bruce d

... and for a moment I thought I had dozed off again!

Wise words!

Capella, I agree with the comments of wefalk above. It will be up to you, of course, but the question of what exactly you need from the tool is important. Having said that, I can also say that I have seen a couple of quite successful drill-powered lathes over the years. My two cents worth: if you go for a drill-powered machine, there will be a trial and error process and then it will work. I make this rosey-tinted prediction because it is clear that you have a good idea of what you want to achieve and are willing to solve problems. So, with apologies if you already are addressing this, the one thing I will steer you toward in your deliberations is this: if the lathe does not run true, ie concentrically, it will be very difficult to get any good results. The key to this is ensure the headstock (your drill) is aligned perfectly with the tailstock and stays that way. Since you are using wood as a building material it will be very easy to be caught out on this point. Wood reacts to changing environment. Just a few thou mis-alignment may give you a headache when making the small stuff we need for our scale models. The good news is that the solution (imho) lies in the design and choice of materials. So, my suggestion, which is based one particular successful homemade lathe I saw a long time ago: Use a stable board with a smooth laminated face as the base-plate/bed. Make your tailstock with parallel sides and a smooth bottom that will slide easily along this bed. Make a ‘trough’ for the tailstock to travel back-and-forth in. This can be simply two battens, preferably smooth laminated stuff again, fixed to the bed and perfectly parallel. They should maintain the tailstock alignment for the whole length of travel. Feel free to take a long time ensuring the parallelism of these two battens. A means of locking the tailstock in place without twisting is important. After the trough is in place, chuck a long dowel or bar in the chuck of your drill and use whatever tricks you know to line it up parallel to the bed and battens. Then lock the drill in place. Now you can centre the tailstock. The battens forming the trough can be used for mounting a tool rest, positioning a tool holder, mounting a steady or a duplicator. The lathe design in the video posted by David is a good guide and the flexibility of some of his features is a good idea. Having an off-set facility in the tailstock without disturbing the basic alignment is a good thing especially if you plan on doing spars and masts. This should be straight-forward by dropping a custom made off-centre steady into the ‘trough’ (there has to be a better word 🤐). I hope this is useful and doesn’t seem as if I am saying there is only one right way to do the job. The lathe I described above was made by an engineer and was used for making both drumsticks and chess pieces. He also made a duplicator and a dividing attachment which worked perfectly on even the smallest of work-pieces. One last point. I am sure you will make sure your chuck is ok before investing a lot of time 😁. Best of luck, I am sure a few people here will be interested to see how this progresses.

Well done Eberhard! Here is some more information on the records in their archives. As you can see, there are other drawings of the same subject, including the ship's boat. One of the drawings listed is ...

Hello Strelok, I am enjoying your log and admire your approach to the task of scratch-building from Admiralty draughts. Perhaps there is something in this other thread ... ... that will help with details of the masting/rigging. Starting at post #75 and for a few posts afterward I have posted some of the comments from Chapelle that expand on his research into Mediator and how he compares her to other vessels. He also explains what part of his sail plan was speculation. This may be of use as you look backwards across two and a half centuries to make your own sail plan . HTH Bruce

Welcome to MSW from the UK.

I don't know the advantage gained by using beeswax instead of water or oil but it seems to have been the standard way for jewelers to anneal gravers 'back in the day'. Possibly a metallurgist among us can shed some light? Having now watched a couple of his other videos I can see Paul Hamler, the guy behind it all, is quite a character. He has made a gazillion different things and can make you laugh.

Congratulations on a beautiful model and a memorable build log.

Mark, I'm interested to know what others find when they try this trick. I have already found how the blades perform differently with different woods.

From 20:45. I did a few experiments and found that I preferred the results obtained by using firm hand pressure (he uses a small hammer) and not going over the same spot twice. I am certain everyone will find their own style. Also, a straight blade converted to a saw will act completely differently from a curved one, at least in my hands.

