Jaager

This catches this project up to the stage where the building part of the log will begin. The assembly of frames began on Oct. 29, 2019. The lofted patterns being ready for use, my next step is preparing a stock of wood. I am doing this build as a solid wall below the load waterline as well as above it. Unlike the situation were this for POF, I will need no Pine for temporary space fillers or separate patterns for fillers. I will use Hard Maple - Acer saccharum - for all layers except the top timbers that frame the gunports. Hard Maple is a much stronger and more dense wood than needed for this. I like working with it and I can source it locally at Yukon Lumber at a reasonable cost. Its hardness makes for more work to shape it, but it also makes it difficult inadvertently remove too much. For the port frames, I will use a red wood that I think is Rock Elm. I bought a plank of red wood that I thought was aged Black Cherry from a local picker on Craigslist. He sourced it from an attic at an estate sale. It is not Cherry, being very hard and showing a different grain. The $2 /BF savings turned out not to be a bargain after all. I use raw 8x4 lumber. By not having it planed, I have an actual 2 inches of thickness. Overall a 2 foot working length is the sweet spot for me. The assembly plan for the sandwich has it that matching the thickness of the layers to frame the ports requires two different thicknesses of frame stock: 10" and 12.5" . (Except for station sandwiches IV-III and X-IX, which require an 8" layer to match their gunport locations.) This is 0.13", 0.17", and 0.21" stock at a scale of 1:60. Although no surfaces will be on display, having no open frames, I still will still use stock finished sanded using a 220 grit material. I use 80 grit to remove the surface scars and get close and 150 grit to fine tune. This is the processed supply that I estimated to be enough for this hull. * Band saw tips: A band saw blade for wood has teeth with set. This leaves scars on the surface. To save wood and reduce the number of cycles I try to cut each plank to a thickness that requires very few additional passes to get the target thickness once the plank is sanded smooth. An additional thickness of 0.04-0.05 inches is needed to get a smooth surface on both sides of a plank after sanding with my present set up. I find it difficult to micro adjust a band saw fence. The fence is locked by tightening a bolt. The bolt rotation moves the fence after it has been set. It is difficult and frustrating to find a fence position that becomes the one that I want after the final movement due to locking. I decided to try adding a micro adjustment device that was fixed to the fence and that adjusted against a fixed anchor. A threaded rod has a known distance per rotation. The carrier assembly that connects the fence to the table is a separate component that allows for adjustment for drift and to rotate the fence from vertical to horizontal. It has holes in the right place to hold a threaded rod. I ordered a second carrier assembly for my fence. It is always locked and is connected to the fence using the threaded rod. The free moving fence can be micro adjusted by rotating wing nuts on both sides of the second clamp. This also keeps the locking bolt from moving the fence when it is tightened. A powerful motor is an important feature to consider when choosing a band saw. Cutting 60 or more 2" by 2 feet planks from billets is probably more cutting passes than non-professional woodworkers subject a saw to in a short period of time. Steel blades have a short life under this sort of use. They get dull and break. Once dull, it does not matter if they break, because the blades are not able to be resharpened. A carbide tipped blade will last much longer than just steel. A steel blade with thin kerf and minimum set is $20 -$30 each. An economy blade has too much set and the wider kerf and additional time at a thickness sander to remove its scars negates any imagined savings. A carbide blade is $200. It lasts enough longer than steel to make it still the less expensive option. There is an even better third option. A bi-metal wood blade is $60. It does not last quite as long as a carbide blade, but a carbide blade does not last 3 times longer than the bi-metal. I think the real economy is with the bi-metal blade. Back to the build. Here is a preview of where I start.

