garyshipwright

Since it is my 65th birthday tomorrow I felt that the shop should be clean for my new life of retirement ....LOL  I cannot imagine not being busy doing a dozen or more things every day.
 
 
Anyway I moved the boat to a new position and did a major clean up organized all the strip wood I have cut over the past year. And spent the evening working on the port side cap rail. refining the profile and getting it ready to be glued down.
 


 

 

 

 
It was great to get a bit of time this evening to work on the boat again, it is snowing again!
 
Michael

Progress of sorts...at cost of more hair from the rapidly depleting supply on my head.  The exterior bulwark planking of the forecastle in progress, I hope.   I've fiddled with this since New Year's Day.  Tried various methods and I think, I have an answer.
 
First pic shows the area in question on the plans.  The problem is that it's 9" at the rear and 18" at the bow and it curves out at the upper foremost end.  It's also seemingly bending inward.

Hahn's solution appears to be a very thin plank spiled into position.   I don't think it would have been done this way.  Also, his upper most plank (the lower lighter one in the picture) is wider than the plans call for.

What I had was an open area shown below.  Tried several ways to get it filled. None were successful.  Finally ripped off the thin ebony strip to give me room to experiment.

Where I'm at now...  The plank wants to follow the lower most run so.. it's been bent with a twist.  I'll reinstall the uppermost ebony piece after I get this plank and the one I'm working on nibbed into it.

 
I'm looking for ideas that might be better.  I've tried two planks thinned down to 4" at the rear and no joy... just wouldn't lay right. I've looked at other builds but not seen a problem like this.  Anyway... that's where things stand.  Hopefully, in the next day or two, it will all come together and I can move towards the stern area which has issues of it's own.

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Hi Mark and thank you sir.
 
I had some metal priming paint that I sprayed it with and then sprinkled it with baby powder, not to much and most was blown off before the final coat of flat black was put on. I do believe that David in vol 2, TFFM, talked about putting some on the mould before he poured the metal for cannon's, to give them a cast look, so figure why not. I did do a little dry brushing with  a couple of different paint colors on top of that to help  high light certain area's. My wife thinks its a cute little stove, which is okay with me, being that she is my biggest critic.
 
 Thanks druxey. 
 
Gary

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Hi Mark and thank you sir.
 
I had some metal priming paint that I sprayed it with and then sprinkled it with baby powder, not to much and most was blown off before the final coat of flat black was put on. I do believe that David in vol 2, TFFM, talked about putting some on the mould before he poured the metal for cannon's, to give them a cast look, so figure why not. I did do a little dry brushing with  a couple of different paint colors on top of that to help  high light certain area's. My wife thinks its a cute little stove, which is okay with me, being that she is my biggest critic.
 
 Thanks druxey. 
 
Gary

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Thanks Ed and druxey. It has come a long way from just a picture in a book and thanks to you guys for the gentle push to do even better. Of course build's like yours help to set the bar. As far as the scale pig, I just may go to the railroaders to find one and maybe a chicken and cow.  Gary

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

After folding the brass over the steel it was ready for the curve at the end I used a loop of the same hard rod, this had to be heated red hot to bend.
 

 
the loop was hammered down to create thecompound curve in the rounded portion.
 

 
the ends were filed even before folding the thimble closed
 

 
a rope wrapped around the finished thimble with a shackle.
 

 
now to make a few more.
 
Michael

Russ thanks.
 
Mathew thanks for looking in.
 
Bob, Jewelery now that is an interesting idea.
 
Stelios, "when I grow up" :D
 
Garward thanks for your kind words.
 
Popeye, yes actual rigging.
 
Germanus before I forget thank you for your comments regarding the need to balance the size of the shackles, I had realized this.
 
If I missed anyone my apologies
 
While this computer was doing the updating  I did spend most of the day working on the shackles I set up a small travelling steady to cut the pins for theshackles
 

 
after drilling the holes for them .
 

