Jaager

Barlett pear is a variety of eatable pear.  It is actually a variety of Pyrus communis - the tree that is
the source of what is called Swiss Pear.  Swiss Pear is not a tree name or growth location, it means that the wood
has been steamed.  I believe this oxidizes the polyphenols in the wood - in any case - it turns the wood into
a relatively uniform pinkish color. 
Bradford Pear is a cousin that is a horticultural specimen.  It does not produce significant fruit, but it is urban hardy,
attractive flowers and grows relatively fast.  Was or still is popular as a street tree.  It has one unfortunate characteristic -
 the branches leave the trunk at an acute angle - rather than horizontal.  The more vertical form looks good and is
predictable from design point of view.  The problem is that when the larger trees experience wind storms, the branches 
peal like banana skins.  A good way for us to get a lot of sizable lumber stock.   The other part - if you self harvest it -
because of the branch angle,  it is difficult to get much stock with right angle grain for knees or breast hooks.
 
Actually, I think most any species of Pear would produce excellent wood for our purposes,  the problem is obtaining it.

Barlett pear is a variety of eatable pear.  It is actually a variety of Pyrus communis - the tree that is
the source of what is called Swiss Pear.  Swiss Pear is not a tree name or growth location, it means that the wood
has been steamed.  I believe this oxidizes the polyphenols in the wood - in any case - it turns the wood into
a relatively uniform pinkish color. 
Bradford Pear is a cousin that is a horticultural specimen.  It does not produce significant fruit, but it is urban hardy,
attractive flowers and grows relatively fast.  Was or still is popular as a street tree.  It has one unfortunate characteristic -
 the branches leave the trunk at an acute angle - rather than horizontal.  The more vertical form looks good and is
predictable from design point of view.  The problem is that when the larger trees experience wind storms, the branches 
peal like banana skins.  A good way for us to get a lot of sizable lumber stock.   The other part - if you self harvest it -
because of the branch angle,  it is difficult to get much stock with right angle grain for knees or breast hooks.
 
Actually, I think most any species of Pear would produce excellent wood for our purposes,  the problem is obtaining it.

Barlett pear is a variety of eatable pear.  It is actually a variety of Pyrus communis - the tree that is
the source of what is called Swiss Pear.  Swiss Pear is not a tree name or growth location, it means that the wood
has been steamed.  I believe this oxidizes the polyphenols in the wood - in any case - it turns the wood into
a relatively uniform pinkish color. 
Bradford Pear is a cousin that is a horticultural specimen.  It does not produce significant fruit, but it is urban hardy,
attractive flowers and grows relatively fast.  Was or still is popular as a street tree.  It has one unfortunate characteristic -
 the branches leave the trunk at an acute angle - rather than horizontal.  The more vertical form looks good and is
predictable from design point of view.  The problem is that when the larger trees experience wind storms, the branches 
peal like banana skins.  A good way for us to get a lot of sizable lumber stock.   The other part - if you self harvest it -
because of the branch angle,  it is difficult to get much stock with right angle grain for knees or breast hooks.
 
Actually, I think most any species of Pear would produce excellent wood for our purposes,  the problem is obtaining it.

Barlett pear is a variety of eatable pear.  It is actually a variety of Pyrus communis - the tree that is
the source of what is called Swiss Pear.  Swiss Pear is not a tree name or growth location, it means that the wood
has been steamed.  I believe this oxidizes the polyphenols in the wood - in any case - it turns the wood into
a relatively uniform pinkish color. 
Bradford Pear is a cousin that is a horticultural specimen.  It does not produce significant fruit, but it is urban hardy,
attractive flowers and grows relatively fast.  Was or still is popular as a street tree.  It has one unfortunate characteristic -
 the branches leave the trunk at an acute angle - rather than horizontal.  The more vertical form looks good and is
predictable from design point of view.  The problem is that when the larger trees experience wind storms, the branches 
peal like banana skins.  A good way for us to get a lot of sizable lumber stock.   The other part - if you self harvest it -
because of the branch angle,  it is difficult to get much stock with right angle grain for knees or breast hooks.
 
Actually, I think most any species of Pear would produce excellent wood for our purposes,  the problem is obtaining it.

Barlett pear is a variety of eatable pear.  It is actually a variety of Pyrus communis - the tree that is
the source of what is called Swiss Pear.  Swiss Pear is not a tree name or growth location, it means that the wood
has been steamed.  I believe this oxidizes the polyphenols in the wood - in any case - it turns the wood into
a relatively uniform pinkish color. 
Bradford Pear is a cousin that is a horticultural specimen.  It does not produce significant fruit, but it is urban hardy,
attractive flowers and grows relatively fast.  Was or still is popular as a street tree.  It has one unfortunate characteristic -
 the branches leave the trunk at an acute angle - rather than horizontal.  The more vertical form looks good and is
predictable from design point of view.  The problem is that when the larger trees experience wind storms, the branches 
peal like banana skins.  A good way for us to get a lot of sizable lumber stock.   The other part - if you self harvest it -
because of the branch angle,  it is difficult to get much stock with right angle grain for knees or breast hooks.
 