photo_12 I only use the left side of the full frame to get the shape of the floors. These along with the timbers for the right side are selected and positioned on a new page. My frame stock is 2" wide boards. The right side timbers are closely positioned in a 2" by 1 foot area. This allows me to estimate how much wood that I will need. photo_13 The group of timbers is then duplicated. This duplicate is flipped vertically to get the mirrored left side. photo_14 Then the pair of groups is duplicated and moved to fill the page. photo_15 To protect the patterns from dirt and humidity, to stiffen them, and to ease their removal when no longer needed, I give the sheet of patterns a liberal coat of brushing lacquer. I do not spray it because I do not wish to breath it. photo_16 The plan for the frame assembly. It is as much information as I need to assemble the hull. photo_17 This is a plan for the first three Station Sandwiches. The green bars are the floor timbers. The thickness of each layer is at the bottom. The option that I am using to frame this hull will have no spaces. For this model of La Renommee the sided dimension of the timbers will not be that of the original as presented by Boudriot. It will be the sum of thicknesses to equal the distance between the stations. This build will include an experiment. Locating and cutting gunports can be a difficult chore. I have positioned the layers and set their thickness so that the sides of the gunports are exactly formed by the timbers on either side. The opening will be partially cut during frame assembly. The frames at the sides of the opening will be bonded with tape rather than PVA. Retaining a temporary timber filler will protect the edges of the ports during shaping. This produces an odd number of frames in each sandwich. The location of the floor timbers is different for sequential sections. It requires closer attention than normal POF where the sequence is regular. I originally lofted this ship for POF with visible framing. The intersecting line in the middle of futtock 1 is a butt for the space filling wood. Using a single piece wastes too much wood. With POF, the frames at either face of a sandwich are single frames. They become part of a bend when two sandwiches are bonded. It is difficult to keep single frame timbers in position when the filler next to it has a butt at the same location as two of the timbers. Had I chosen to follow the plans for La Renommee in the monograph and build the huff POF, the layout would have been 2/3rds timber and 1/3rd space - two 8.5" frames and a 8.5" space. This is how it is on the monograph plans. The POF options possible with this method: I could have also followed a different framing style: 1). Hahn style with the timbers widened to include the space and dropping every other bend = two 12.5" frames and a 25" space. Wide timbers and wide spaces. 2). Naval Timber framing - 12.5" frame and a 12.5" interconnecting naval timber. Open spaces are below and above the naval timber. The start of the filling wood above the LWL is determined by the desired visual effect. This is a very stylized version of the framing done at the time of Mary Rose. 3). Navy Board framing - out of respect for the founders of our craft, I find 1744 is too late in time for this style to be appropriate for a model. ( The lengths of the floor timbers, futtock 1 and futtock 2 needed to execute this style makes it expensive and wasteful of wood at the larger scales. ) By not choosing any of these options, I will not need the lofted timber shapes for the temporary space filling timbers that I drew and that the Station Sandwich method normally uses. Editorial: I choose this particular project to provide an opportunity to demonstrate an alternative to scratch building a hull using POB. I observed several members struggling with filling all of the spaces between their molds. This method solves that problem. The product of this method is ready for a totally supported single layer of planking. If the subject vessel had been from the 1770's or later and the hull was to receive a completely coppered hull, this method offers the an additional short cut. If the hull below the LWL was lofted to include the thickness of the planking, the copper can be applied directly to the product of this method. It saves having to plank the lower hull. The upper hull planking tends to be straight forward, while the lower hull is anything but simple. For this option of the method, the species of wood that can be used has few limitations. My focus is on POF and I have sought to be self sufficient as regards wood stock. I focus on species that scale well. Were I not in this position and had to rely on commercial sources for milled stock, my easiest choice would be architectural model Basswood sheets. It comes in a variety of thicknesses ranging from 1/32" to 1/4". I strongly counsel against using the Balsa version of this material. If any combination of available thicknesses falls slightly short of filling the interval between stations, dense cardboard can be used to fill the gap. The PVA glue bonding it will make it strong enough. Determining how much wood will be needed is an uncertain process. I think I have found a way to get a rough estimate. By arranging my timber patters to include just the right half of a bend and floors within the 2" wide area, I can calculate how many square inches of stock it will require for all of the bends. I add at least another 50% for waste. Milling my own stock, it is possible to use lumber that is commercially available locally. I make an effort to use species of wood that are domestic. I am building this model with the framing hidden from view. If less work for my cutting edges was a factor, I could have used Yellow Poplar, Soft Maple, clear White Pine as well as Basswood. These are commonly available in the Atlantic region of North America. Even species that scale poorly and really should not be used, such as White Oak, Red Oak, Ash, Hickory, Aspen would serve for this function.. Looks are not a priority. My two preferred species for visible framing are Hard Maple and Black Cherry. They are readily available here and are relatively inexpensive. I feel enough guilt for hiding the Maple with this build. It would be unforgivable to use Cherry and hide it.

