wefalck

Yes, this is one of the various books on particular ships in which rigging details have been compiled, but it is not necessarily a book on rigging.

That's a difficult question for someone, who doesn't really know much about the 18th century practices. A general observation, however, is that several 'standard' works have been reprinted many times, sometimes over a period of 100 years or so, without substantial changes to the plates. Often plates from older works quite evidently have been copied in newer works. Having said that, Lees would be certainly on the list, because he also provides a critical historical perspective. Otherwise, the good old Steel and Lever are rather comprehensive sources. I did not search specifically for French 18th century literature, but starting from the entry on 'Marine' in Diderot's and D'Alembert's encyclopedia (which I should have included in my list, though not specifically on rigging) there are other works - the French were quite encyclopedia-minded. For more practical questions also the various handbooks on seamanship that have been published over the past 200 years or so are useful. And then of course Harland's synopsis, which is is a must-have and tells you a lot about how things were actually worked, so that one understands their function. I started the list in the late 1970s on paper, going through the bibliographic references of books, searching library catalogues wherever I could. The Internet now made the literature so much more accessible (although partly devaluating my collection of old books, because the information in them is now cheaply accessible on-line).

One should always remember, that the masts, spars and the rigging are kind of a living thing. They can be and are continuously modified to improve the performance and serviceability of a ship. Even on naval ships a lot was left to the discretion of the captain and the officers, as long as the materials provided were used. Extra materials the captain had to pay for himself. So any reconstructed rigging plan can only reflect common practices and materials of the time, nothing more, in the absence of precise sources. I would take any modern book on rigging with some caution, particularly, when it claims to cover long periods of time and diverse regions. It is unlikely that the authors are experts with such a wide coverage. It is always a good idea to check their references section in order to see what written sources they claim to have used. Having said that, I think Lee's book is quite reliable, as he substantiates his claims also with a critical assessment of the rigging of the models in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Talking about written sources: by coincidence, I made a few days ago an excerpt on masting and rigging from my 130+ page literature list. It focuses on the 19th century though (my own area of interest) and does not list many older works. In the first column you will find a letter that indicates the presence of the work in own library. A B means I own a hardcopy and an E denotes an ebook. Many books on which the copyright has expired are now available as scans. A Google-search lists many of them, but Google has taken to the bad habit of listing often now modern reprints, rather than the electronic version. A certain persistence in searching is required. Another bad habit of Google is in their scanning programme to not unfold plates, which renders many scans quite useless. Search also archive.org and www.gallica.bnf.fr for French works. Many other national libraries have digitised works in their respective languages in often very good scans. I would appreciate any suggestions to complete my list below (preferably with complete bibliographic referencing): Anderson, R.C. (1952): Seventeenth century rigging.