Keith Black

Thank you to everyone for lookin in and for the likes. The barge has her deck's base grunge and algae added. I still need to add poly just at the edge of the waterline to make the waterline edge look wet. I think this enough deck grunge, in fact ,it maybe too much? Please don't hesitate to offer up an opinion. I'm not looking for a pat on the back, I'm looking for honest assessments before moving forward as the barge treatment thus far is reversible. Once the driver is permanently attached then it's, it is what it is. The decks of the floating pile drivers was a mess. The photos show the decks littered with muck and debris so maybe this isn't too much? Algae added at the waterline. I'm not happy with the cleat weathering, that will get redone. No matter how the Donkey engine turns out, I'll be adding a engine shed as this is the most common configuration and it will add additional visual interest. I added a bit more grunge to the hull at the base and sides of the driver. Thank you to everyone for your comments and a huge thank you to everyone for your support by following along. Keith

Thank you, Rob.

Andy, that's absolutely incredible. I hope you don't think me presumptuous by asking if you would mind sharing photos of you home. I dearly love history and homes as old as yours and older fascinate me to no end. Our house was just built in 1869.

Amazing, Roel, simply amazing.

mcb @mcb was kind enough to send two more images of floating pile drivers. I treasure the four photos he has provided as they've aided me greatly in this build. "These pile drivers are DL&W RR marine department equipment. I think they are marked circa 1910. From the backgrounds the location appears to be Hoboken/ Jersey City on the Hudson. As were the last photos I sent these are from the Steamtown NHS Collection National Park Service. William B Barry jr. photographer."

Thank you to everyone for the likes. Brian, thank you dropping in and I'd love to have you following along, looking over my shoulder and offering guidance when you see I'm about to go off the rails. Thank you, mcb. I don't know if the ferry was converted from steam but as photographed she is certainly propelled by a combustion engine. When I model the Lula for the tug she'll be steam driven and I'll put the boiler where the Model A's are parked. The barge doesn't look like a garbage scow, at least not yet. Her first coat of grunge is a darker brown color using a special stain I made up many years ago. I also used it on the driver so everything should tie together. Thank you guys for your support. Keith

Thank you to everyone for the likes. Thank you, Roel. I'm anxious to complete the barge, driver, and Wonky Donkey but I need to get back to the Tennessee and at least complete up to the fore mast before diving in on building a tug for the pile driver. I posted this photo in an earlier post. I want the tug to be a variation of the below ferry. We could play spin the binnacle and let fate decide? Thank you, Eric. The barge has her first coat of grunge. Hopefully she doesn't wind up looking like a garbage scow. Thanks everybody for stopping by. Keith

Andy, not really. I get the church's spire from your ancestors area is twisted but I do wonder if it was intentionally built that way? I mean, I've built stuff that turned out like that but it sure wasn't intentional. If it was intentionally built that way it begs the question, why?

Glen, when it comes time to float my pile driver would you please come fill my pool? That's some nice looking water.

Keith, I could have stuck the pile driver on this thing! Thank you, Tom. Thank you, Keith. About four years ago I thought I should try building a pile driver but at the time I was thinking a skid driver. As time passed and I became interested in workboats following the build logs of Gary, @FriedClams, mcb, @mcb, Brian, @mbp521, Eric, @Cathead, and Roel @Javelin the idea of building a floating pile drive seemed like a good little unique project.

Thank you to everyone for the likes. Thank you, Gary. I wish Yorkshire blood flowed these ole veins and I would have loved listening to your Grandad's tales. Thank you, Rick. I got all the ascending level's deck boards installed. I also got the first layer of grunge on the tower. Pre grunge. Post grunge. The grunge is black acrylic craft paint applied thinly with a tiny Q-tip and rubbed in. Because the tower is still separate from the barge I went ahead and started the grunge process as it's easier to handle/rotate the tower separate from the barge. For clarity, the boiler is at the bow. I've made a mistake at the bottom of the port side vertical slide timber. There should be a cleaner patch near the bottom as the logs are pulled around and up from the port side as the log line sheave is on the port side of the head log. As logs are brought into the throat they would scrape the outside face of the port side vertical slide timber. It's easily corrected, a little spit on a Q-tip and voila. I've enjoyed looking at the barge deck/tower contrast but the barge deck is far from reality. The next photo posted of the barge, it will have a dark deck with grunge accents. The last thing to add to the tower before permanently attaching to the barge are the horizontal support pieces on the tower bow side that are also used as the ladder. You think 14 inch ratlines is a step, the pile driver plans call for 24 inches between each horizontal support. I may deviate from the plan and make the spacing more user friendly. Studying the photos that mcb @mcb provided not all the drivers adhered to the 24 inch spacing. Thank you guys so much for your support and being part of this little build. Keith

I can't stop laughing.......that logic might save you but somehow I doubt it. "Owdee die?" "Pan dimic."

I so love MSW. Yeah, the boats are great but it's the above tidbits that puts meat on the bone. Keith, David, thank you both for sharing these snippets of your lives.