Actually, I think most any species of Pear would produce excellent wood for our purposes,  the problem is obtaining it.

Before the Dockyard tools - the suggestions involved making your own from steel rod
or knitting needles.  Amazon sells packs of steel rods - some quite small.
The heating and blacksmithing and grinding edges onto rods as well as Rockwell scale tempering
and quenching is getting into a whole new set of skills.  Dockyard did most of that for us, but if
they are gone, the tools can be home made.
 
As far as wood -  I have my eye on genuine Boxwood and Dogwood.  One that I not been able
to source is Hawthorn.   There is a material that flashed in our world a while ago, but did not take
for some reason:  an ivory substitute - Targa Nut. 

Dogwood I have.  A relative owns a tree farm in Caroline Co. and I have Dogwood and Holly from there.
The Holly has a yellowish tinge so even if there was interest in marketing that difficult species, the available
strain does not seem to be a desired one.  For me, even the billets that have Blue Mold should be usable,
since the pure white version is not really appropriate for any ship timber. 
The Dogwood was about as large as that species gets, so my billets are fairly large.  Not large enough for 
frame timbers at 1:48 or 1:60 scale, but I could use it for most any other part.
 
I am not sure that Crab Apple is all that different from regular Apple wood.  One species that may be surprisingly
useful is Bradford Pear.  It has anything but fine tight grain,  but it is much harder than Black Cherry to carve, 
does not want to split, and has a wax-like nature to it.

Before the Dockyard tools - the suggestions involved making your own from steel rod
or knitting needles.  Amazon sells packs of steel rods - some quite small.
The heating and blacksmithing and grinding edges onto rods as well as Rockwell scale tempering
and quenching is getting into a whole new set of skills.  Dockyard did most of that for us, but if
they are gone, the tools can be home made.
 
As far as wood -  I have my eye on genuine Boxwood and Dogwood.  One that I not been able
to source is Hawthorn.   There is a material that flashed in our world a while ago, but did not take
for some reason:  an ivory substitute - Targa Nut. 

I checked our hermit crab - Mondfeld - and he does not seem to have this.
One of the oldest sources - Furttenbach - has an early anchor and a "D" shaped component,
but the two are not related directly and exactly where the "D" goes is not illustrated.
 
A possible way.   Make a mock up of the bow area of a vessel of the era and use the published
dimensions of a D block to make one and try various locations for it pulling up a model anchor.
Whatever works for you has a good chance of being right - or it may at least stir the pot.
 
You could also see if anyone in the Nautical Archeology department at Texas A&M has any data.

Dogwood I have.  A relative owns a tree farm in Caroline Co. and I have Dogwood and Holly from there.
The Holly has a yellowish tinge so even if there was interest in marketing that difficult species, the available
strain does not seem to be a desired one.  For me, even the billets that have Blue Mold should be usable,
since the pure white version is not really appropriate for any ship timber. 
The Dogwood was about as large as that species gets, so my billets are fairly large.  Not large enough for 
frame timbers at 1:48 or 1:60 scale, but I could use it for most any other part.
 
I am not sure that Crab Apple is all that different from regular Apple wood.  One species that may be surprisingly
useful is Bradford Pear.  It has anything but fine tight grain,  but it is much harder than Black Cherry to carve, 
does not want to split, and has a wax-like nature to it.

Before the Dockyard tools - the suggestions involved making your own from steel rod
or knitting needles.  Amazon sells packs of steel rods - some quite small.
The heating and blacksmithing and grinding edges onto rods as well as Rockwell scale tempering
and quenching is getting into a whole new set of skills.  Dockyard did most of that for us, but if
they are gone, the tools can be home made.
 
As far as wood -  I have my eye on genuine Boxwood and Dogwood.  One that I not been able
to source is Hawthorn.   There is a material that flashed in our world a while ago, but did not take
for some reason:  an ivory substitute - Targa Nut. 

CAD - Computer Aided Design -  I have tended to focus on the design factor after not being able to find a way to
extract frame timber outlines after inputting Waterlines - and Buttock lines.  I think that this would be possible but
time costly using a vertex or NURBS modeling program.  My Ultimate is to use A Deane instructions and recreate
his Royal Charles ~ 1673.  CAD seems to be the way to do that. But I suspect that I would be starting too late to be able to finish.
 
