dvm27

Thanks for the link to Lloyd's latest model. I note that all of the rigging is done in silk. In my opinion it lays beautifully with a natural catenary. Several members of this forum have disparaged its use due to potential deterioration and biologic degradation. I find it hard to believe Lloyd would use a material in his model that might disintegrate in the near future. As well, there are many contemporary models (and flags) in the Rogers collection in Annapolis with their original silk rigs and examples of silk garments from hundreds of years ago from the far east. So, my question is has anyone here actually used silk in making their rope? If not, is there really a concern that it will disintegrate in 50 or 100 years? Can we reasonably expect any rig, whether linen, polyester or other to survive a century without needing repairs or rerigging?

Thanks for the link to Lloyd's latest model. I note that all of the rigging is done in silk. In my opinion it lays beautifully with a natural catenary. Several members of this forum have disparaged its use due to potential deterioration and biologic degradation. I find it hard to believe Lloyd would use a material in his model that might disintegrate in the near future. As well, there are many contemporary models (and flags) in the Rogers collection in Annapolis with their original silk rigs and examples of silk garments from hundreds of years ago from the far east. So, my question is has anyone here actually used silk in making their rope? If not, is there really a concern that it will disintegrate in 50 or 100 years? Can we reasonably expect any rig, whether linen, polyester or other to survive a century without needing repairs or rerigging?

Some sail making progress on the Fair American:
 
After last time, sewing sails was postponed 2 weeks, as my (retired) mother in law was busy. It was worth the wait.
 
 
 
With each sail cut out, I made light pencil marks showing where to sew the seams. These were spaced apart 0.5in, which is scaled 2ft, as dictated in Steel's Sail making section. The thread will cover up the pencil marks, so I'm not too worried about it showing up. 

Bottom and Top sails have reef bands. Acccording to Steel's, they are to be 1/3 width of canvas. For practical/folding ability, I targeted 3/16" wide. This fabric is NOT easy to use, and folding them over 2x to prevent unraveling was a nightmare. It got all twisted and rolled, instead of folded. I was going to use the Iron to flatten, but I couldn't even get to that point. 

I thought that folding along the weave direction wasn't going to work, so I tried cutting them out from an angle, so the weave would stay more intact (see the angled line I cut). It didn't help. the pieces are just too narrow to handle. Very frustrating. 

So then I thought, well I need more 'substantial' material to fold with. So I didn't cut the strip free, just folded over 1x....

Then ironed it. Then folded again, ironed again. THIS WORKED!  Afterwards, I just cut along the second fold - worked great. I just needed something to 'hold onto'.

I took the cut reef bands, and placed them in between the pages of a big music book. I play piano, so this is apparently the page I turned too. They'll stay flat and protected until I'm ready for them.

Now for the more fun stuff. Please note: I have no idea what I'm doing - really just trial and error and ''yeah that'll work''. Bob Hunt's practicum on Sail Making is helpful, but I really wish there were more pictures.
Anyway after careful consideration, I decided on a medium tan thread, as the sewing thread for the sails. In hindsight, I probably should have gone with the next lighter shade, but I'll live with it - No turning back now!
My mother-in-law started with the vertical seams first, following my pencil lines as a guide. We played with the settings for the tension, stitch, and 'that spool up on top' (12, 7, 2, respectively)

You can see the master at work tabling the ends

This first Main Topsail had a generous curve on the foot.  Folding and ironing this tabling was a challenge. We discussed folding/ironing all 4 tabling ends was not easy to sew - to many layers at once. So we did the head and foot first, then I folded and ironed the leeches afterwards.
 
Note - Nowhere in my research, or in Steel's, did I find which way the tabling should face: fore or aft. My brain says aft, but I wish I could know for sure. The Rogers model LOOKS LIKE the tabling is aft, but I really can't tell. The reef bands do go on the fore side, so those will be sewn last.

Here's the 'fore' side of the sail, with tabling facing aft. 

