DocBlake
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After a nice, relaxing vacation, I'm back working in "Independence". I made the new main mast and foremast out of swiss pear, tapered them and squared the tops where the doublings are. The topmasts are made of maple. The bowsprit is pear and the jib boom is maple also. Since I plan to dye the masts black between the doublings, the cheeks, trestletrees, crosstrees and bolsters will all be pear, also. I placed a sailor on the quarterdeck to give a sense of scale.
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I don't have any pear blocks, Clare, but I'm hoping your request means you plan to start work on Independence again! Don can help you out.
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Glad to see you start another project, Jon!
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Great tips. Thanks, guys!
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Where is the best place to buy a copy of Steel's "Elements of Mastmaking, Sailmaking and Rigging."? I'd like a good, serviceable copy but I don't want to spend $200. I wish someone would reprint the book and use modern bindery.
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Is there any rule of thumb as to what vessel (size, type) would have mast bands or rope wouldings and which would not. Size is an obvious criteria. I've not seen a colonial schooner wither those features, but they would be visually appealing. Should I consider adding them to my "Indepence" masting, or are they too over the top for such a small vessel?
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That's correct, Greg. The framing (and a lot of the other wood) is boxwood. CNC cut so no laser char to deal with. I've got her on my shelf for a future build.
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Very nice job!
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I decided to make my masts and sprit out of swiss pear. They need to be 5/16" in diameter at the base, and tapered. Obviously there is no commercial source so I'll make my own. The first step is to drill a 21/64" hole in some mild steel. Then I cut out mast blanks on the table saw a hair larger that the hole. I sharpened the tip of the blanks, then chucked them into my 1/2" electric drill. Using the steel as a drawplate, I pushed the spinning wood through the hole. The resulting dowels were a bit rough, bu I have at least 1/64 to play with and they clean up easily. Once they're at 5/16", I'll taper them. Here's a photo of the blanks and the resulting unsanded dowels. I also linked to a You Tube video showing the technique.
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With the completion of the elm tree pumps, the deck furniture is complete. The pumps in the kit were cast metal and awful! I just received my cannons today. I bought 6 pewter cannons from the Lumberyard: Their 1/4" scale 4 pounders are exactly as long as a 3 pounder in 5/16" scale which is what I need . The carriages are supposed to be swiss pear, but they aren't terribly pink, and the wood itself isn't surfaced the best - kingd of rough. I may need to make these from scratch.
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Welcome Jim!
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Glad to see you back! Good job on the deck furniture .
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- armed virginia sloop
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Thanks, Stoyne! I'm looking ahead to masting and rigging. I'll need to fabricate the masts from scratch. They are 5/16" diameter at the base and this size is not generally commercially available. I don't want to use the walnut supplied in the kit because of the big pore/wide open grain. My choice is down to cherry or swiss pear. The areas of the mast doublings will be dyed black. Black spars will definitely be made of swiss pear, natural spars of birch. Because of the black doublings, I'm leaning toward swiss pear for the masts. Any opinions?
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That is one handsome model, Elijah. Very well done! Where did you get the plans for the launching ways? Were they part of the kit?
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Great job on that windlass, Don! All the deck furniture is looking great!
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Thanks, guys. The bell came with the kit - I just redesigned and rebuilt the belfry. As to the catheads, since the deck is bowood, I'd like a little more contrast. The quarterdeck and poop deck railings are going to be rosewood, so maybe having the catheads rose wood is too much. I'm leaning toward the swiss pear.
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I'm trying to decide what wood to use fashioning the catheads . My choices are boxwood, Rosewood, swiss pear or the stock walnut. Here are two photos of the deck furniture set in place. What do you all think? I'm leaning rosewood vs. boxwood.
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I completed two sets of bitts - one for each mast - and the ship's belfry (which also has running rigging belayed to it). I also finished the quarterdeck stairs. The plans call for a stairway on each side between the gun ports as well as boarding steps on the exterior hull above the wales. Neither Halifax, Sultana nor Chaleur had this feature, so I'm not adding the boarding stairs to this model, either! Next are the elm tree pumps, the catheads and the cannons.
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I prefer the 8X8 and 5X5, Charlie. The holes look good.
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I've seen that reference also, Ken. No other information on "Independence" exists as far as I know. But there must have been at least a dozen colonial schooners that we have no record of, maybe more. Any name might be appropriate!
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