The InPin and OutPin are for #70 gauge holes drilled using bench top drill press. Precisely vertical holes are needed for the 1 3/4" quilters pins (#73 gauge) to exactly align the timbers, first for them the be assembled into a bend and then the bends assembled into a Station Sandwich. When assembled, a Station Sandwich has the same pattern at the same place on both faces. Both the inside and outside bevels can be cut during the same session. The Locator is where a #50 hole is drilled in the timber at each face of a sandwich. The function is to precisely mate adjacent sandwiches. In this instance sandwich 8-7 with sandwich 9-8 and sandwich 7-6. Bamboo dowels hold the sections in position. After the timbers are isolated by a scroll cut and cleaned up, the Butts need careful attention at a disk sander for a tight joint, but not too tight. Copied to a new file, the station is then scaled from 1:48 to 1:60. Alignment pin locations* are placed outside and inside the borders of each station. Locator points are inside a frame to get an exact mating to the station on either side. The station number, the frame number and the name of the ship are placed inside. This is all done using the layer function in Painter. The inside pins and outside pins for any single station are never used at the same time. Experience has taught me the importance of having identity information on each timber. While the shape details for a frame change with a change of scale, the distance from frame that the pins need to be placed does not. This information must be added at the final scale. For me, that is 1:60. Examination of the Body Plan shows that beyond a few stations at midship, there are few places where a vertical hole will usefully intersect both frames in a bend inside the wood. There are even fewer places where a station interval thickness of bends will allow it. Placing the sites outside the extreme outer and inner lines of a pair of stations allows precise alignment at a cost of not much more wood and a sure placement for each layer. * I merged an Ariel Black 7 pt. "o" with a 4 pt. "o". The white center is just enough for a #70 bit and the wall thickness places the hole beyond the face of the timbers. Sliding this figure in place is much faster than placing a 4 pt. "o" marker by eye and hoping it is out far enough. When it is time to isolate the timbers, the thicker wall is wide enough that as long as I stay outside the black with the scroll cut, I do not intersect a hole and ruin a pin location. Station VIII (8) has been isolated and prepared. Station 8 needs no InPins. What is several layers of information in Painter has been condensed here. Station VII (7) isolated and prepared. Stations VIII and VII are merged for this Station Sandwich. The OutPin layer for station VII has been omitted. phot The station sandwich is duplicated and flipped to form the full frame. The published plan has 16 stations. I added a station: the AP ( aft perpendicular). Having frames go all the way to the AP allows for an easier framing of the stern. This additional station is not on the monograph plans. I had to measure and loft the AP shape.

One rule from biological research labs: You can never have too much bench space.

The proper lofting is the first step with my method. The Station Sandwich Method starts with the Body Plan. The shape of each of the 16 stations is individually isolated. The Body Plan is scanned and opened in Painter, my drawing program. A quick view of the shape of the hull is a good start. The ship has a very intriguing shape. The floor is short. The angle of turn of the bilge is almost 45 degrees. There is a prominent bulge at the main wale. The tumble home is marked. The scantlings for the frame timbers seem light in the sided dimension, the molded dimension seems robust enough though. The 15 inch thickness at the keel is equal to that of a first rate ship of the line. I took the thickness data ( moulded dimension ) from the monograph plans. The isolated station lines. They are colored. Each station is isolated on its own layer in Painter. I color each station shape either red, green or blue. I use a rotating sequence It helps me with the orientation of the piece that I am working This is a combination graphic.. This is the mid ship station. After a station has been isolated its moulded shape is drawn*. The location of underside of the rail, the decks, the wales, gunports, the LWL, and top of the keel. The lines for the gunports include a 4" sill and 3" lentil. Each station overlays the same base pattern in black. * The shape for each station is done at 1:48. The majority of available plans are 1:48 scale. My way of drawing the moulded dimension is to use a series of disks, each with a measured scale diameter. Each is placed at a tangent to a station pattern. For La Renommee, the thickness at each point along the frame was taken from the midship frame plan in the monograph. For most ships, the thickness is taken from a Table of Scantlings that is close to the time of launch of the ship. A line is then drawn connecting the tangents on the side of the circle opposite the outer frame shape. This process is quickly done. It is much easier than plotting points and trying to get a line that is perpendicular to the tangent at each data point or drawing arcs using a compass. Doing all preliminary lofting at 1:48 means that these disks only needed to be made once . Using the Smithsonian plans for the clipper Rainbow, I was able to produce a complete set of her frame patterns in 4 days. With determined effort most ships can be lofted in about a week. A three decker is a different matter. But then, a three decker is a different matter in every aspect. The base is the baseline, center line, half of the keel width and butts for each of the timbers. My method for placing the butts is for POF display. These butts describe a diagonal. Each angle is set to intersect the majority of station lines at a perpendicular at its level. Viewed from the side, the butt joints follow an attractive curve from bow to stern. There 9 frames within each station interval that are treated as a unit, which causes the curve to have a slightly stepped pattern, station to station. photo_6 The size of the timbers is that drawn by Jean Boudriot - at least the shape for the mid ship station. Rather than determine the length for each timber separately, I let the diagonal lines do it for me.