Here's the head tabling sewn - it looks pretty good. It was hard for her to stay close to the edge of the seam without the stitch walking over the edge. Thus, it's not perfectly straight. Beginning and ending the stitch was very difficult. The material likes to snag in the sewing machine. We had to make adjustments for start/end to get it right, with a couple reverse stitches to keep the thread from unraveling. 

After the head and foot were sewn, the leeches were next. I left the folds long, so she had something to grab onto, then trimmed later. 

The final sewn sail ended up being slightly smaller than the carboard stencil at-scale. There's some material puckering and my folding wasn't perfect. 
When the sail is rigged, it will be bent to the yard anyway, so thank God it didn't end up bigger! 

I think it looks pretty good, considering first sail, first time, first material, first ship. Most of the credit goes to Jane, but we made a good team.

We worked on one of the Jib Sails next - 

This was about as far as we got yesterday....

We spent ~1hr deciding on the plan, 1hr with a practice sail/seam, and 1hr of real sail sewing. I'm going to go back later in the week to make more progress. She sews, I fold and iron, she sews some more. 
 
We haven't sewn on the bolt rope yet - that'll be at the end once they're all tabled, and the reef bands are on. 
 
Hopefully more progress in the coming weeks.
 
Enjoy your week
 
- Jason -

Thanks for the link to Lloyd's latest model. I note that all of the rigging is done in silk. In my opinion it lays beautifully with a natural catenary. Several members of this forum have disparaged its use due to potential deterioration and biologic degradation. I find it hard to believe Lloyd would use a material in his model that might disintegrate in the near future. As well, there are many contemporary models (and flags) in the Rogers collection in Annapolis with their original silk rigs and examples of silk garments from hundreds of years ago from the far east. So, my question is has anyone here actually used silk in making their rope? If not, is there really a concern that it will disintegrate in 50 or 100 years? Can we reasonably expect any rig, whether linen, polyester or other to survive a century without needing repairs or rerigging?

It's the lighting Mark. They are black. One could leave them in the blackening solution for a longer length of time to deepen the color. In that case I'd recommend a more dilute solution over a longer period of time.

The plans show two stairs at the bow. Both enclosed on all sides with a door on one likely so no one falls down the hole.

So I made a set of ladders per the above drawings. At 24" wide they are quite narrow.

They have been installed but I want to get some flush flooring and grating installed before the reveal.
As I did not install the platform below they hang midair, but no one is likely to notice that.
 
 

Hello everyone, further progress at La Palme.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

When we contemplated the swan class build I asked designer David Antscherl to loft the jig for the Hahn style method. But even for a sixth rate the jig was very complex for properly lofted frames and I decided to build upright. Having built several Hahn style models I actually found building upright just as easy and more fun (I suppose because it followed actual building practice and you don't have to wait for the jig to be chopped away before you truly appreciate the lines of the model). Another alternative that is popular among French builders is to build upright using a jig below the toptimber line. Not too difficult to make if you have the framing plan.

For those inexperienced in using the lathe there is a series for beginners by You Tuber Blondihacks https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY67-4BrEae9Ad91LPRIhcLJM9fO-HJyN. While her series is concerned with metal work on the hobby lathe the techniques are applicable to wood as well. As machinists usually work to closer tolerances than woodworkers mastering these skills will probably improve your results in wood.

Just to kabitz about personal philosophy:
 
Since you are not using linen,  I think that any starting material that you can source will be a thread.
The prototype rope was turned up using a single thread  for each of the 3 or 4 lines being twisted
At scale, using more than one will not produce something that looks like scale rope.  It will be twine - sorta ugly.
 
Over a short range, a variety of diameters can be had by using thicker starting thread.
Linen comes as  (picking a number to make it easier to write - I have 10 Lea to 62 Lea so I could pick any number.)   40   and 40/2 .   The 40 is one 40 Lea yarn.  The 40/2 is two 40 Lea yarns twisted together.  The twist is tight enough to make it look like a single line.
Your photo #2  pair would need to be twist into a single before it is strung like that.
Your photo #3  trios  would need to be actual 3 strand scale rope before you strung it.
Your photo #4 quartets would need to be 4 strand scale rope as starting material .
 
The twist of the starting material determines the rotation for the rope being made.  Use the wrong rotation and the starting material unravels.
 