 
Each shacle was placed on the wood bar and clamped in the mill vice to drill the holes.the holes are .073 inch
 

 
the retaining rings were snipped off the ends of these compression springs from the spare springs box. I did make some from the .011 thou piano wire but they were a little too fine .
 
Michael
 
 

John thanks for all your help this afternoon.
 
Mark, thank you for your confidence in my abilitiy.
 
Well I finally got down to brass tacks and set the bolts in the staves cut the hole in the deck made a new knee for the post, I made the post a little smaller in cross section than the other posts.
 
The anchor chain was pretty heavy so I used the extra leverage with the special bar.
 

 

 

 

 
The pawl dropped onto the next tooth nicely as I turned the winch all the brass and wood are now glued together on the shaft I will make the small brass plates with the square holes to reinforce the square holes on the barrel, and the second pawl tomorrow.
 
The winch and post are still removable from the deck at the moment.
 

 
It's been a pretty long day so now a cup of tea and relax
 
Michael

Ok so I will clean up things and set the post close to the winch like this and add the second pawl and a small knee in front of the post.
 

 

 

 
I need to smooth out the brass rings and solder the parts together now, plus cut the square holes for the mooth part of the drum.
 
Michael

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

The barrel staves were machined to take the brass rings and plates
 

 
The  ratchet was milled using the same 30 tooth gear as a guide that was used to make the gear for the roller reefing, I just indexed it 2 teeth at a time to give 15 teeth on the ratchet.
 

 
The section that is for the anchor chain was made with individual strips spaced around the maple formers, as I glued the last piece on I realized that I had missed the middle former and looking closely I also realized that I had made it a bit uneven so tomorrow I will cut some new discs and staves and redo that end. adding the middle one so that when it comes to adding the bolts there will be the three formers inside.
 

 

 

 
I will soft solder the discs to the gear
 
Michael

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Druxey, Sherry, Mark, John thanks for the kind comments.
 
I feel a bit like a dog with a bone sometimes, The shakle thing was still bothering me so I did some more experiments today and the results are promising.
 
First I thinned down a bit of 3/32 brass rod into a sort of dumbbell
 

 
then I annealed and flattened the ends
 

 
re annealed and flattened a little more
 

 
Then holding the unit in the round nosed pliers folded up the ends
 

 
next the ends were flattened in the vice to ensure they were flat to each other
 

 
Then drilled and tapped 2x56 and added the pin
 

 
and hooked it up to a pulley.
 

 
I think I will use this method for the rest of the shackles big and small.
 
Michael
 
 

John Thanks for pointing me to the site.
 
Today I did a little more metalwork, made the bob stay fitting and then mucked about sorting out a shackle. The fitting on the stem was fretted out folded and then the holes drilled and tapped then the tab was silver soldered on.
 

 
The shackle was a lot more work than I thought it would be. At first I bent up some different diameters of brass rod, but was not really happy with any of it.
 
So opted to make one out of some 5/16 x 1/16 brass strip.
 

 

 
Bending it to shape was a bit harder because I did not want to anneal the brass I wanted to keep it hard.
 

 
After the main body was bent to shape I tapped the locking side and then turned up a pin and flattened the end to facilitate winding it in, I still need to drill a small hole in the flattened end to add a safety wire.
 

 
I had a little chain not quite the right stuff but good enough to get a good Idea of how the final will look.
 

 

 
Michael

Sherry, I cut another today but it is not going to work for me this time, I made a couple of errors doing the rest of the work.
 
Bob,thanks.
 
Russ, thanks for the comment regarding the shape of the bowsprit, Quite a few of the cutters and smacks that I have seen on the web seem to follow this basic design.
 
John thanks for looking in.
 
As I mentioned above I did some more cutting today, but before I get to it I worked on the Gammon Iron I fabricated it from a couple of pieces the ring came from an old bronze plumbing fitting,
 

 
I cut off the end with a hacksaw then turned and parted off the ring.
 
Next I pulled a strip out of the strip tray and laid out the hole positions with a felt pen.
 

 
Soldering was a bit cranky I had to pickle it and rework the solder.
 

 
Then the time consuming clean up with the usual assortment of files, wet and dry paper, steel wool.
 

