Jaager

Giving more thought to the bottle seals -  cardboard does not seem likely to make that tight a long term complete closure, and plastic may potentially react with or to components in the paint - especially oil based paint.   Why not try to go Old School?   I am thinking that auto parts dealers may have cork veneer - thin sheets of cork used to make gaskets.  Plug disks could be cut and used to seal the paint bottles. 

The ultimate would be glass bottles with ground glass plugs.  In the Lab, we stored sensitive chemicals inside a large jar, with a wide lid - mating ground glass rims, coated with a silicon grease and a top port that could be connected to a vacuum line and then closed off.

A trick recommended for storing Tung oil may work for paint:  add marbles, or in this case glass beads to reduce the volume of air in the jar.

Store the bottles in a Mason jar,  an open bottle of water in the sealed jar would saturate the environment with water vapor and greatly reduce any loss of water the paint bottles.  A similar setup with oil based paint with excess solvent in the jar environment should reduce any tendency for the paint solvent to evaporate.

Black Cherry - there is big difference in the color between the sapwood and heartwood.  The heartwood contains significantly more material stored within the cell walls.  Included are compounds that are subject to oxidation - which produces a color change.  The sapwood does not contain as much of these compounds which limits its color change.  There is a finite amount in a cell and when all of it is oxidized, there is no further color change.

The sapwood plank on Dave's hull adds character, interest, and makes it evident that the hull is indeed made up of individual planks.  A story could be told about the need to replace a damaged plank while on a distant voyage - using local lumber.  Certainly not a far fetched scenario. 

Cherry is one of two readily available domestic hardwoods that are worth consideration -

It is softer than I had thought, but it does work well and carves nicely - cuts where the blade goes  instead of splitting off at an angle.

The other is Acer saccharum - Hard Maple (rock/sugar)  - harder than Cherry -  but worth a look as a replacement for Buxus sempervirens .

This is just theory - I have not tried it myself:

Long ago in a reference who's data I do not remember:   a gloss clear finish can be made matt by buffing it with steel wool - the more course the  wool - the less shinny the target.

It should be easy enough to test on scrap, and if it works, you will not be masking the natural wood.

Isopropyl alcohol is 2-propanol -  it does not need to be "denatured" - it will make you quite sick all by itself.

Here in the US, it comes as 70% and 91% - in any pharmacy in the first aid section.   By tradition, 70% is the optimal concentration for killing 'bugs',  but in all likelyhood, it is the physical cleaning that does the most good, not the chemical killing. I am guessing that 91% would evaporate more quickly,  so it is for cooling. --  Having a higher concentration of the organic solvent, it would be better for dissolving PVA.  I had a pharmacy order in a gallon of 100% isopropyl to use as shellac solvent.  It was not too expensive back then,  I would not bet on that being the case now.  My thinking being that isopropyl would evaporate more slowly than ethanol and give longer working time.

Denatured alcohol is ethanol - ethyl alcohol  - booze  -  that has something added to make it not drinkable.  The denaturant is added to avoid having to pay a Federal tax that was $30/gal.  It is also likely to be the solvent in shellac thinner - but methanol is also used for this.  It is more water-like in its solvent properties and is not listed as a PVA solvent.  It may work for Titebond I and "white" PVA - as would water.  The best you can do with it is 95%.  Even if you get 100% - distilled from benzene - as soon as it is exposed to air, it pulls water from the air until it get to 95%.

I think about mid 19th century - steel cable started being used.  It migrated starting with the large commercial vessels and over time got to some of the small independents.  The metal would have smaller dimensions than fiber rigging. 

Another part that confuses me is the dimensions the rigging tables refer to.  For modelers, it is easier to measure diameter,  for full size line, I think they used circumference.  There is a potential to be off by a factor of 3 in rope size if you don't get that right.

P/S =  port & starboard    it is calling for bilateral symmetry for the subject components.

Which edge of the plan has the bow?   If it is at the right - you are seeing the starboard side.   Most plans are oriented this way -  my guess: most draftsmen are right handed - thus the bias.

I would go with there being left:right symmetry - including the fittings such as cleats.

