gjdale

I think that will be a good choice Clare. A nice contrast to draw the eye to a feature of the build.

Sam, I think the closest to describing how to pronounce Sjors, would be "See Yours", which of course explains why he is always asking for pictures of other people's builds!!! :P By the way, nice work on the mast SeeYours!

Looking good Augie, but I can't understand the delays either!

Masterful as always Ed, and a joy to watch this emerge.

Visions of "you know who" making his usual demands............

Okay - I lied! Here's a couple of pics of this weekend's limited production run. These are all 9/32" (7mm) blocks, single and double. These are the largest I've made to date. I think I've got the sheave holes pretty much in the right place now. And a couple of close ups. Some final finishing around the holes is all that's required to use these. Hopefully more production next weekend - I'm getting into the groove now (pun intended).

Thanks everyone, I'm pretty comfortable with the production method now. Mark - it's only the two larger sizes that I'm thinking of scrapping as these were early production runs that don't have the sheave holes placed quite right. I'll see how they rig up first - it may be that the error isn't noticeable. It's no big deal to re- make those few - the larger sizes are relatively easy to work with! Chuck - I don't know how on earth you managed to make them at 1.5mm - the 2mm were almost too much for me! Not much time in the shipyard this weekend, but have managed to make a few more. No pictures today as it's just more of the same.

Fantastic work Norberto! I'll follow along wih great interest.

Nicely done Sjors. Looking good!

Nice work on the tops Sjors. A pleasant change from rigging for you.

Hi Rusty, I'm no expert, but the larger ones look "right" to me.

Rusty, Not sure if I've understood your question correctly, but your maths is correct. That is, if your "real life" tree nail is 1 1/2", then at your chosen scale of 1:24, this would be 1/16". As to whether 1 1/2" tree nails are correct in the first place, I've no idea!

Welcome home Rusty - looking forward to your next update.

Nice work Clare. Thanks for showing your method too, that's really interesting.

Fabulous Alexandru. Nice to see another update - she really is looking good.

Thanks John, I was wondering what the collective pronoun for blocks might be. Perhaps a "murder" of blocks would be appropriate!

Lovely work, as always, Toni. And thanks for the tip on the cup burrs and sanding discs.

So, your girlfriend already has you on your elbows and knees Danny! Very nicely done, as usual, though!

Hi all, A little bit of an update to report. Have spent the weekend making blocks (did I mention it's a long weekend here!) Last weekend, I concentrated on the 5/32" (3.97mm) size and made 568 of these (all single blocks). I've been making my way down in size, so started with 1/8" (3.18mm) and decided to test out making double and triple blocks at this size as well. In all, I made 284 singles, 60 doubles and 28 triples at this size. All went reasonably well. So far, so good. Then I went down to the next size: 3/32" (2.38mm) and started running into some problems. First up, I had scored the stock blanks too deeply, so the side walls would shatter every time the mill passed through them. So, nothing for it but to re-make the stock blanks. No big deal. The next problem was that at this size, the overhang on the box jig just wasn't sufficient to hold them in place when the final parting cut was made with the mill, and there are now several hundred 3/32" blocks occupying the space-time continuum somewhere between the workbench and the garage floor. After persisting with this for a while and getting only about a 10% yield (what was that definition of madness again?), I decided to try something different. So, I adjusted the depth of cut on the mill so that it left the blocks attached after the final pass, by a paper thin amount. This was enough to stop them disappearing into the never-never and I was able to easily break off the finished blocks from the stock. I ended up with 144 of these blocks. Here's how it looks: I then went on to the smallest size blocks: 5/64 (1.98mm). I take my hat off to Chuck (again)! These made the 3/32" size look like child's play. However, I persisted (employing the same method) and eventually managed a reasonable yield. I finished up with 160 of these little suckers. Fortunately, I don't need that many of these two smaller sizes! Here's a shot of the whole "family" so far: From left to right they are: 1/4" (6.35mm); 3/16" (4.76mm); 5/32 (3.97mm); 1/8" (3.18mm) triple, double, single; 3/32" (2.38mm); and 5/64" (1.98mm) And here's a shot of the smallest with the largest, just for comparison. And finally, my stash to date. I gave away most of my initial run of the larger two sizes and will probably re-make these anyway as I'm not satisfied with the sheave hole placement on these. I still need to make some doubles and maybe triples in the 5/32" size, and I need to make some singles and doubles in a 9/32" (7.14mm) size as well. The good news is that I've got the techniques all weighed off now, so one or two more weekends of block-making and I should be ready to start attaching them to my ship!

Lovely work as usual Remco. Always a joy to read your updates!

Looking fabulous Kevin. Be proud my friend!

Great to see some progress Sjors. She really is looking good. And a ready-made excuse for not doing the rest of the rigging on Mirage (yet)!

Nice!