bruce d

Roger, could you point me at one of the sketches? I have been over-thinking how to store sweeps and maybe a good picture will clear my head-clog. Thanks, Bruce

I have often been amazed at the contents of letters from this era to family and friends containing exact details of upcoming operations.

Pages 22 - 30 'Representation of Night Signals, with a Naval Telegraph, by Rihard Hall Gower'. Also see 500 onwards for more signals, other contemporary news throughout. Naval Chronicle 1801 p22-30 SIGNALS.pdf

https://www.opentip.com/search.php?cPath=12575&products_id=3601985&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItdDPq5fz5AIVWeDtCh3-kwNUEAQYASABEgI_YfD_BwE

The adverts at the back also include a few repeated images.

Have you noticed the text on page 10? I believe there is a pattern.

Patterson’s Illustrated Nautical Dictionary, unabridged by Howard Patterson (1891) As the title suggests, lots of pictures and I found some especially interesting. For example, page 58, a boat chock for holding ships’ boats on deck that is notched to allow a clinkerbuilt boat to sit securely; page 55, the knots for a bosuns chair. It is worth a look. Patterson's Illustrated Nautical Dictionary, unabridged 1891.pdf

John, what is the job you want to do?

Hello Haiko and welcome to MSW. Your approach sounds good, hope the parcel arrives safe and sound. There is a place for tools and jigs, scroll down the forum list and look for the clues in the titles. You can ask anything here: I have and it can lead in interesting directions.

Richard, I hope what I suggest as a useful feature is do-able without too much effort. If a print feature can be done as described by Pete, great: if it can also be done so the finished 'rule' is of a larger size perhaps the output could then be copy & pasted into plans that are intended for printing onto A2 or larger. I am thinking here of larger items such as keels and masts where transfering reference points from original scantlings, ie yards, feet and inches, can be carried out directly on the image. This would mostly benefit those of us who do not have CAD software. I have used your converter to check some of my previous figures and guess what? I found the errors before I cut the wood, so thanks again. I wonder how many other people are seeing new applications for your converter? Regards, Bruce

I sympathise with your frustration but suggest you have another look at what I wrote: the seller specified a method that cut out PayPal protection. He did so when the listing was written by him and I have not suggested he did it at any other time. My comments are offered from my own experience, including one rip-off and one near-miss. The pattern of conditions surrounding the listing may have an innocent explanation but the fact remains that something set off alarm bells and prompted action by Ebay, a company that doesn't make money by cancelling sales. Good luck. Bruce

I have had my own experience with Ebay sellers and, with respect, I believe it is very possible that Ebay knows something you don't. The clues are: (A) They stepped in because of 'issues' with the seller's account, not because you asked for help. This indicates prior activity had alerted them. (B) It was immediately after a sale that bypassed all buyers safeguards at the request of the seller. (C) The seller is not raising hell. (D) The item was sold across international lines at a below market-value price and for a sum that many people would not consider worth fighting over. All these points can of course be explained away, and the seller may be as pure as glacier water, but the pattern is there. Look at it this way. If you cancel the payment (if there is still time) and the item arrives, just pay him again and apologise. You have his bank details, he has your contact details, and you will no doubt both blame Ebay for the confusion. On the other hand, if it doesn't arrive and Ebay were in fact acting in good faith by trying to warn you, don't hold your breath. HTH Bruce

Revisiting the subject. This paper gives specific examples, use SEARCH for 'tar'. (The pdf was renamed for my own storage, the original title is " THE STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH WOODEN SHIPS ") HTH Bruce TAR in keel construction.pdf

I walked around a few of the big timber stores (UK versions of HOME DEPOT) with a micrometer and all the '6mm' ply on the shelves was between 5.6 and 5.85mm in thickness except for, surprisingly, a batch of smaller sized sheets at HOMEBASE which came out at 6.35mm. No expalnation for the different thickness of the smaller sheets as the store staff had no access to any information. Possibly a luthier suppler such as TIMBERLINE could help. Since I am scratchbuilding I can get away with these dimensions but I discovered something recently that might be useful: I busted up an old desk and the drawers in it had ply bottoms. They were spot-on 6mm, and seemed to be better quality than anything currently on the shelves. The desk was at least 50 years old and probably made from 'nominal 1/4 inch' imperial plywood so do some tests before attacking the Admiral's favorite bedside table. HTH Bruce

Found this, thought anyone interested in 17th -early 18th century French rigging may find this useful. Title = "LA BELLE: RIGGING IN THE DAYS OF THE SPRITSAIL TOPMAST, A RECONSTRUCTION OF A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY SHIP’S RIG A Thesis by CATHARINE LEIGH INBODY CORDER" Corder-MA2007.pdf

Hello and welcome from the UK. See post #5 above, Mark has pointed you to Rule Number 1: Glad to have you aboard.

Welcome to MSW, glad to have you aboard.

Edward, First let me say that the opinion of more experienced builders should carry more weight than mine, but as we are in the same position I feel qualified to speak. I too am in the early stages of my first scratchbuild and tackled the same headache. To complicate matters, I have a perfectly good Hegner scrollsaw and always assumed that I would get a bit of practice and then breeze through the bulkheads and other bits. Short version: no, I didn't breeze through the job. It was clear that the 6mm ply I was cutting, despite all expectations, was simply not cutting cleanly. Each bulkhead I cut took ages and still needed a lot of time to clean up on a disc sander and with hand tools. Then I got a bandsaw and have not looked back. I still clean up after cutting the bulkheads on the bandsaw but it is a a minor amount compared to the early scrollsaw process. Provided the right blade and intelligent methods of holding the stock are used you should be happy. I also cut other woods and get very nice cut edges requiring little further work provided the right blade is used. My saw is a Scheppach, the smallest they make: https://www.screwfix.com/p/scheppach-hbs20-80mm-electric-bandsaw-240v/96071 The comments by Jaager (quoted above) most closely reflect my experience. I hope this helps, everybody is different and I again point out that there are some very experienced people posting here but the bandsaw solved the problem for me. HTH Bruce

Mark, it is worth looking at posts #5 and 22 in this thread: HTH Bruce

I second what maturin said. Well done.

Richard, that tool is now on my favorites bar, many thanks. Quick comment for others that may stumble as I did: if entering 'English Feet/Inches', the way to success is enter feet and then inches, even if it is 'zero inches'. I am sure a tech-savvy child would have seen that coming but it fooled me on the first attempts. Nice one. Bruce

Oh yes, several specialist items available but this PH Minus product is cheaper, available off the shelf (in some places) and works. I found it was sold in sizes from 100g upwards as well so that is useful. I have used a model railroaders blackening product from CARRS MODELLING PRODUCTS in the past will get some of this PH Minus before long for comparison, will let everyone know what happens. Has anyone here already used it and can comment?

Thanks Greg, very impressive. The Sparex seems to be an important part of the success and I can't find a UK source (yet) for that product. However, it turns out Sparex is sodium metabisulphate: the stuff sold under the brand-name 'PH Minus' which is added to the swill in a hot-tub is the same material and is used by jewellers as a pickle. It is available from several suppliers. HTH Bruce

Yes please Dirk, I am interested in some other non-digitised items and will be happy to see how you get on before contacting them.

It is D2394, sadly not digitised. See these index entries, it appears all are under the same (D2394) reference: Hope this helps. Bruce