Jaager

You may find it convenient to get a Rogers drill bit stand to start with.  Then restock using bulk single size in 10's of the numbers that are getting use.

Neither species is one to use if there are other options.
The Ramin may actually be something else since it is on the endangered species list.
Basswood is just too soft and prone to splintering and rolling fibers - (friable?).
Its much better European brother ( Lime - Linden ) is still not that good a choice for planking.
 
The primary difficulty is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to source wood of suitable species that is in dimensions needed by an end user.
 
You live in a region with ready access to lumber of species that are excellent for our uses:
readily available:  Hard Maple, Black Cherry, Yellow Poplar
hit or miss: Beech, Birch
If you can be your own sawyer - most any fruit wood: Apple (the king), Peach, Pear (street planting ornamental too), Crab Apple, Plum.  Dogwood, Holly, Hornbeam, Hophornbeam, Hawthorn.
 
Avoid most any nut tree species - open pores and out of scale grain:  Walnut, Oak, Ash, Hickory.
 
It is the heat that allows bending.  The wood fiber glue (lignin) is not affected by water. The water raises the grain.  A bit of water as steam may transfer heat to the interior more quickly, but the time difference is probably of no practical significance.  The heat source must not be hot enough to char or even cook the wood.
 
Ships, and even larger boats, required more than one plank per strake, which avoids having a single plank having an opposite twist at each end.  Lateral bending ( thru the thick dimension ) is best solved by spilling the plank instead.
 

You may find it convenient to get a Rogers drill bit stand to start with.  Then restock using bulk single size in 10's of the numbers that are getting use.

Neither species is one to use if there are other options.
The Ramin may actually be something else since it is on the endangered species list.
Basswood is just too soft and prone to splintering and rolling fibers - (friable?).
Its much better European brother ( Lime - Linden ) is still not that good a choice for planking.
 
The primary difficulty is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to source wood of suitable species that is in dimensions needed by an end user.
 
You live in a region with ready access to lumber of species that are excellent for our uses:
readily available:  Hard Maple, Black Cherry, Yellow Poplar
hit or miss: Beech, Birch
If you can be your own sawyer - most any fruit wood: Apple (the king), Peach, Pear (street planting ornamental too), Crab Apple, Plum.  Dogwood, Holly, Hornbeam, Hophornbeam, Hawthorn.
 
Avoid most any nut tree species - open pores and out of scale grain:  Walnut, Oak, Ash, Hickory.
 
It is the heat that allows bending.  The wood fiber glue (lignin) is not affected by water. The water raises the grain.  A bit of water as steam may transfer heat to the interior more quickly, but the time difference is probably of no practical significance.  The heat source must not be hot enough to char or even cook the wood.
 
Ships, and even larger boats, required more than one plank per strake, which avoids having a single plank having an opposite twist at each end.  Lateral bending ( thru the thick dimension ) is best solved by spilling the plank instead.
 

You may find it convenient to get a Rogers drill bit stand to start with.  Then restock using bulk single size in 10's of the numbers that are getting use.

Certainly! That's how Van Gogh and Bob Ross did it. (Well, maybe Van Gogh still mulled his own paint. I'm not sure when it started being packaged in tubes like toothpaste.  ) It's about the consistency of toothpaste, but as it dries slowly unless a dryer is added, it can be spread very thinly if desired.
A FAQ, for sure. "Boiled linseed oil" is not boiled at all. It designates linseed oil which has been packaged with a drying agent added prior to packaging. This is usually Japan drier, which contains manganese in a linseed oil and mineral spirits base. This added drier makes "boiled linseed oil" dry (i.e. polymerize) much faster than "raw linseed oil, which is pure untreated linseed oil. If it is difficult to source linseed oil in your area (usually due to environmental regulations,) it can also be purchased in health food stores labeled as "flax seed oil," this being "food grade" linseed oil. Linseed oil and Japan drier can be purchased anywhere oil paints are sold (i.e. art and craft stores,) but it will be packaged in small amounts and priced at twice the cost of the very same product purchased in a paint or hardware store, so caveat emptor.  Smaller quantities in "artists' packaging" are permitted where regulations prohibit sales of pints, quarts, and gallons in paint and hardware stores and the manufacturers are happy to accommodate the new regulations at twice the profit. Also, a paint conditioning product made by Flood called "Penetrol" is an excellent linseed oil based conditioner for achieving good leveling with oil paints. This is also readily available at paint and hardware stores, although in some areas environmental air quality regulations now also prohibit its sale. (Arrrgh!  Sale is prohibited, but not possession. Sourcing now may involve travel across state lines.)
 