I use color to keep where I am for shaping easier to keep up with. The dead flat -VIII- is red. The next on either side -VII and IX- is green. Then VI and X are blue. The I start over with red. The red dots above are used for bamboo dowels to mate sandwich VIII-VII to sandwich IX-VIII. So yes, they are locators. The black dots are for the alignment pins for the timbers within a sandwich. The bevel makes trying to do this inside the timbers impossible. I decided to use the model of protein synthesis and add more material to get the alignment I need and then remove the excess when the glue has set.

La Renommee - 30 guns - 26 x 8 lb on the main deck - 4 x 4 lb on the quarter deck. 125.75' x 33.75' x 17' Imperial The plans are those of the ANCRE monograph by Jean Boudriot 1993. The monograph includes the lofted shape of each of the 58 bends. This part of the monograph is not needed for my purposes. I will not be using these individual frame plans. I am using a new method. All of the frames between each station are worked as a single unit. For this hull, I have chosen to build it as a solid wall of framing timbers. I usually frame true POF, with spaces. The spaces are temporarily filled for the shaping and fairing of the frames. The space filling wood is bonded using an easily reversible agent. The unit handles as thought it was a single piece of wood and is not at all fragile. The edges of the frames are protected from being rounded. For La Renommee I will PVA bond all of the frame timbers. The lofting required has some similarities with POB level of lofting, but more work is required. In all, the time required to develop a set of frame timber patterns for La Renommee was about 5 days. This is a much shorter time than it takes to loft each frame by plotting it using a drawing board or CAD. My shortest lofting time was 4 days - for the early clipper Rainbow. In general it takes about 10 days. A multi deck warship takes longer. My reading and experience points to this method as being analogous to the way actual ships were framed prior to 1860. The product of the mold loft was likely just molds for the midline shape of the bends at the station positions. Ribbands and experience of the ship wrights would have been used to shape the timbers between. Chocks would be used where I place filling wood. These would not have been removed later. Because the wood for the model is 60 times lighter and 60 times smaller, I can shape all of these frames as a unit. It also allows the wood to be taken to the cutting edge and easily manipulated, as the opposite was necessary for the ship. A Glossary for the terms that I will use: This whole group is a Bend. It is two Frames. Each of the parts is a Timber.

Where I have my drill press ( a jewelers size )- there is just wood flour on the floor. The bigger stuff is in the garage. I do keep track of all of the quilters pins, so that I do not find them with my feet.

I use a foot switch with my drill press. Harbor Freight has two types: Momentary - apply pressure = ON - raise foot = OFF Maintained - apply pressure = ON - raise foot = stays ON - apply pressure = OFF...... Click - ON / click - OFF Plug either into the house wiring. Plug the machine into it. Fix the switch to a board that is long enough for your heel to rest on. I use the momentary switch. I am bare foot in Summer and sock foot in Winter and just pressure from my big toe is enough. For the type tools that we use, a separate inline dial control to vary the power is better than using a variable pressure foot switch. The cramping from the abnormal foot action would be adverse enough.