I have no suggestion for a machine.  I wanted a mile long stock, so I bought a Byrnes rope walk.  I have not (well back when I was practicing) figured out the correct angles to get the scale twist of an actual rope.  It also generates forces that break the linen yarns that are really fine - usually where a stem inclusion gets past the comb during its twist up.  The Baltic stuff is even less well combed.
 
Anything synthetic is against my personal rules, but my rules are only for me.

For those inexperienced in using the lathe there is a series for beginners by You Tuber Blondihacks https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY67-4BrEae9Ad91LPRIhcLJM9fO-HJyN. While her series is concerned with metal work on the hobby lathe the techniques are applicable to wood as well. As machinists usually work to closer tolerances than woodworkers mastering these skills will probably improve your results in wood.

I have considered Daniel’s chains, T_C.  Unfortunately, I don’t think their length will cover the span that I need to reach the middle band of wales.  It’s okay, though, making my own is a worthwhile learning experience.
 
So far, I’ve made the 5MM, fore and main deadeye strops.  I just completed the 3.5MM backstay deadeye strops.

Below are the rough strops before filing away excess solder.  Above are the cleaned-up strops.  I have adopted a method described by R.C. Anderson, where the join overlaps and is concealed beneath the channels.  I’m reasonably satisfied with these.  Now that I have a new pair of nippers, I will get busy making the other links, although I still need to make 4MM deadeye strops for the mizzen chains.
 
I wanted to do something more familiar and fun, so I’ve started re-locating the trunnions for the main deck battery.  To the left is the stock trunnion location, and you can see that the cascabel overhangs the carriage end to an excessive degree.  To the right, I’ve shifted the barrel forward to where it should be:

This process begins by shaving away the existing trunnions, and making a simple marking gauge to locate the new trunnion position:

I use an awl to make a starting depression for the drill, otherwise the bit will just skate across the rounded surface.  First, I chuck the bit in a pin vise to get a better bite on both locations.  Then, I can chuck the bit in the Dremmel and drill though one side at a time:

A short length of .035 styrene rod is fed through the barrel, and a spot of liquid plastic cement, on the underside of each join, secures it.  On my marking gauge, I inscribed a line indicating the projection of the trunnions from the barrel side.  A pencil mark on the overlong trunnions gives me a reference to nip to.  I clean the ends with a file, and voila:


Corrected trunnions!
 
Ultimately, I will add either paper or foil cap squares to the visible, detailed guns.
 
Thanks for stopping by and looking in at This Old Project!

I made a technological mistake and here is the result. I will have to try again.🙂 Meanwhile I am tuning the Proxxon circular saw, a gift for the New Year. Some components are very crude and require some changes. My best regards  

Thanks to every one who has checked out this build.  It has been fun.
Mike R

Post One Hundred and Thirty-Seven
 
Qtr deck Fittings. (Part six.)
 
All that remains to do is the QD rail, and ladders to the Upper deck.
 The carronades can then be put into place.
 
Quarterdeck Breast rail.

3503
This classically shaped rail for ships of this era is fairly straightforward to fit until the top slotted rail is fitted over the stanchions.

3509
This is a 0.6mm delicate rail thro’ which the Hammock cranes are fitted into the base.
 
I found careful and gentle fettling of both rail and Crane was necessary to ensure that the cranes fitted thro’ without stress and risk of breaking the rail.
I took the precaution of drilling out the fitting holes for an easier fit. The cranes should fit flush with the top.

3507

3515
The Cranes were used to align the capping rail but will be  fitted later. They are notorious snag magnets.

3516

3519

3521

3522

3523
Movin’ aft to the Poop.
 
B.E.
31/01/2024
 

Well that carving is certainly matches the quality of your work. Congratulations on owning an original Antscherl piece of art!

