds and yellows, as pretty soon I am going to need those to progress beyond laying on the decks.
 
Now time to make another sacrifice to the "Card Gods" 🔥 for guidance, until next time....
 

Hi, Pat
 
Noted!
AND
Following Welfalck's excellent suggestion of watchmaker's Pivot Drills 
https://www.esslinger.com/drill-press-drills-and-more/
https://watchmaking.weebly.com/drill-bits.html
 
and, as it happens they are precise spade drills, available in sets or singles (see first reference)
 
Googling the Bergeon (No. 1713) reference will extend your horological linguistic skills not a little
And yes, the homemade piano wire reamers/drills make a wire-size reamed hole which is not necessarily on the centreline of the gadget that turns them  but for thin brass they follow the centre-pop!
 
andrew
 

Hi, Pat
 
Noted!
AND
Following Welfalck's excellent suggestion of watchmaker's Pivot Drills 
https://www.esslinger.com/drill-press-drills-and-more/
https://watchmaking.weebly.com/drill-bits.html
 
and, as it happens they are precise spade drills, available in sets or singles (see first reference)
 
Googling the Bergeon (No. 1713) reference will extend your horological linguistic skills not a little
And yes, the homemade piano wire reamers/drills make a wire-size reamed hole which is not necessarily on the centreline of the gadget that turns them  but for thin brass they follow the centre-pop!
 
andrew
 

Hi, Pat
 
Don't want to be a nuisance on your thread, nor was I suggesting that you make a fluteless drill by forging and quenching in the blood of a red-headed virgin (the best type)
Its probable/possible that you already have the necessary tools!
Alternatives are:
High-speed (preferably Carbide) burrs (liberate from your friendly dentist, if necessary) Diamond Burrs Needle files or a home-made spear drill - see sketch attached  I hand-drill small holes using an Archimedean drill as a holder - generally centre-pop them with extremely sharp point (think compass point ground from a masonry nail or dead small drill shank) then turn over and needle file the back to remove the pip.  This often leaves a pinhole to be enlarged
Then any of the listed gadgets (and rotary broaches) will enlarge the hole to your desired diameter without applying much torque
 
Note 1 - the spear drill is an excellent reamer of holes in sizes up to 5 or 6 mm (I use a dead drill shank rather than Piano wire as cutting piano wire in these sizes is very little fun)
Note 2 - grinding a spear drill in 0.5mm (20 thou) diameter needs to be done slowly and with copious cooling as you grind to avoid overheating the high carbon wire.  Have a deep mug or water and keep cooling the wire before it needs it. 
Note 3  - If you get the whole end red hot  - heat it white hot with a blowlamp and quench in the water !  Viola!  Glass hard again!
Note 4 - You COULD grind both sides to a chisel point, then grind it elliptical like a glass drill but IMHO life is too short and I, for one would not presume to measure the diameter or cylindricity of your holes (which will no doubt house a shackle pin, or similar)
 
 

Hi, Pat
 
Don't want to be a nuisance on your thread, nor was I suggesting that you make a fluteless drill by forging and quenching in the blood of a red-headed virgin (the best type)
Its probable/possible that you already have the necessary tools!
Alternatives are:
High-speed (preferably Carbide) burrs (liberate from your friendly dentist, if necessary) Diamond Burrs Needle files or a home-made spear drill - see sketch attached  I hand-drill small holes using an Archimedean drill as a holder - generally centre-pop them with extremely sharp point (think compass point ground from a masonry nail or dead small drill shank) then turn over and needle file the back to remove the pip.  This often leaves a pinhole to be enlarged
Then any of the listed gadgets (and rotary broaches) will enlarge the hole to your desired diameter without applying much torque
 
Note 1 - the spear drill is an excellent reamer of holes in sizes up to 5 or 6 mm (I use a dead drill shank rather than Piano wire as cutting piano wire in these sizes is very little fun)
Note 2 - grinding a spear drill in 0.5mm (20 thou) diameter needs to be done slowly and with copious cooling as you grind to avoid overheating the high carbon wire.  Have a deep mug or water and keep cooling the wire before it needs it. 
Note 3  - If you get the whole end red hot  - heat it white hot with a blowlamp and quench in the water !  Viola!  Glass hard again!
Note 4 - You COULD grind both sides to a chisel point, then grind it elliptical like a glass drill but IMHO life is too short and I, for one would not presume to measure the diameter or cylindricity of your holes (which will no doubt house a shackle pin, or similar)
 
 

Hi, Pat
 
Don't want to be a nuisance on your thread, nor was I suggesting that you make a fluteless drill by forging and quenching in the blood of a red-headed virgin (the best type)
Its probable/possible that you already have the necessary tools!
Alternatives are:
High-speed (preferably Carbide) burrs (liberate from your friendly dentist, if necessary) Diamond Burrs Needle files or a home-made spear drill - see sketch attached  I hand-drill small holes using an Archimedean drill as a holder - generally centre-pop them with extremely sharp point (think compass point ground from a masonry nail or dead small drill shank) then turn over and needle file the back to remove the pip.  This often leaves a pinhole to be enlarged
Then any of the listed gadgets (and rotary broaches) will enlarge the hole to your desired diameter without applying much torque
 