Hello Joe, Just FYI: it works fine for me. I am using Edge, if that matters. Good luck! Bruce

I found this trick buried in a YouTube video. After trying it out, I was pleasantly gobsmacked to find just how well it worked. Clamp a curved scalpel/craft blade in a vice, curved edge uppermost and exposed. Rock a file, not too worn, along the whole length of the exposed edge while pressing firmly but not too hard. Place the blade flat against a sharpening stone and make a single swipe on each side. You now have a saw. When pulling the saw across a test piece of wood it was surprising how much 'drag' I could feel as it cut compared to the same blade and same piece of wood before the saw-teeth were installed. It doesn't seem to matter if the blade is worn or new, so I know what I will do with tired blades in the future. It works best on curved blades used with a rocking motion but will also work with straight blade used for shorter strokes. The kerf is quite narrow and a saw made this way seems especially well suited for scoring straight lines in wood since the toothed edge resists following the grain. Maybe others already know this trick but hopefully someone will find this useful. Bruce

October 14, 1942. The German hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruiser, disguised armed raider) Komet was sunk off Cap de la Hague in the early hours. Komet was attempting to break out into the Atlantic and was ambushed by British, Polish and Norwegian Hunt class destroyers and British and Dutch MTBs. The wreck was found in 2006.

Hello and welcome to MSW. I hope to you start a build log for your Bluenose.

Well done Nils, this is a lovely model and I have enjoyed watching the build. 👍

Welcome to MSW from damp East Sussex. Look forward to seeing some of your subjects, liners are always cool. Bruce

My local Aldi has a small bench grinder with flexible shaft accessory for £29.99 which looks very useful. I almost talked myself into getting one despite having three flexi-shaft tools and two bench grinders already. If you know their habits, it will be 'first come, first served, sorry -don't-know-if-there-will-be-more-coming' so if it is of interest, get down there. This video from a couple of years ago looks like the same one I saw, not sure if the accessories are the same:

It will be well worth the wait, I'm sure. Think of all those lovely things you've done on the model and only we got to appreciate!

Looking good so far! 50 moulds? I think I will follow along if you don't mind. 👍

Looks like you are making progress, should be an attractive model when finished. Just a point to satisfy my curiosity: have you allowed for the camber of the deck? From the photos, especially photo #3, it seems the tops of the bulkheads are at full height for the intended level of the finished deck. If you have not glued them in place yet I suggest you cut the camber before assembly as it will be much easier than trying to do so after they are glued up. The camber will be the same along the whole length of the deck so a simple jig should make quick work of all the bulkheads. Use the curve shown in the stern view. If you have this in hand already, ignore me 🤐. Interesting subject, I will be watching to see the progress of a fellow first-time scratch builder. Bruce

I am lucky enough to have Timberline a few miles away. They have lancewood, lime, English lime and Castello on the shelf plus plenty of others. I didn't have the opportunity to discuss their sources in detail but know from the past that they only deal in 'legit' wood. Back to lancewood, thanks Vaddoc, I find the wood database to be compulsive reading 👍. It mentioned good turning properties but in this hobby we all know there is always more to the story. Thanks Bruce

I see now. How about doing it in two layers of identical wood, each plank 1.4 thick?

Brilliant work and a good attitude - that's why I watch this build!

I have just impulse-purchased a length of lancewood because I understand it is desirable for masts and spars. Then the questions began to bubble to the surface. (A) Is that correct, it is good for masts and spars? (B) What is the quality that makes it better in that application? (C) Does it have any pros & cons I should know about? My piece was obtained from a luthiers' supplier and I believe is sapwood. The application I have in mind is masts and spars, possibly cap rails? and the masts will have an octagonal section visible. Thanks in advance. Bruce

An 18th c record of what pieces were to be made from a piece of oak. This refers to a single piece from 'Load 36' delivered to Dudmans & Co at Deptford for conversion. Sadly there is no date so we can't narrow down which craft might have used these pieces. One of these instructions was produced for each harvested oak and was the contemporary equivalent of a modern work order. They were to be followed strictly. Another example of why the drawing office was always busy!