Keith Black

Andrew, welcome to MSW. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Glad to have you aboard.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Glen.

Eric, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Keith.

A long past due 'hello' to all. The last time I posted a meaningful build addition was April the third. We ran down a couple of rabbit holes and while I throughly enjoyed the tangents they didn't add to the task at hand. Once again, thank you to all who helped chase those pesky wabbits and to all for the likes. The hiatus was due in most part because I absolutely detest working on shrouds but I have managed to strop the 56 deadeyes for the main's lower shrouds and have one pair lashed. Pretty good for nine months, eh? My mind wasn't in a good place, stropping deadeyes is tedious rote work and once my fingers are engaged my mind slips into neutral. My thoughts kept going back to unhappier times and I couldn't shake it so I basically quit working on the Tennessee. Last week I thought, if I couldn't get over the shroud hump there is still plenty of other work to be done. So this past week I worked on getting the work table/area organized, installing the foremast for the last time, and installing the lift blocks that go round the mast which required some finger retraining. What a difference in my attitude and my enthusiasm. The Tennessee is back on the menu! As the Tennessee now sits. Foremast installed. Lift blocks installed. A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of you and your families. Thank you for the kindness you've show me through the years.......Keith

Peter, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours. The Sark is looking wonderful.

Siggi, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.

You are truly blessed, Mr Keith. A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.

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

And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, Eberhard.

Javelin, this is a neat little model and I'm sure your son will treasure it forever. Happy Holidays.

Bob, sorry to hear you and all yours are sick, get well and have a Merry Christmas.

Carter, welcome to MSW. Sounds like you hail from the world down under? Glad to have you aboard.

3M developed a UV activated Bondo and it sounded like the cat's meow so I purchased a can and proceeded to use it on filling the body panel on a car I was restoring (I can't remember which one). Once I had the panel filled I sat it out in the sun for the recommended amount of time and it was still soft. I allowed another couple of hours, still soft. I let that stupid panel sit for two days in the sun and it never hardened. I finally had to dig and scrape every bit of that worthless product off the panel. UV activated Bondo sounds great and might work......if you live on Venus. Roger, if you requiring more working time use less hardener. Work with small batches versus one large batch, slow and steady wins the race.

Great YT videos and the results in the final photos is truly fantastic, Glen.

Hank, welcome to MSW. Thank you for your service and I hope you're able to locate the necessary tools. Glad to have you aboard.

The sails turned out incredibly realistic making the whole totally believable. Fantastic job, Mr Glen.

I can see a ship's boat being towed in favorable weather as a matter of course but in rough seas, with the possibility of being swamped or separated from, I suspect the the ship's boat was brought aboard and lashed down.

SJ, welcome to MSW. I don't have the answer to your question but I'm sure someone will have one for you shortly. Glad to have you aboard.

I look forward to your Kearsarge build, this transitional period in ships absolutely fascinates me.

Too funny........ The water turned out great, very natural looking.

Allan, No Idea is building the Le Rochefort so the drawing you posted is probably more appropriate for his builds time period. Thank you for posting.

If fire brick was used to line the stove's firebox the brick would have to be adhered to one another with mortar or else it would be a constant battle to keep them in place as each new load of wood or coal would jimmy the fire brick about. I suspect the firebox was all iron.

In the first photo the gray contrasting material between the bricks appears to be mortar. If that isn't mortar then the space between the bricks would be dark. In the second photo where stone (me thinks it is stone) is used it also appears to be mortar between the stones but is harder to see due to lighter stone color. Wait a minute.........are you speaking of the brick inside the firebox or the brick on the hearth?

It appears mortar was used.