My latest acquisition in Japanese mini saws is this one from StewMac: Japanese Curved-edge Mini Saw Item # 3612 I am able to do fairly close cross cuts with it with less effort than straight edged saws.

I was not aware of the oil application. So, no, I am not doing this. I will, when I get to the stage where I need to use the table saw. POF framing does not involve any jobs that require the product of a table saw. At least the way I do it does not. That is where I am at present. If the ship that I am presently framing needed deadwood, I would need it for that.

3 in 1 type oil or go to a pharmacy and get a bottle of Mineral Oil lubricant.

Have you looked at the ANCRE monograph for Le Cerf 1779? It is also a cutter and clinker. The different construction for it is that the frames notched. The upper edges of the planks are thicker - the lands are mostly cut into the frames. Buenas suerte and buena fortuna on the clinker planking. I think it is significantly more difficult to do well than carvel.

For you workbench and ready access: A block of Styrofoam 2 inches thick - The length and depth your choice - glued to a base of 1/2" plywood. Liquid Nails or maybe PVA to glue it - I know hot glue does not work and organic solvent based adhesives may melt it. My local Home Depot has 1' x 2' x 1" or 2' x 2' x 1" craft and project sized pieces, so you do not need a 4' x 8' sheet. Make holes or slits = ready access, will not dull edges I have more than one.

Take the lamp off and use cable ties to fix the hose to the outer arm. A crevice tool at the end. gets it close to the action and it stays in place.

Keith, I agree. I did not notice what was checked for the $20 bit. $70 is a different category. Still, for someone who does not intend to turn metal to make tools, but still thinks that a lathe is important to have for wood model parts and does not have money to burn, this may scratch that itch enough to save them from spending big bucks on a precision lathe and finding out that it is little more than a paper weight.

River, this could be a worth while heads up. For $20, it is hard to go bad, even if it does not work out. Almost seems like the link should be to Harbor Freight. There is not all that much on a model that requires a lathe. This may do for windlass drums, capstan spindles. The following would probably not work out: Cannons would need to be wood, and belaying pins made of wood. ( Boy, wouldn't doing that about a hundred times be a load of fun?) There is no tool holder or micro adjustment. Rigging a duplicator looks impractical if wood is the choice. The sharp tools vs motor power is a clue that this is right at the edge of useful. I am betting that brass is right out.

As an indicator of the characteristics the term Cedar is all but useless. It includes several genus groups and may be more than one family. Being an aromatic conifer may be all it takes.

For at least one response - I have no actual experience with this species of wood. From the lack of reply, I guess that few have any experience either. The information that I read in the Wood Database points to it being a poor choice for any part of an actual ship model. It may make an interesting base. It may work for making jigs and other support components.

Allan, I have a bias and a reason for the omission , but unless this is for a cross section model, what is the reason for modeling butt chocks? With a full hull model, their presence would be all but invisible. In any case, they seem to be a critter pretty much limited to British construction. The same with singleton filler frames, also being almost exclusively British. I understand why they did it. They had more skilled labor than they had wood of the desired dimensions and an all but bottomless demand for the wood.

I use the big saws and a thickness sander to get to one final dimension. The Byrnes saw to get the other. For example, deck planks - band saw / sander a plank to the width. The Byrnes saw to slice off the thickness = individual deck planks. For hull planking - band saw to thickness and Byrnes saw to a width that just allows spilling. Similar methods for beams, deck furniture. It will do more of the job. It can do this. It is just not the most efficient way. Framing = thickness sander - precision is more important than accuracy for frame timbers. I scroll cut my timbers from 2" wide stock. I use a 9" bench top band saw - 1/8" blade with a Carter Stabilizer in place of a scroll saw. I do not use the small band saw for anything else. My 10" table saw is essentially just a table. Getting where you want to go is an individual thing. It is nigh on to impossible to avoid buying tools that will wind up gathering dust, because they do not fit your methods. No shortcuts for this learning curve, I fear. A Byrnes table saw is a high quality tool. If it turns out to be a dud for you, it will re-sell easily - provided you have taken care of it. Shame that you are far away - especially if you have surplus Apple. Too bad about losing to Tenn. But at any rate, go Cats!