The mast hoops are  for the large sail oriented along the midline of the vessel.  Some are 4 sided - with a spar at the top edge.  Some are 3 sided - with a line holding up the top.  In any case, the sail is raised and lowered like an upside down Venetian blind.  So that it does not flap and spill the wind, an edge the of sail needs to be fixed to the mast.  It must also be able to go up and down easily.  This is done using the hoops.  Depending on design, they either slide on the lower mast itself, or a thinner mast mounted just behind and parallel to the Main mast - if the Main mast assembly is too complicated to allow something to slide on it easily.  In your case, twelve hoops are lashed to the front edge of the sail at equally spaced intervals.    If you do not intend to mount sails,  the hoops would be in a stack at the bottom of the mast. 

If you use Tadeusz method - each layer could be made from two pieces using the join seam as the centerline.

One point - I think the USN requirements for submission to their museum include a solid hull be hollowed out - more shell than solid apparently.

I think the take home message is that for them to require this - they probably experienced stability problems with hulls that were totally solid.  Made up of two pieces - except for the lowest layer - the inside could be cut out before the join.

In the situation that Mark addresses -  try this:   At the level of the shear line at the bow and stern - mark the point that you determine is the exact center.  Drill a small hole.   Into each hole - push in a cut off large (carpet) eyelet needle - the eyelet close to the surface and centered,  Use mono filament line pulled tight.  tape it down along the way  to keep it from lateral movement and score the line with a #11 - then ink it or 6B pencil lead.  hould work for keel line and deck line.
 

Trunnels were not one diameter.  Many of the existing Tables of Scantlings and individual building contracts specify trunnel, bolt and spike size -  which varied with plank thickness or other variables.

Pencil lead sounds like a poor choice to me.  It is very brittle - has no strength - and is probably impervious to most any bonding agent - graphite is used as a lubricant.

The method I use is bamboo - skewers available in grocery stores in several lengths - 

Use  a single edge razor blade to split.

I use drill gauges to size

General 15

General 13

Use sand paper to grip - either with plyers or fingers.

It is one of the more tedious and monotonous processes to do.

I use actual dowels instead of simulations, because way back when I started, one or more of the godfathers of this craft advocated dual attachment where possible - glue and a dowel - ( It was either ; Underhill, or Longridge, or Davis - probably Underhill)

An actual draw plate is intended for use with wire, not wood or in the case of bamboo, grass.

But with a proper draw plate and a short large diameter wire, you can get just about any wire diameter yu need and the wire gets a lot longer as you go.  Ductility is one of the defining characteristics of a metal.

I did a little on-line investigation -  one source called it more like caulk than glue.  It was pointed out that if UV can't get to it, it will not undergo the necessary chemical reaction.  I think it is more of a surface tack weld than a glue.  It might work to hold two pieces in a location so that PVA glue can set up - when the pieces are where physical clamping is not possible, but can the UV material then be removed easily and leave no trace?

Although it is 1805, Steel has a Table of Particulars for seven types of ship's boats.  These dimensions were probably used directly or as a foundation to work from for a long time after - just as they were probably the result of at least a century of prior experience.

They are reproduced in

Scantlings of Royal Navy Ships - Yedlinsky,A. - Sea Watch Books.

The Boats of Men-of-War - May,W.E. - Naval Institute Press

Nick,

About building your own sander:  there is no way any motor on any Dremel can provide the power needed.

Way back when, making your own was the only way to have one.  There was a set of plans, sold thru NRG (I think) (I can't find them now).

Essentially, ~ 1/2 HP motor - in a box - the top is at an angle to support the sanding table-  piano hinged at back - two pulley wheels and a fan belt - two BB pillow blocks -  steel rod 1/4 - 1/2" -  and  a drum mounted on the rod to hold the sanding media.

The variables - 

motor speed -  too fast and it burns rather than cuts the wood.  Too slow ... takes too long.

Pulley wheel diameters can have some effect - a smaller motor wheel trades speed for power.

Something in the 1500 RPM  range for the motor.

What is the drum? -  I had Hard Maple fixed to the rod and a Pro turned it for me - 

Size? -  sand paper here was 8.5 x 11 inches - so the drum is 11" long and 8.5" circumference.

The table needs to be stable - no warping - it needs to meet the drum precisely.