Note 1 - the spear drill is an excellent reamer of holes in sizes up to 5 or 6 mm (I use a dead drill shank rather than Piano wire as cutting piano wire in these sizes is very little fun)
Note 2 - grinding a spear drill in 0.5mm (20 thou) diameter needs to be done slowly and with copious cooling as you grind to avoid overheating the high carbon wire.  Have a deep mug or water and keep cooling the wire before it needs it. 
Note 3  - If you get the whole end red hot  - heat it white hot with a blowlamp and quench in the water !  Viola!  Glass hard again!
Note 4 - You COULD grind both sides to a chisel point, then grind it elliptical like a glass drill but IMHO life is too short and I, for one would not presume to measure the diameter or cylindricity of your holes (which will no doubt house a shackle pin, or similar)
 
 

Starting to rig the fore course and topsail. I've been following Anderson, as he's the nearest thing to contemporary for this period - only 60-100 years too late. But is it just me or do others think he's really difficult to read? I find I have to have my wits about me to follow what he's saying.
 
First thing I did was the topsail halyard and tye, but Anderson says the tye went through a sheave in the topmast. There's no way I was going to try drilling a hole in that fore topmast (or the main topmast, for that matter) - look how thin it is! 

So instead I faked it - a short section of tye leading out from the front of the mast, and another, longer one from the rear, running down to a block just below the base of the fighting top - apparently the same bit of rope, but in fact each wrapped around the mast by a single turn, looking rather like a parrel. I decided to leave the parrel truck off - too confusing. 
 
       
 A "runner" goes through the block - the fixed end to the port side, the runner to another block with the halyard, which has its free end and fixed end both going to the starboard side.

I decided to do ALL the rigging for the larboard side of the forecourse, and once I'd done that do the starboard side. So far I've done clewline, sheet and tack, plus the topsail sheet (all left loose for the time being).

The sheet for the course is supposed to start from a ringbolt or eyebolt set into the side of the hull just in front of the main channel. I hadn't planned to bother with that - that would be pretty tiny, but then I though "Why not?" - so I got some thin wire, wrapped it around a sewing needle and actually made an eyebolt that looks right!
     
And I've found a good way to introduce "belly" into the sails. When I added the boltropes, the scale was so small that there was no way I was going to be able to sew them on - so I just ran a bit of PVA (white)  glue along each edge of the sail and glued cotton onto the edge to act as a boltrope. Now I find that if I dampen the glue and curve the sail (eg with a bit of thread holding up the clew) the curve stays in the sail when the glue dries.
 

       

But now I'm a bit stuck - I began by using cotton crochet thread, which was great for the shrouds and stays, but now I need something a bit thinner for sheets, tacks etc. Unfortunately the thread I have is either too thin (sewing cotton) or too thick (crochet thread). I'm going to have to look further afield and get something in between. I know there is good rigging line available but the sizing conventions for crochet thread are in numbers - No. 10 is thick, 20 is thinner etc. and they bear no relation to actual sizes in inches or millimetres, so if I want to order from a ship rigging supplier I have no frame of reference - I can't compare the stuff I want with the stuff I already have. I'm waiting till tomorrow to go to a specialty sewing etc shop to see if I can get finer crochet thread. Otherwise . . .
 
Steven
 

Pat, I can see the problem!
 
As usual I do not know the whole answer, but can suggest some directions which might lead to the answer!
When a twist drill breaks through, it has a strong and inevitable tendency to “grab”, especially in brass.  Quite possibly it is this grabbing, in association with heat, that breaks the solder joint.
Perhaps use a drill which does not grab - ie, not a twist drill.  Examples of this are the centres of spade drills, glass drills and/ or make your own from a length of piano wire of the correct diameter (I will sketch and send later) Solder in a less breakable way.  Silver solder with the correct flux and a micro flame torch ( together with extreme cleanliness) will make the joints in seconds ( and as a bonus anneal all the material so that it is softer to drill) .  Drop the hot assembly into pickling solution and viola! - soft pink and strong spider band! Cheat royally!  - make the lugs of the spider band of small “U” shaped wire bends so that they are born with a hole.  Solder as above and if necessary flatten after pickling to flatten the wire and reduce the size of the hole. I made the jib traveller on my Thames Sailing Barge by a modification of (3).  One radial hole drilled at each lung position to fit wire lug.  U shapes bent with one Longer leg which went in the hole.  All jigged and solder soldered, pickled and cleaned up.  Bore cleaned up removing the longer legs of wire
 
I have rambled a bit.  Hope some part may be useful.  
Underwood’s book on rigging shows his method of making these - essentially a hybrid os 2and3 above with a drilled hole in the band and a nib on the Sheet lug to fit in the Hole.  Jigged with a twist of wire to hold all the lugs compressed into place and silver soldered on charcoal block
 
andrew