- p., (). Anderson, R.C. (1984): The Rigging of Ships - In the Days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600-1720.- 278 p., London (Conway Maritime Press). BE BIDDLECOMBE, G. (1848): The Art of Rigging.- 155 p., Salem, Ma. (Reprint 1990 by Dover Publication, New York). B BOBRIK, E. (1848): Handbuch der praktischen Seefahrtskunde, Bd. I.- 816 p., Leipzig (Verlagsbureau). B BOBRIK, E. (1848): Handbuch der praktischen Seefahrtskunde, Bd. II, I. Abtheilung.- 992 p., Leipzig (Verlagsbureau). B BOBRIK, E. (1848): Handbuch der praktischen Seefahrtskunde, Schiffgebäudekunde, Zurüstungskunde, Manövrierkunde, Ankerkunde, Tafeln zur Schifferkunde.- 604 p. + Tafelband, Leipzig (Nachdruck 1978 bei Horst Hamecher, Kassel). B BOBRIK, E. (1848): Vom Tauwerk und seiner Zubereitung zur Taakelasche (aus Handbuch der praktischen Seefahrtskunde.- 24 p., Leipzig (Nachdruck 1975 bei Verlag Egon Heinemann, Norderstedt). BOUDRIOT, J. (1975): Seventy Four Gun Ship. Volume III: Masts - Sails - Rigging.- 280 p., 13 pl., (Collection Archeologie Navale Française). E BRADY, W.W. (1852, 6th ed.): The Kedge Anchor; or Young Sailor’s Assistant. Appertaining to the Practical Evolutions of Modern Seamanship, Rigging, Knotting, Splicing, Blocks, Purchases, Running-Rigging, and Other Miscellaneus Matters Applicable to Ships of War and Others.- 400 p., New York (Published by the Author). K BRADY, W.W. (1863): Brady’s Kattanker. Handbuch für Seeleute (aus dem Englischen von J.L. Stipperger).- 247 p., 37 Tab., Hamburg (P. Salomon & Co.). E BREART, E. (18..): Manuel du Gréement et de la Manœuvre des bâtiments à voile et à vapeur. Comprenant les matières exigées pour l’obtention du Brevet de Capitaine au long cours et de Maître au cabotage.- 459+13 p., 7 pl., Paris (Librairie Scientifique, industrielle et agricole, Eugène Lacroix). B BRÉART, E. (1861): Manuel du gréement et de la mannœuvre des bâtiments à voiles et à vapeur. Premiere Partie.- 338 p., Paris (Eugène Lacroix, Editeur). B BRÉART, E. (1863): Manuel du gréement et de la mannœuvre des bâtiments à voiles et à vapeur. Deuxieme Partie. Manœuvres particulières au batiment à vapeur.- 110 p., Paris (Eugène Lacroix, Editeur). B BRÉART, E. (1864): Manuel du gréement et de la mannœuvre des bâtiments à voiles et à vapeur. Atlas.- 16 pl., Paris (Eugène Lacroix, Editeur). E BROWN, S. (1809): An Essay on Iron Rigging and Cables.- 93 p., London (printed for the author). E BUSHELL, C. (1856, 2nd ed.): The Rigger's Guide and Seaman’s Assistant Containing Practical Instructions for Completely Rigging Ships of War – Second Edition, with sixteen addtional pages on wire rigging.- 214 p., London (H. Lewis). BUSHELL, C. (1857, 3rd ed.): The Rigger's Guide and Seaman’s Assistant - Third edition. with considerable additions relative to wire rigging, formation of knots, etc.- 226 p., London (). BUSHELL, C. (1877, 6th ed.): The Rigger's Guide and Seaman’s Assistant.- xx p., London (). E BUSHELL, C. (1893, 7th ed.): The Rigger's Guide and Seaman’s Assistant; Containing Practical Instructions for Rigging Ships, with Considerable Additions Relative to Wire Rigging, Formation of Knots, etc.- 254 p., Portsmouth (Griffin & Co.). CHAPMAN, H.C., JONES, A.F. (c. 1840): Rules for the Uniform Masting and Sparring of Merchant Ships... with... Suggestions on Ships and Ship-Building.- 32 p., 1 pl., Liverpool (). E DUBREUL, P.-J. (1835): Manuel de matelotage et de manœuvre, à la usage des éléves de l´École Navale et des candidates aux places de capitane au long cours et de capitane au cabotage.- 279 p., ? pl., Paris (L’Impremerie Royale). E DUBREUL, P.-J. (1839): Manuel de matelotage et de manœuvre, à la usage des éléves de l´École Navale et des candidates aux places de capitane au long cours et de capitane au cabotage.