 

Bob,
Some questions about tube artist's oil paints.
Can they be applied straight from the tube?
By linseed oil, do you mean the "Boiled linseed oil" - like what I saw at my local hardware store.
Can Tung oil (pure) be used like linseed oil?  Or the Sutherland-Wells polymerized Tung oil?
From where is obtained Japan drier?
What about the powdered pigments?  Can they be mixed with Tung or linseed oil?
What are flattening additives - the names of them?
 
My bias tells me to use the primary color aniline dyes instead of paint and cover with shellac - which can be made egg shell by using 0000 steel wool on the final coat.  A dye is not as in your face as paint and with paint, the scale effect runs the danger of it looking like a toy.

Bob,
Some questions about tube artist's oil paints.
Can they be applied straight from the tube?
By linseed oil, do you mean the "Boiled linseed oil" - like what I saw at my local hardware store.
Can Tung oil (pure) be used like linseed oil?  Or the Sutherland-Wells polymerized Tung oil?
From where is obtained Japan drier?
What about the powdered pigments?  Can they be mixed with Tung or linseed oil?
What are flattening additives - the names of them?
 
My bias tells me to use the primary color aniline dyes instead of paint and cover with shellac - which can be made egg shell by using 0000 steel wool on the final coat.  A dye is not as in your face as paint and with paint, the scale effect runs the danger of it looking like a toy.

George.
 
Before the current system of modular construction, ships were built in two phases.  Construction before launch, and Outfitting after launch.  Construction was done by shipwrights.  Outfitting was done by joiners.  Building ladders, cabin partitions deck furniture etc. was the job of joiners.  My guess is that you are correct.  In doing their job, the joiners would build their structures level and square to the ship afloat.
 
The disposition of frames is a different matter, as they determine the shape of the hull.   If the frames were not arranged parallel to the body plan sections on the draught,  the entire draught would have to be redrawn to shift the orientation of the body plan sections to match that of the frame orientation.  Otherwise the shape of the hull would change.

I found this when exploring an email special at StewMac:
It comes in 2" 3/4" and 1/4" rolls

I also found this seam separation knife and have it in my "tool looking for a function" category"
 

I found this when exploring an email special at StewMac:
It comes in 2" 3/4" and 1/4" rolls

I also found this seam separation knife and have it in my "tool looking for a function" category"
 

I found this when exploring an email special at StewMac:
It comes in 2" 3/4" and 1/4" rolls

I also found this seam separation knife and have it in my "tool looking for a function" category"
 

Tony,
 
If you have the money to burn and any sort of economy in a budget is not a goal, go for a serious precision mill.  Understand, that the necessary tooling will probably be be equal to the price of the mill if not more.   There will be few jobs for it where something less expensive will not be sufficient and it will mostly be a tool looking for a task.  Think of it as primarily a tool for those doing scratch POF with a focus on replicating the usually hidden internal support structure.  The real value for a mill as well as for a precision lathe is fabricating your own tools from metal raw material. 
 
As for another question it would probably save you some frustration and futility if you forgo any attempt at trying to use the Dremel as anything but a hand held rotary tool.  Unless you are doing a lot of trunneling, you are probably seeing it as a paper weight with POB kits.  Unless the expenditure is on drill bits or cutting tools, money spent on accessories to turn it into another sort of tool will probably be money that is wasted.
 
To repeat something glib,  a serious mill and especially a precision lathe fit well under a version of the Yacht Rule: 
If you have to ask if you need one, then it is probably something that you do not need - yet.
 
 

Tony,
 
If you have the money to burn and any sort of economy in a budget is not a goal, go for a serious precision mill.  Understand, that the necessary tooling will probably be be equal to the price of the mill if not more.   There will be few jobs for it where something less expensive will not be sufficient and it will mostly be a tool looking for a task.  Think of it as primarily a tool for those doing scratch POF with a focus on replicating the usually hidden internal support structure.  The real value for a mill as well as for a precision lathe is fabricating your own tools from metal raw material. 
 
As for another question it would probably save you some frustration and futility if you forgo any attempt at trying to use the Dremel as anything but a hand held rotary tool.  Unless you are doing a lot of trunneling, you are probably seeing it as a paper weight with POB kits.  Unless the expenditure is on drill bits or cutting tools, money spent on accessories to turn it into another sort of tool will probably be money that is wasted.
 
To repeat something glib,  a serious mill and especially a precision lathe fit well under a version of the Yacht Rule: 
If you have to ask if you need one, then it is probably something that you do not need - yet.
 