Thanks for the likes and the encouraging comments.  I finished more of the deck planking this week.  I did my first scarph joints on the deck.  The remaining planking will be more time consuming since it involves cutting the planks out of wood sheet.  One note on planking color.  Since I have 2 different batches of 3/16" wide wood for the main planking I used, which are both different from 7/32" wide planking I used, which is different again from the wood sheet, I decided to deliberately mix up the planks of different shades from the beginning.  The plank color would vary anyway, and this kept it varied throughout the deck, rather than having bands of different shades as I transitioned from the planking stock to sheet stock.  The photos were taken after a quick first sanding.
 
Erik
 

Maybe the carpenters were using the hearth to keep warm while fitting out the ship in those cold winter months?

Very happy to have found this log! I love the built up stump mast in post #2. Congratulations on a beautiful sectional model.

I was just wondering on utube and came across this little gismo.  Don't know if it would really work for a mini lathe but I thought it was interesting enough to share with you all.
 
 

Hello! Here I am again with some updates:
Mizzen mast has been stepped up, crojack and mizzen lower topsail in place.
Stepping the mizzen is the same business as the main and fore mast. The only thing I changed is that the mizzen is not glued, but held in place just by the shrouds. No real reasons for this; I just wanted to try something slightly different. In the end, the glue is not needed, and I’m happy with this choice.
Shrouds in place, ratlines, fairleads, all as usual. 
Here is a close up of the fairleads:
 

 
Since these are the last ratlines on my Cutty Sark, I took the opportunity to make a small video of the process. 
No audio, slow and not so steady hands due to the uncomfortable position, with the smartphone in the middle, but just to share a long and repetitive process that I ended up liking. 
If you struggle to get a sleep, here it is:
 
 
 
Once the mast was stepped, I installed and rigged the crojack and the lower topsail.
Once again, the process is similar to the other sails and other masts. Sails are prepared before installation, and rigged as much as possible before being installed on the mast. 
Here are some images:
 
 





 
A small mention for the stays: It would have been better to pre-install them starting from the main mast. I thought I was smart pre-installing them on the mizzen mast before stepping it, but it is better to do the opposite  in my opinion. I ended up removing them from the mizzen and starting all over again to be fitted on the main mast. Here is a close-up of the topmast and topgallant stay on the aft of the main mast:
 

As you can see it’s quite crowded, not an ideal place to work with knots and tweezers.
 
And, at last, the Cutty as she is now:
 
 

Thank you all for passing by!

Mechanism for turning the ventilation socket.

Ventilation pipes.

For those inexperienced in using the lathe there is a series for beginners by You Tuber Blondihacks https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY67-4BrEae9Ad91LPRIhcLJM9fO-HJyN. While her series is concerned with metal work on the hobby lathe the techniques are applicable to wood as well. As machinists usually work to closer tolerances than woodworkers mastering these skills will probably improve your results in wood.

To finish up chapter 4 and the forward platforms,  the breasthooks were made.  There are two of them.   These are laser cut for you in two halves.  Its just easier to work with them this way.  I usually shape one half and lightly tack it in position.  Then I shape the other half and fit it in next to it.   At this point they can both be removed and joined together.  Do a quick sanding to refine everything and add the bolts.  The bolts are 30 lb. black line.  
 
The lower breast hook has etched bevel lines because the side that fits against the frames needs to be beveled.  Its just a start because everyone's model will be slightly different.
 

Lastly..to finish off this chapter I made the riding bitts.  Like the fire hearth, this wont be glued in position yet.  But its good to have at the ready.   We will need it before framing out the rest of the forecastle deck later.  So the cross beam is laser cut for you.  Just clean it up and shape to suit.  I just used some needle files, etc.   The uprights are basically made from 5/16" x 5/16" strips.   Measure against the plans and shape the tops to suit.  Use the plans as a guide.  Nothing earth shattering with these.  
 

 
 
I will paint the riding bitts red above the gun deck.  I used the plans to determine where that break would be.   Here is what it looks like after being painted and test fit.  Note the string...this is good to get in place now too.  Its glued lightly to the center of the stem and then taped to the top of the stern post.  It will help guide you when setting fittings along the center line.  It helps a lot!!!
 

The fire hearth and riding bitts have been set aside for safe keeping.
 
Next up chapter 5 which will take care of the aft lower platforms and a few other odds and ends.