 I have a threaded rod holding up the far end and it determines  the gap between the table and drum.

This machine produces a LOT of dust.  I made  a box with a mount for a 2.5 inch vac hose to fit over the top.

3 layers on Amazon box cardboard glue laminated together with TiteBond - enforced in the corners with 1/4 x 1/4 inch sticks and covered with duct tape - almost no cost - just the hose mount - works fine.

How to hold the sanding medium ---   I use Weldwood Contact Cement - coat both surfaces - a heat gun will allow fairly easy removal when the medium is spent  and Naptha will clean the drum.  

What would I do differently?

Make the drum 12 inches long - So that I can mount  4 inch cloth backed sanding - 3 of them different grits - I have to trim off an inch from one of them now.

When the drum is turned - have a " V " groove routed along the length - having it able to fit a metal clamp that clears the table is good - at any rate, you do not want the raw end of the medium to meet the piece of wood that you are sanding - it will strip the medium off.

I would give the motor better venting and air flow.

I would try to find a metal table instead of 3/4" ply with angle Al fixed to each edge.

The point of this?   If you do this up to the necessary spec, the cost is probably not going to be much less than a Byrnes unit would cost. It will cost you time as well as parts,  The same time spent as OT at your day job, using it to buy a ready built,  may be a more economical path.

This there not an Amazon presence in the UK?

POB is not my method of choice, but the face of the "bulkhead" nearest the center is the dimension for the plank.  What you get is a square bulkhead with after or fore material being in the way of the plank laying properly. 

You can shave away a lot and leave a knife edge.  This gives you very little surface to attach the planks. 

You can try to fair what you shave away to follow the curve of the hull.  This gives you the width of the ply to support the planking.  A difficulty here is that distance between the bulkheads and the wide gap makes it difficult.

Here is an alternative:  go to a hobby site and order a good supply of Basswood sheets - they seem to come in 1/32" - 1/16" - 3/32" - 1/8" - 3/16" - 1/4" -  3" wide or so x 2 feet.  Fill the gap between the bulkheads with a sandwich of Basswood layers - shim any gap.  The wood does not need to fill the space all the way to the keel.  Cut the rough shape with a hand fretsaw if you do not have a power toll to do it.  Basswood is not a chore to cut.

There is Balsa available is like supply, but it is TOO soft to be reliable.

Plane, shave, file, chisel, sand - to get a fair hull -  what you get is essentially a solid - and depending on the inside dimension of the the sandwich, a hollow hull.  You get a good surface for your planking, solid enough that you only need apply one layer of planking - or if you  copper the bottom  - no planking at all there - just add the plank thickness to the bulkhead dimensions.

For sanding blocks -

A cork block - I band sawed off a 1 inch slice  and cut that into curves pieces.

Yoga stuff -  easy to cut to any curve -  rubber cement should hold the sand paper.

I swear I saw this recommended here some time ago.

I have been happy so far with what is a Euro Tool DRL-300.   I have only used it with twist drills.   Actually, the X/Y table I drilled the base to mount costs more.  I am not sure that the table will be all that useful - I site my holes using patterns and I am guessing that the drill bearings are not engineered to withstand much lateral force if it is used as a milling machine.  Light cuts with a sharp bit might not apply that much stress.

One useful aspect of the table is that it plus a 3/4" Birch ply layer fixed to it and another 3/4 piece lose on top take the over drill, puts the work at a good height.

The DRL-300 seems to be widely available - in generic versions  in a $55-85 US price range.

Mike,

I was working off your saying that you would find a 3rd party with a real bandsaw.  Your bench top saw is not up to the task, is my thinking.  I guess you could find some species of wood tougher than Boxwood, but not many.

Check the Net for a woodworking club or such in your town.  See if there is a member with a 14" saw who will help you.   In a reverse situation, I would want the person making the request to supply the blade and leave it with me when done. You would need to find out the size blade that their saw uses.  I am very partial to the Wood Slicer Resaw Blade.  For ripping seasoned wood - especially like Boxwood - it is as about as good as it gets. It is thin, sharpe, almost no set to the teeth and 1/2" is wide enough.  I don't think a wider blade reduces blade wandering, it just costs more.  I am guessing that the import hassles make it an impractical choice for you. From what I have determined, I think the blade that Highland uses is an import from France, so whatever the Wood Slicer really is may be available in the EU under a different name.