But,  otherwise, I am using existing plans.  Vessels that have already been designed - a long time ago.  I find a drawing
program to be more useful.  I have found a way to avoid having to loft individual frames to do POF.  A drawing program
gets me there and I only use a small fraction of the program tools.  The important part is that it allow large files with a
ton of layers and not crash.  You do not really need to learn more that a limited number of functions.  The bulk of the tools
deal with painting and photo manipulation and color distortion - none of which are relevant to our needs.

If you do as much as possible in CAD and save that in PNG or 100% JPEG in as many different parts as you need,
the files when opened and compiled as layers in a drawing program like PaintShop Pro or Gimp will do as you wish.
To remove the white background, select it with the wand tool and Cut the selection.  Duplicate the layer before you do
this and work on the copy - in case.  Use CAD as a preliminary tool rather than the main one.

Does the tool have a fan that exhausts air from the port?
The manufacturer may have a site and post an IPL for the tool.
You could try to find a disposable bag for a vac cleaner that is small enough and 
has a opening close to the port in size and use a pipe clamp or a cable tie to hold it on.

CAD - Computer Aided Design -  I have tended to focus on the design factor after not being able to find a way to
extract frame timber outlines after inputting Waterlines - and Buttock lines.  I think that this would be possible but
time costly using a vertex or NURBS modeling program.  My Ultimate is to use A Deane instructions and recreate
his Royal Charles ~ 1673.  CAD seems to be the way to do that. But I suspect that I would be starting too late to be able to finish.
 
But,  otherwise, I am using existing plans.  Vessels that have already been designed - a long time ago.  I find a drawing
program to be more useful.  I have found a way to avoid having to loft individual frames to do POF.  A drawing program
gets me there and I only use a small fraction of the program tools.  The important part is that it allow large files with a
ton of layers and not crash.  You do not really need to learn more that a limited number of functions.  The bulk of the tools
deal with painting and photo manipulation and color distortion - none of which are relevant to our needs.

If you do as much as possible in CAD and save that in PNG or 100% JPEG in as many different parts as you need,
the files when opened and compiled as layers in a drawing program like PaintShop Pro or Gimp will do as you wish.
To remove the white background, select it with the wand tool and Cut the selection.  Duplicate the layer before you do
this and work on the copy - in case.  Use CAD as a preliminary tool rather than the main one.

I only use mine for model work also.  I just have to shape frames and cut bevels in
fairly thick stock.  Even at 1:60 Commerce de Marseille has timbers that are 1/4" thick
and sanding a station of them is over 2 inches of Hard Maple.  That needs an
adequate motor.  60 grit paper does not take too long to remove the bulk.  When I
do the sanding, I tend to go in batches, so a session can go for a couple of hours,
which does heat a motor.

I only use mine for model work also.  I just have to shape frames and cut bevels in
fairly thick stock.  Even at 1:60 Commerce de Marseille has timbers that are 1/4" thick
and sanding a station of them is over 2 inches of Hard Maple.  That needs an
adequate motor.  60 grit paper does not take too long to remove the bulk.  When I
do the sanding, I tend to go in batches, so a session can go for a couple of hours,
which does heat a motor.

I would think that the designed unit that is the subject of this thread :
is under powered.  could over heat  unless better ventilation is allowed.
does not offer a large enough surface for sanding - especially for changing bevels on frames.
 
I have built two drum sanding tables.
The spindle sanders I checked use drum with sleeve sanding media.
I dislike being tied to using disposable media that is expensive and has
limited sources. When I found sleeveless drums at Peachtree that use
9 x 11 sheet sandpaper I built to use them.  The variety od sizes is good.
At one end is a 3" dia. that is 6 inches high and the other is 1/2" dia that
is 3 inches high.  To get down to 1/2" - the rubber layer making it 3/4" is
removed.
 
The first unit had a 1/20 HP motor 1700 rpm but the shaft is 5/16".
All but the two smallest drums have 1/2" sockets.  Then the two small drums
had 1/4" sockets.  Now, they seem to have changed manufacturers and the two
small ones now also have 1/2" sockets.  I had to drill and turn adapters from
cold rolled steel rod.  That is messy and requires an involved cleanup to remove
the steel turnings from the lathe.
The 1/20 HP motor did not have enough power to mount the 6 inch drum and was weak
in removal with the others.
I thought I might get the motor that Jim Byrnes uses for his sander but it turns out to be a 
3500 rpm motor pullyed down to 1700 rpm.  I did learn about two pole motors from the exercise.
 