 
Then it was a fairly straightforward wrap of some soft rope made from embroidery floss which makes a nice soft rope.
 

 

 
After the gammon iron I began working on the cap for the end of the bowsprit, another 20 minutes of cutting with the jewelers saw (same blade)from the previous cutting, I am always amazed at how well these blades stand up to use.
 

 
I was pleased with the cutting but then had to chuck it up in the lathe to open the hole up to 11/16 because I did not have an end mill that size. this allowed me to put in the taper as well.
 

 
Then I cleaned it up with files getting the ring even and drilling the holes, then it came to filing the tabs and the first pair I filed the angle backwards to the taper. I was a bit peeved, but though I could still save the day by rounding them and was going to rotate the ring so that they could act as the bowsprit shrouds lugs.
 
Started to file the bob say and jib tabs and well you guessed it I went and filed them backwards as well. This was the straw that .....
 
Went back to the brass bins and found a section of 3/4 inch brass pipe which was thick enough to accept the taper both inside and out. So forward to the next bowsprit end cap, this also gave me the opportunity to increase the size because apart from the fabrication shortcomings the first attempt was a little small overall.
 

 
a piece of 1/16 by 3/8 strip was drilled for the tabs this where it is at so far. I will finish cutting them out tomorrow, Ive had enough fretting today already.
 
Michael

Russ, Carl, Matt, Mark, Mark, John, Yambo, Popeye, Bob, and Druxey.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts.
 
I had to rearrange the shop today again! the boat was blocking the light on the bench. so I also took the opportunity to rebuild the building bench. The model was longer than the bench and I kept almost walking into the bowsprit or the stern, I had an old office desk top that was 90 inches long so I used it to ensure that I cannot walk into the boat. Also lowered it to 30 inches high.
 

 

 
Then I was able to continue with the hounds cheeks and bolster ready for the topmast.
 

 
The fitting at the top of the main mast is a metal component that I wanted to make out of a single piece of metal instead of soldering up a group of parts.  I used a scrap of 1/4 inch thick brass bar and drew the shape with a felt pen and cut it out with the jewelers saw after drilling the two holes.
 

 

 

 
The roughed out shape ready to drill the holes in the tabs.I was pleased that I did not break any blades doing the cutting which took about 20 minutes.
 

 

 
After the holes were drilled I sat in front of the wood stove enjoying the warmth and filed the filling to the final shape.
 
Next it was cleaned up with the wire wheel which gives it a cast appearance.
 

 

 
Now to make the topmast.
 
Michael
 
 

Russ, Sherry, John, Germanus and Alex. Thank you all for your kind comments.
 
I picked up some Gutterman Black No 50 cotton thread today and followed Longridge's method of using 4 x 3 strand ropes, I only used 3 threads instead of 4 in the three strands of the smaller ropes I should have used 4 threads in each strand. It was a lot of work regardless.
 

 
The four ropes each rope was formed from 9 threads instead of 12, so I ended up making the shrouds a little on the light side.
 

 

 
I did some seizing with the same No 50 threads and test fitted the shroud rope around one of the deadeyes, I was a little disappointed because of the mistake with the numbers of thread in the smaller ropes, because this made the shroud 16 threads thinner than it should have been.

 

 
I need to make a serving jig and a better clamping method than the crocodile clip stand for doing the seizing. I am also thinking that a geared powered ropewalk with be the ticket, So I will have to get cracking on one of those as well. I must admit I got tired of winding by hand.
 
Michael

Druxey ,Mark, Bob, and Kevin, thank you so muck for those kind words.
 
I used the same slit chuck to drill the holes in the deadeyes.
 

 
by adding the hose clamp it worked to hold the deadeye. and rotated on the 1/4 inch dowel held in the mill vice.
 

 
I like to use a centre drill for the wood sometimes especially since the holes were close to the curved part of the deadeye.
 

 

 
After threading the rope through the deadeyes they look to be OK proportion wise.
 

 

 
Now I just have to finish the rest of them.
 
Michael