A bladed planer is a wood waste expensive way to true up a board.  To keep from losing too much stock, you would need to fix the Boxwood to carrier - similar to what a bandsaw would need -  two problems here are keeping whatever you use to mount the stock away from the planer blade and would the addition of the carrier make the result too thick for the planer.  If you use a sanding planer - the throat opening and max stock thickness will likely be a problem. 2 inches is already too thick for my thickness planer to take.

Mike,

About the Boxwood.  24 inches is nice, but longer than you need if you are 1:48 or smaller scale.

If it were twisted,  there usually is a place along the length where a cross cut gives you two reasonably flat pieces.

To square it up - a bandsaw  -  fix the Boxwood to a flat board with a straight edge to ride against the fence. I use drywall screws and right angle framing braces - small round head screws will hold the brace to the carrier board. Aline the Boxwood so that the overhang at the outer edge of the carrier board will get you a straight face losing the least amount of wood. One true face.  Turn the Boxwood so that the face you cut is down.   The wood will be easier to fix to the carrier since it will not want to rock now. Get a right angle true face with the new overhang.  With two straight flat faces at a right angle, you are set to cut it with just the table and fence. 

The poser will be figuring out how thick to make the stock slices.  As I said, 2 feet is a bit long and awkward but certainly doable.  The Byrnes saw will take 15/16" thick stock, but Boxwood is fiercely hard. Jim has a big motor on the saw, but Boxwood is tough work that thick.  I would figure out the max thickness lumber I need and use the bandsaw to give me slices near that thickness - with enough extra to sacrifice to the planer to get 220 smooth on both sides.  Getting at least one edge 90 degree true and straight is pretty much vital also.

My condolences about how much of this rare wood you will lose to waste and kerf to get usable stock.

I just had a thought -  if you are limited in funds,  you might could get a table saw to double as a disc sander.  You could try using as saw blade blank or a worn out diamond blade - as thick as can be gotten and use contact cement to attach sand paper to one face.  By using a near zero clearance insert you can have a closer tolerance between the table and the disc than most disc sanders.  You want some gap for the wood flour.  The paper is easy to remove using a heat gun and both Lowes and Home Depot have 10X paper that stands up pretty well. I grant that it is not as convenient as a stand alone sander, but it could get you the function at minimal extra cost.

Mostly theory on my part. 

Beginning with old school/traditional :

I have more Pau marfim than I realized - and it is good that I got it while it was available, but most any reasonably hard straight grained species should do. 

When I first started, Yellow Pine was a suggested species, the thing is, Yellow Pine could be one of several species of pine.  I asked my grandfather for some ( he was home builder )  and what he gave me was a plank of what might be an all but extinct species of pine with distinct grain that is fairly wide and the summer wood is really hard. There was a species of pine that was widely used before WWII - very hard - too popular and all but lumbered to extinction.  What I have may be that - turned up, it looks like a made mast.

Now,  Birch is great, but the machines that punch out the dowels, do not place a high priority on being dead on with the grain, so starting with a plank is better. 

In working with it, I think Hard Maple is a good choice. 

It takes more work, but I am partial to species that are hard. 

In Texas, you may be able to find a Yellow Pine that is straight and hard.  I think that what is used for framing lumber is not going to be useful.  The flooring stock may be useful.

There is a problem with using a dowel as starting stock:  it is hit or miss with the grain being straight,  luck mostly.  Over time, the wood will seek equilibrium. If the grain is not dead straight, the dowel will bend.

The way to avoid this - split out mast and yard stock from a board of a species of wood with straight grain and plane it down to shape the mast.  A lot of basic books on ship model construction have instructions for doing this. 

If you are not intending to immerse yourself in this ship modelling endeavor, you can cut a square tenon for the mast heel - close enough is good enough to start - you can always file away, or glue a scab when doing the final mast mount.

As for cutting the tenon,  micro saws, small back saws,  needle files , Xacto blade chisels, or if you want to invest: palm chisels will do the job.  When I started, I knew nothing about wood working or the tools involved.  This is a way to learn.