Jay, great recovery work on the hull, it looks fantastic. Good to see your posts. I was a crew member on a 32 footer fishing salmon in Alaska's Bristol Bay, I also worked in the cannery as a carpenter sometimes doing simple repairs on some of the older wooden fishing boats. Captains/owners get older and seasons for them seem to get longer and more intense. They let one little thing go in the "I'll get to that during the next closure" but they don't and pretty soon their boats are riddled with needed repairs. Gary's @FriedClams Last Dollar is a perfect example.

More stellar work, Keith. You do know that if Ann ever catches you mucking about in her kitchen you'll be singing like Tiny Tim.

Yann, welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.

Eric, upside down the casual viewer might not realize it's a johnboat, tipped on edge as in the fifth photo leaves no doubt. No, just thinking about your comment regarding your future modeling activities. I've throughly enjoyed looking over your shoulders as you built the various paddlewheel craft, I'll miss that.

That's a bittersweet statement if I ever heard one, Eric.

Thank you to everyone for the likes and for following along. Thank you, Keith. At 77 I have no clue what normal is anymore. I think everybody is a tad bit off except you and me and I'm not too sure about you. Thank you, Tom. When making the sheave wheels carrier/pillow blocks these were the following constraints. !. The larger sheave wheel is the hammer sheave and the sheave line to the hammer must be exactly centered (or potential binding could occur) between the hammer slide rails. The distance between the slide rails is 0.20 inches. Someone might say 0.20 or 2 feet at 1:1 is pretty narrow. The ideal diameter for logs to be driven is no larger than 18 inches. The larger the diameter the harder to drive. Interior piling diameter only needs to be 12 inches in diameter and on the face and sides, 18 inches in diameter with dolphins at the corners. Once a row of piling on ten foot centers is driven a 20' 12" x 12" is laid on top center of one piling to the center of the next piling. There are numerous methods of attaching the 12 x 12's to one another and to the piling. 2. The sheave wheels are 0.050 inches in width. 3. The smaller sheave wheel is for the line that pulls the logs up into the top of the tower between the slides. the hole in the head log for the log line could only be 0.10 to the left from the hammer line hole. 4. The sheave wheels were not drilled through at the hubs, the have tiny protrusions that act like an axle. To be anatomically correct the two wheel hubs had to align horizontally. the small wheel = 0.175 diameter and the large wheel 0.275 5. The wheels had to have enough height so the lines would not drag on the heel of the board. 6. The head log board is 0.40 x 0.80 I didn't want the wheels engulfed in wood and not be visible. Because I could not run both wheels on a single shaft I couldn't make a traditional wheels and pillow blocks assembly. This assembly is unique out of necessity. I lost count on the number of revisions and scrapped pieces. The center piece between the the two wheels is 0.50 wide through drilled for the protrusions. The two pieces on either side of the wheels started off being 0.115 x 0.115 and filled to their final shape with holes drilled for the protrusions. The two horizontal braces were notched to receive the outside vertical pieces. The whole was assembled with CA. First, the horizontal braces were attached the the two outside vertical pieces, Then each wheel was installed with a very small dab of CA gel at the drill hole for the outer protrusions. Once the wheels where set the center piece was attached to one wheel assembly and the the outer was attached to make the whole. I hope this clearly explains how I made this piece, if not please highlight the portion not understood and i'll try to be more clear. Thank you to everyone for being part of the journey. Keith

Thank you @Knocklouder and @GrandpaPhil for the likes. I was wrapped up all week trying to get the pile driver's head log completed, it turned in to be quite the chore. The sheave wheels and blocks had to be one of the harder little pieces I've ever tried making, it was strictly jeweler's files and sandpaper. There are seven elements to this piece, five pieces of wood and the two sheave wheels. No, I'll not be building a forest of pile drivers. I've been remiss not including a ruler or a US penny in the photos, sorry. Thank you to everyone for your interest and your continued support. Keith

Thank you to all for the likes and for stopping by. Thank you, Rick. Keith, I came close to changing the title of this build log after your post, Tom, too small for rivets and I'm too old to buck em even if real rivets was an option.. Thank you, Gary. Dan, thank you and thank you for the offer but I've enough wood you gifted me to last many more projects. Chris, thank you and thank you for deleting the photo. The timber industry is tough on people and planet Earth. We need to be able to harvest trees but we need to use those methods that do the least amount damage. Photo of a one cylinder Steam Donkey that replaces the one that Chris kindly removed, Thank you again, Chris. Thank you to everyone for being part of the journey. Keith

Beautiful work, Gary. She's really taking shape, all very clean and tidy.

My apologies, Keith. I forgot that your and Ann's situation is a bit different than most in that you have a dedicated room for your models. Most men don't have that luxury and their creations are seen as rivals for space in the home. It was a poor stab at humor, again my apologies.

Wow. Has Mrs Keith seen this monster and if so did she ask THE question, "and just where do you plan on putting that thing"

Welcome to MSW. Glad to have you aboard.