gjdale

Great save Danny!

Welcome back. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Congratulations on another outstanding model Dan. It’s been a real pleasure to follow your log. I look forward to the next.

Thanks Dirk - all seems to work now. 😊

Any news on fixing this function James?

Smoke from the bushfires had the air quality in Canberra today at over 3,000 - that’s 15 times the “hazardous” level. At least the fires themselves haven’t reached us........yet. Some more moderate conditions forecast over the next few days, which should help the firefighters out some. A little rain is forecast, but not much for the actual fire grounds at this stage. The airlines have stopped all flights in and out of Canberra. Postal services have been suspended. And a lot of visitor attractions have been closed due to danger from smoke inhalation. Residents have been advised to stay indoors whenever possible. The smoke has now been with us for over a month, with no end in sight at this stage. I just hope the firefighters are able to continue their magnificent efforts and bring the fires under control soon.

Mark, Sometimes the simple solutions are the best. If you use your current caul as a template, just trace the curve onto a board wide enough to cut the curve down the middle on the bandsaw. And voila - instant two-sided clamping caul ready to go in the bench vice. No need for other clamps that would get in the way. Saw this idea in use in some full size furniture making. Curved cauls were made and used to form a bent lamination. Once the lamination had been formed, anytime further work (eg joinery) was to be done on the laminated piece, it went back in the caul in the vice for holding.

When viewing unread content, I usually use the “Condensed View”. For some reason, this does not seem to be working today - only “Expanded View” comes up. Selecting “Condensed View” from the “button” appears to do nothing - the same screen as “Expanded View” is displayed. This only seems to have occurred in the last 24 hours or so. I’m viewing from an iPad - don’t know if the issue is replicated on a PC.

Actually Mark, if you have a bandsaw and some scrap 3/4” pine boards, it really wouldn’t take much to make individualised cauls. A quick trace of the outline of your curved plank, whip it through the bandsaw and you’re done - about 30 seconds work in total I reckon. Might be worth giving it a trial anyway. It could more than make up for the time taken later on. Think of the time and effort it would save you to have a clamped up plank ready to plane/sand for the sake of 30 seconds and a bit of scrap wood.

You could make a clamping caul - cut a block of wood down the middle to the shape of your curve, then sandwich the plank between the two pieces. You now have two square, parallel edges to place in an ordinary vice. Admittedly, a lot of work if one has to make a caul for each curved plank, but in theory it works....

So pleased to hear that you’ll be spending some more time on your wonderful Alfred build Gary! Looking forward to watching your progress and learning from you as you go.

So nice to see you back working on this little gem Wayne!

Such a treat to see another of your updates Doris. A truly remarkable work and an absolute joy to watch. Thank you for taking the time to share your art with us.

Thanks so much for posting these details Keith. 😊

I quickly discovered that using PVA glue for this planking was going to be problematic in terms of clamping. Reluctantly, I started using CA glue and completed the first layer of planks. The next day, I started suffering flu-like symptoms. As I’d been wearing my respirator while using the CA, I wasn’t sure if this was a virus, or was in fact still a reaction to the glue. I checked the date I’d last changed the filters and let’s just say that I went straight out and bought some new ones! It has taken a couple of weeks to get over the resultant symptoms, and then of course the usual excuses that keep one away from the shipyard! I was not terribly happy with the outcome of the planking. Despite Chuck’s best efforts to make this build fool proof, I managed to prove that it’s still possible to get it wrong! Although I did pre-bend and twist all of the strakes, I still managed to get a considerable “staircase” effect at the bow. I also ended up with dirty marks all over the hull as my fingers, graphite from the pencil “caulking”, and CA glue, combined to make quite a mess. On the plus side, I found that taking the trouble to line off the hull iaw Chuck’s instructions was a big help in monitoring the evenness of the planking on each side. There was one strake that “got away” a bit, but I was able to correct that with the next strake. Today I finally got back to addressing that mess. I spent quite a lot of time sanding out the "staircase" as well as the other irregularities and the dirty marks. Overall, it has come up to an acceptable level, though not even in the same league as some of the other builds here. There was one place in particular where I had done such a bad job that when sanding I ended up with a hole in the planking. I made up a filler of sanding dust and PVA glue to patch the hole and fortunately both it and one other “untidy” patch will eventually be hidden by the frieze. The hull is now ready for the additional layer of planks for the upper two strakes. That is going to have to wait for a couple of weeks as I’ll be away this week for work, and then taking a short trip up to Brisbane for my niece’s wedding. Will be nice to catch up with family for a few days. Here’s a couple of shots of the planking as it stands today.