 

Tony,
 
If you have the money to burn and any sort of economy in a budget is not a goal, go for a serious precision mill.  Understand, that the necessary tooling will probably be be equal to the price of the mill if not more.   There will be few jobs for it where something less expensive will not be sufficient and it will mostly be a tool looking for a task.  Think of it as primarily a tool for those doing scratch POF with a focus on replicating the usually hidden internal support structure.  The real value for a mill as well as for a precision lathe is fabricating your own tools from metal raw material. 
 
As for another question it would probably save you some frustration and futility if you forgo any attempt at trying to use the Dremel as anything but a hand held rotary tool.  Unless you are doing a lot of trunneling, you are probably seeing it as a paper weight with POB kits.  Unless the expenditure is on drill bits or cutting tools, money spent on accessories to turn it into another sort of tool will probably be money that is wasted.
 
To repeat something glib,  a serious mill and especially a precision lathe fit well under a version of the Yacht Rule: 
If you have to ask if you need one, then it is probably something that you do not need - yet.
 
 

Tony,
 
If you have the money to burn and any sort of economy in a budget is not a goal, go for a serious precision mill.  Understand, that the necessary tooling will probably be be equal to the price of the mill if not more.   There will be few jobs for it where something less expensive will not be sufficient and it will mostly be a tool looking for a task.  Think of it as primarily a tool for those doing scratch POF with a focus on replicating the usually hidden internal support structure.  The real value for a mill as well as for a precision lathe is fabricating your own tools from metal raw material. 
 
As for another question it would probably save you some frustration and futility if you forgo any attempt at trying to use the Dremel as anything but a hand held rotary tool.  Unless you are doing a lot of trunneling, you are probably seeing it as a paper weight with POB kits.  Unless the expenditure is on drill bits or cutting tools, money spent on accessories to turn it into another sort of tool will probably be money that is wasted.
 
To repeat something glib,  a serious mill and especially a precision lathe fit well under a version of the Yacht Rule: 
If you have to ask if you need one, then it is probably something that you do not need - yet.
 
 

If HIC was replicating an existing historical plan, he used the direction on the original plan,
I am guessing that when he  was starting with a half model or table of offsets he used his own preferred orientation - probably bow at the right side edge.

If HIC was replicating an existing historical plan, he used the direction on the original plan,
I am guessing that when he  was starting with a half model or table of offsets he used his own preferred orientation - probably bow at the right side edge.

If HIC was replicating an existing historical plan, he used the direction on the original plan,
I am guessing that when he  was starting with a half model or table of offsets he used his own preferred orientation - probably bow at the right side edge.

If HIC was replicating an existing historical plan, he used the direction on the original plan,
I am guessing that when he  was starting with a half model or table of offsets he used his own preferred orientation - probably bow at the right side edge.

Plans are left for us from the era of wood and sail with the bow on the left and on the right.  There is no rule.  (It may be something as simple as the dominant hand of the designer.)   In museums, a predominance of left side on display or right side on display probably reflects the bias of the curator.  If your model is scratch built POF and one side is left frames showing and the other is the completed ship, it would depend on which view you wish to show off at the moment.

It would serve your purposes to explore the various framing plans on the NMM site.  It is my premise that the English were singularly unique in their obsession with having a whole Top timber be the sides that frame the gun ports.  There are examples of frames undergoing rather convoluted jogging to determine this result. Below the main wale it is still pretty much regular.  But above the waterline, where it does not really matter, some rather curious things were done. 
In France, North America and the Low Countries it appears that the Tops were made thicker, and or supplemented and notches were cut into the tops as needed.

Plans are left for us from the era of wood and sail with the bow on the left and on the right.  There is no rule.  (It may be something as simple as the dominant hand of the designer.)   In museums, a predominance of left side on display or right side on display probably reflects the bias of the curator.  If your model is scratch built POF and one side is left frames showing and the other is the completed ship, it would depend on which view you wish to show off at the moment.

Plans are left for us from the era of wood and sail with the bow on the left and on the right.  There is no rule.  (It may be something as simple as the dominant hand of the designer.)   In museums, a predominance of left side on display or right side on display probably reflects the bias of the curator.  If your model is scratch built POF and one side is left frames showing and the other is the completed ship, it would depend on which view you wish to show off at the moment.

Salty,
 
You are a bit too salty with your last two sentences.  That company is the most forbidden of all of the forbidden pirate kit companies.
High quality wood and components can never compensate for blatant theft of original plans and instructions.  The site rules are in the bottom forum.  
 
Popularity is not a thing here.  Scratch building is where real bones are made. 
Umm...  you sold a completed model of a kit that cost ~ $600 for $1000?    Working for the new minimum wage, if it took you more than 26 hrs,  you lost big time.