Starting from the basics, were I starting from scratch - You are acting as a sawyer as well as a mill. First is attention to harvesting and seasoning. Seal all cut ends - even branches as soon as possible. Debarking and cutting into billets speeds seasoning helps get you ahead of fungus and wood boring insects. Always sticker for air circulation. Getting a log into billets and billets into planks - framing and planking thickness planks - is best done using a band saw. A for real band saw- 14". Do not cut corners on HP - that is false economy. I have a 3 HP 220V Rikon and would not want a less powerful motor. ReSawing eats band saw blades. Steel blades do not last long enough to pay back their cost. A carbide resaw blade lasts a whole lot longer. Long enough to be economical even at the $200 each cost. But there is a more cost effective alternative - a Lenox Diemaster 2 bimetal blade. They are $50 but last at least half as long as a carbide blade if not longer. With the species that you are cutting, the resharpening option is likely an illusion - the steel will crack from the work. No other band saw blade types are even candidates for resharpening. Limited budget or not, this tool is fundamental for what you want to do. Next is precise dimensioning. A Byrnes thickness sander is enough better than the other choices that there really is no choice. Now, this is the stage for the Byrnes table saw. There is nothing else close in quality. The trick is to match the blade to the job. Unless you are doing a particular sort of work that needs it, the tilting table option is not going to pay back its cost. The sliding table is a Formula One sports car. If you budget is limited, it is easy to make your own from lost cost materials. I forget who posted the picture of his version - but he sized the table to allow keeping the fence in place when using it. If you are cross cutting long stock - make two versions of the sliding table. To be practical, the Byrnes saw may in theory cut close to 1 inch stock and it may do for AYC, Basswood, or Yellow Poplar, for the species you have, you do not want to cut much thicker than 1/4" stock. Let the band saw to the heavy work. For what it is good at, there is none better than the Byrnes saw, just to not ask it to do jobs it was not designed for. A 10" table saw can sorta maybe get you billets from logs. It is not the job it is best at. It does not treat blades like they are Kleenex - that is true. But the waste to kerf is awful. The depth of cut is limited - several passes are necessary for 3 or 4 inch deep cuts. Each pass means more work for the thickness sander. It wants to eat your fingers. If any tool is a true luxury for the job of milling stock - it is a full size table saw.

Hank, Yup, Norfolk. I am at the edge of Little Creek NAB (or joint something or other). the bark Eagle visits from time to time, Susan Constant was here once. Lots of good restaurants here. You seem to have missed the star over at Newport News: The Mariner's'Museum. A seminar over in the framing forum might be interesting. You are not too far from Hickory - once upon a time a center for quality furniture mfg. I would guess there are nearby hardwood mills. Not Boxwood, Pear or Holly - but a good price on Maple and Black Cherry and maybe Honey Locust?

After some thought, rather than going Hahn style with every other bend omitted, the spaces are a bit wide, something new may be worth a try. I am thinking that Naval timber framing style look attractive for this ship. From a distance, it would look like Navy Board framing. I think actual Navy Board framing is not appropriate for ships built after the 1719 Establishments were issued. Never mind that it is very wasteful of timber stock. The three main timbers are just too long and too curved not to be inefficient in the utilization of wood. The old boys apparently cut their frames from solid sheets. Nice that they could get Boxwood and Pear in those dimensions. The first on the right is solid, 2nd is 19th C. 2/3 room 1/3 space, 3rd is Naval timber framing . 4th is Navy Board.

The SI was impressed with Boston to use the lines on the cover of their warship plans catalog. Elegant lines. I bought the plans and worked the up for framing. R&S is 24.25" Using the scantling in Steele - the sided thickness of the frames leaves very little actual space - mostly enough for air circulation. As built, leaving off any planking to show the frames would display a solid wall of timber - with narrow gaps. This ship would work for frame display if every other bend was omitted and the frames were 12.125". Doing this saves on wood, too! I would use Steele as primary, and AOTS Conny and AOTS Essex to supplement. If there is no ship specific data and you make an informed guess, who has the bones to denigrate your choices? I would not let the lack of contract data stop me from building Boston. That there are many more ahead her in my queue, has her a low priority in my shipyard.