One factor to consider at this point:  The farther down in the hull is the heel of the mast,  the less profound will be the effect of mast wedge adjustments at the deck level when doing the final positioning of the mast. You will have more room for play.

Pure theory here:   Make sure there is no play with the ways and the cross slide.  If it was a quality machine when new and has been well maintained, it is likely better than most units now being made.  Make sure it has standard specs for attachments like 3-jaw and 4-jaw chucks and collet chucks and Jacobs chucks and live centers. 

If it was a popular unit, there may be 3rd party sources for replacement motors - I am fortunate that Unimat does.

The max length you can mount is something to consider.  

A straight up lathe is great for making other tools.  For this purpose, it is pretty much irreplaceable.

If it is not convertible to a milling machine, the functions it can perform in wooden ship construction are not as many as a lot of other machines - masts, yards, cannon barrels,  barrel barrels,  windlass drums,  wheels, capstans, mostly.  It is not even vital for these, as there are other ways to get there. 

You may be giving this more attention than it warrants.  I take it that this is a fully planked hull with the keelson essentially not really visible?

Saying keel notch - this is POB with no keelson at all? 

In POF there would be a mast step on top of the keelson - or assembly of sister keelsons - depending on ship size and how serious they were in resisting hogging.   Most mast heel tenons were square it seems.  The mortise in the mast step would be square. I can see where an octagonal tenon and mortise would be easier to allow side rake adjustments.  Your kit is not designed for this level of detail.

You imply that you are going to use the dowel that comes with the kit to make the mast.  If you were shaping the mast from split out straight grain stock, I could see maybe paying attention to what a hidden mast heel tenon might be.  In your situation, centering a hole in the heel and mounting a cut off 6 P or 8 P nail with the point out should be sufficient.

Just making a hole in the plywood center spine to receive the nail point may not be a stable support.  You can use a solid piece of wood on top of the keel spine to receive the nail.  Getting it square to the edge of the plywood is difficult , is too narrow and is not stable.  Make the mast step at least 3xs wider than the keel spine.  Either cut a mortise in a thicker step to slip over the spine or glue lateral supports on either side of the spine.

You will need to adjust the mast length to compensate for this assembly.  Either cut off a bit of the dowel, or notch the mast step assembly down into the keel spine.

I like a sanding table.  I had no interest in the oscillating function so I built my own around a Fasco D226.

I prefer using readily available sheet sandpaper so I use sleeveless sanding drums.  More choices for grit. Less expensive.

The drums weight less than the hard rubber sleeve drums and I find that sleeve drums can get out of line when tightened  to hold the sleeves.  I added a fence to turn it into an edger/shaper . I have a 3" sleeve sanding drum, but it was out of round when tightened and vibrated the motor because of it weight.  And, 1/20 HP motor will not allow for aggressive wood removal.

For inside curves, the smallest drum I have is 3/4" - so the keelson area requires hand tool work. 

The sanding table is also great for outside curves and I like sanding with the grain.

The table is OK for sanding to the line on the max outside lines, but freehand seems to work better for outside bevels and inside everything.  It also allows use of the whole 3 inch face of the drum.  I use mostly 220 grit paper so not too much can go at once.

Unlike a disc sander or sanding belt, it will try the throw the piece if it can.

The impediment to this is that the D226 has a CW 5/16 shaft.  CW is good - I am right handed.  Mating a 5/16 " motor shaft to a drum with a 1/4" shaft requires custom metal work.   I have a lathe - Unimat SL1000 - so it was not difficult to use pieces of 1/2" cold rolled steel bar - most any hardware store has it - as well as the set screws and taps - to bore a 5/16" hole in one end and either a 1/4" hole (or 3/8" hole for the smaller drums) or turn a 1/4" shaft on the other end.  (Some of the drums have a removable 1/4" shaft.)  Turning and boring steel is messy to clean up - you can't ignore the kerf  - and it takes a while - tungsten carbide twist drills seem to hold up well for boring.

  Being able to adapt a 1/4" / 3/8" / 5/16" / or 1/8"  shaft to the motor shaft opens the table up to being able to use other attachments -  for me so far - Microplane shapers and carbide cutting burrs - the finest grit is more than enough- for removing bulk stock when there is a lot of bevel.