I bought a 1/3 hp 1700 rpm motor from Grainger that has a closed fan internal cooling component
and ball bearing mounts for the shaft.  Good bearings and ventilation for cooling is important.
It is also best to develop a design that keeps saw dust out of the motor - which is a challenge when
the motor is under the drum.  The motor has a 1/2 shaft so all of the drums will mount directly ti it.
The motor is two pole, so I wired it to a drum switch so that the drums can rotate CW or CCW.
With a 1/2" shaft, I also mount burr cutters and micro planers - but with a threaded mount , reverse
rotation does not work so well.  The commercial spindle sanders that I have looked at appear to have
a proprietary method to mount their drums that limits their versatility.  The belt sanding attachment 
on the Rigid model looked interesting, but when Harbor Freight had a stand alone 4 x 36 unit on sale
for $60, I calculated it was easier and cheaper than trying to adapt that ability to my unit.

I would think that the designed unit that is the subject of this thread :
is under powered.  could over heat  unless better ventilation is allowed.
does not offer a large enough surface for sanding - especially for changing bevels on frames.
 
I have built two drum sanding tables.
The spindle sanders I checked use drum with sleeve sanding media.
I dislike being tied to using disposable media that is expensive and has
limited sources. When I found sleeveless drums at Peachtree that use
9 x 11 sheet sandpaper I built to use them.  The variety od sizes is good.
At one end is a 3" dia. that is 6 inches high and the other is 1/2" dia that
is 3 inches high.  To get down to 1/2" - the rubber layer making it 3/4" is
removed.
 
The first unit had a 1/20 HP motor 1700 rpm but the shaft is 5/16".
All but the two smallest drums have 1/2" sockets.  Then the two small drums
had 1/4" sockets.  Now, they seem to have changed manufacturers and the two
small ones now also have 1/2" sockets.  I had to drill and turn adapters from
cold rolled steel rod.  That is messy and requires an involved cleanup to remove
the steel turnings from the lathe.
The 1/20 HP motor did not have enough power to mount the 6 inch drum and was weak
in removal with the others.
I thought I might get the motor that Jim Byrnes uses for his sander but it turns out to be a 
3500 rpm motor pullyed down to 1700 rpm.  I did learn about two pole motors from the exercise.
 
I bought a 1/3 hp 1700 rpm motor from Grainger that has a closed fan internal cooling component
and ball bearing mounts for the shaft.  Good bearings and ventilation for cooling is important.
It is also best to develop a design that keeps saw dust out of the motor - which is a challenge when
the motor is under the drum.  The motor has a 1/2 shaft so all of the drums will mount directly ti it.
The motor is two pole, so I wired it to a drum switch so that the drums can rotate CW or CCW.
With a 1/2" shaft, I also mount burr cutters and micro planers - but with a threaded mount , reverse
rotation does not work so well.  The commercial spindle sanders that I have looked at appear to have
a proprietary method to mount their drums that limits their versatility.  The belt sanding attachment 
on the Rigid model looked interesting, but when Harbor Freight had a stand alone 4 x 36 unit on sale
for $60, I calculated it was easier and cheaper than trying to adapt that ability to my unit.

Does the tool have a fan that exhausts air from the port?
The manufacturer may have a site and post an IPL for the tool.
You could try to find a disposable bag for a vac cleaner that is small enough and 
has a opening close to the port in size and use a pipe clamp or a cable tie to hold it on.

If you are building in a style that requires a dead flat surface - a piece of thick safety glass with beveled edges
makes for a useful surface.  I also cover my plywood surfaces with a layer to two of white butcher paper.  Helps with
light and is handy to do calculations on.

If you are building in a style that requires a dead flat surface - a piece of thick safety glass with beveled edges
makes for a useful surface.  I also cover my plywood surfaces with a layer to two of white butcher paper.  Helps with
light and is handy to do calculations on.

If you are building in a style that requires a dead flat surface - a piece of thick safety glass with beveled edges
makes for a useful surface.  I also cover my plywood surfaces with a layer to two of white butcher paper.  Helps with
light and is handy to do calculations on.

I introduced myself to one property of sulfuric acid inadvertently.  It is intensely hygroscopic.
That is - it readily combines with water.  It takes a lot of energy to remove the water, so
when it does combine with water it gives back that energy as heat.  On your skin, it feels like
a jet of live steam has hit it.  Adding water to acid, the water instantly turns to steam and blows
out of the liquid - taking some of the liquid with it.   I have never added water to acid, but I 
did discover that reagent sulfuric acid is thick and does not pour like water.  It tends to come back
down the surface of the container it is poured from.  Pouring it from a beaker with your thumb on
the bottom of the beaker is really not a good way to do it.