bruce d

John, that is a real beauty.

"Russian Nagant M1895 revolver with an attachment slot for an axe, developed in 1905 for the Russian Navy as a specialized revolver-axe combination for boarding enemy ships - the axe could be used as a shoulder stock for more accurate fire, or just as a regular axe." I'm glad I was never in a boarding party.

Where do I begin? HARDWARE Journal, 1897:

Lovely!

Popular Science, January 1920.

And of course to enhance the quality of the fruit.

Same issue of Popular Mechanics as above:

Popular Mechanics, October 1936. Perhaps the Hindenburg disaster was due to fumigation before those pesky customs inspectors?

Hello Steve, What exactly are you looking for? Regards, Bruce

Report of the Commission Appointed to Examine the System of Constructing Boats by Machinery. 1859 The illustrations tell the story well but the tone of the text in the reports starting on page 88 is fun reading: they are almost embarrassed to admit that it works! Report of the Commission Appointed to Examine the System of Constructing Boats by Machinery.pdf

Thanks, Lieste. However, the position of the rod in the drawing only aligns with the eyebolts. ? I don have an answer.

If I am reading this drawing correctly the eyebolts are on either end of a rod that connects the two sides of the carriage. Question: what is holding the rod in place? The eyebolts are where I would expect to see bolt heads.

Just thinking out loud here so don't expect much ... could the second ring be there solely to allow quick re-rigging under battle conditions? This would mean a crew could get a new line in place without the delay of removing the damaged one.

Hello Chris, Everybody should have a bandsaw. Well, that may be a little over the top but they are useful. Tools should be appropriate for the job. The big question is ... what do you want from your bandsaw? What are the model-related tasks you want from this tool? My bandsaw is a Metabo benchtop model (don't think Metabo is sold in North America but they may be wearing a different badge) and I use it all the time. It has a throat about 200mm so it not big but has adequate power. For modelling jobs I usually swap over to a 6mm (1/4 inch) blade and this gives good performance on curves. My point? I don't need a bigger throat, more power or a large table for modelling jobs. The wider blade I use for ripping, the metal cutting blade etc. have nothing to do with modelling tasks. I can, at a push, mill small logs using a fixture I built, and I also mill some modest size blanks to run through my thicknesser. I could do exactly the same tasks with exactly the same results on a larger bandsaw. If you choose a larger bandsaw for more versatility on other workshop projects you can and still use it for the small jobs if you are prepared to swap blades to suit; however you can't do bigger jobs on the smaller bandsaw. My advice is to focus on quality and spend time learning how to set it up properly for different tasks. In my opinion there are only a couple of features that are mandatory regardless of size: an accurate cast table and decent guides. Once you have these, setting it up correctly should be straightforward. Let us know what you decide on 👍. HTH, Bruce

I am doing things with Swiss pear that includes some thin sections, typically 2mm x 3mm. The grain is sometimes with me and sometimes not. Not surprisingly, the narrow pieces with cross-grain are fragile. Any thoughts on strengthening this wood? I am thinking of what flying model builders do when they smear CA across balsa and increase it's strength substantially but that isn't going to work: I need to apply a finish. And no, sadly I can't laminate pieces to create plywood. Thinking out loud here ... does shellac add any strength to wood? I'm stumped. Bruce

Just saw this so I am late to the game. I have seen documents in The National Archives UK where the handling of boats by capstan is advocated. Sounds simple to us now but apparently in the mid-late 18th century it was not standardised. One captain even requested a capstan for handling his longboat. This would keep the main capstan free for victualling, anchors, booms et al. A possibility?

Hello Bill, as Jan has said, wood requires a different approach. If movement appears in the wood, you may be able to correct it without drama. Trying to alter the wood's properties may cause the problem you are trying to avoid. In my Mediator build I was aghast to find the hull developed a bow after assembly. It was a central former with bulkheads, typical POB. Despite my first reaction, it was totally fixable. Photos below show what did the trick. I used some well seasoned wood to make spacers of the exact width between the bulkheads measured at the centreline (made one and cut it in half to ensure both sides were the same). No two gaps were the same so each spacer was made to suit for a snug fit. Once satisfied the spacer was the right width, I installed it on the tight side, ie the inside of the curve, tight up against the central former, giving a glued surfaces on three sides. Then I installed the matching spacer on the opposite side. Clamps were used at each step. This deals with (A) straightening the curved central former and (B) ensuring each bulkhead was parallel with it's neighbours and at right angles to the former. I left a gap where the mast was to be located. Nearly two years on and it is still straight. All this is just my way of dealing with the problem once it appeared: most builds don't have this issue so ... wait and see if you actually have warping or movement and then react. HTH, Bruce

Can you give us the source for this? I'm in the middle of making something similar.

Welcome to MSW from East Sussex.

It's gorgeous, it would be a shame to cover up that wood and the joints. (In my opinion)

Aw shucks.

A Warm Welcome aboard from the UK. Don't know where you are but there are a couple of Georgia boys here IIRC. One from Roswell and I believe one from Marietta, maybe a Savanah member? Looking forward to seeing a build log for whichever you settle on.

Practical lesson: I cut some iroko on the bandsaw without a mask. I was sick for over a week. Now I wear a decent respirator or at least a filtering mask if I do any sanding with machines, ditto for any hardwoods on the bandsaw.