- 285 p., IV pl., Paris (Bachelier Imprimeur-Libraire). B DUBREUL, P.-J. (1851): Manuel de matelotage et de manœuvre, à la usage des éléves de l´École Navale et des candidates aux places de capitane au long cours et de capitane au cabotage.- 342 p., 4 pl., Brest (J.-B. et A. Lefournier Libraires-Editeurs). E Cock, J. (1840): A Treatise on Mast-Making for Every Class or Description of Merchant Ships or Vessels.- 52 p., 1 pl. (missing), Pembroke (J.G. Barclay). K FINCHAM, J. (1854, 3rd ed.): A Treatise on Masting Ships & Mast Making.- 384 p., London (Nachdruck 1982, Conway Maritime Press). E GEANETTE, M.A. (1983): Mast Step and Keelson. The Early Development of a Shipbuilding Technology.- MA Thesis: 148 p., College Station (Texas A&M University). E Grange, J. (1867): Hints to Young Shipmasters in Drafting and Cutting Ships’ Rigging and Sails, Placing and Fitting Masts, etc. etc.; With a Form of Shipmasters’ Books and Accounts, and Several Useful Remarks.- 110 p., 2 Tab., Glasgow (MacGregor & Co.). E Henriquez, A. Ritter von (1873): Takelung und Manöver.- 87 p., (Schmidt). HILDEBRANDT, O. (1872): Praktisches Lehrbuch für junge Seeleute der Kriegs- und Kauffahrtei-Marine.- 354 p., 10 pl., Danzig (A.W. Kafemann). (DTM 2/91/997) B HILDEBRANDT, O. (1893): Praktisches Lehrbuch für junge Seeleute.- 430 p., 10 pl., Danzig (Ernst Gruihns Verlag). KIPPING, R. (1851): Masting and Rigging.- London. E KIPPING, R. (1853): Rudimentary Treatise on Masting, Mast-Making, and Rigging of Ships.- 150 p., London (John Weale). E KIPPING, R. (1854): Rudimentary Treatise on Masting, Mast-Making, and Rigging of Ships.- 150 p., London (John Weale). E KIPPING, R. (1864): Rudimentary Treatise on Masting, Mast-Making, and Rigging of Ships.- 169 p., London (Virtue Brothers). B KIPPING, R. (1903): Masting, Mast-Making and Rigging of Ships.- 211 p., London (Crosby, Lockwood, and Son). B LEES, J. (1979): The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860.- 196 p., London (Conway Maritime Press). LEHNHART VON LENNINGSFELD, P. (1895): Takelung und Ankerkunde für die k.u.k Kriegs-marine. Unter Anleitung des Militär-Hafencommandanten von Pola Contreadmiral Freiherr von Sterneck verfaßt von mehreren k.u.k. Seeoffizieren. Neu bearbeitet von p. L.v.L., k.u.k. Fregatten-Capitän.- 2 Bde., 436 p. + LXXXVII Taf., Wien (k.-k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei). (ÖNB 260.662-B.Fid. = 108-049) B LEHNHART VON LENNINGSFELD, P. (1895): Takelung und Ankerkunde für die k.u.k Kriegs-marine. Figurentafeln. Unter Anleitung des Militär-Hafencommandanten von Pola Contreadmiral Freiherr von Sterneck verfaßt von mehreren k.u.k. Seeoffizieren. Neu bearbeitet von P. L.v.L., k.u.k. Fregatten-Capitän.- LXXXVII Taf., Wien (k.-k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei). B LEHMANN, T. (1920): Het tuigen van schoenerschepen. Met de daarbij behoorende werkzaamheden. Eenvoudige handleiding voor den varensman.- 142 p. Amsterdam (Wereldbibliotheek, reprint 2004). B LEVER, D. (1819, 2nd ed.😞 The Young Sea Officer’s Sheet Anchor.- 124 p., London (Nachdruck 1963 bei E.W. Sweetman & Co., New York). MARQUARDT, K.H. (1986): Bemastung und Takelung von Schiffen des 18. Jahrhunderts.- 484 p., Rostock/Bielefeld (VEB Hinstorff Verlag/Verlag Delius Klasing). MARQUARDT, K.H. (1992): Eighteenth-Century Rigs & Rigging. English edition revised and expanded.- 330 p., London/Annapolis MD (Conway Maritime Press/United States Naval Institute Press, Annapolis). B MIDDENDORF, F.L. (1903): Bemastung und Takelung der Schiffe.- 401 p., Kassel (reprint 1977 by Horst Hamecher). Norie, J.W. [Ed.] (18xx): The Art of making Masts, Yards, Gaffs, Booms, Blocks, and Oars, as practised in the Royal Navy, and according to the most approved Methods in the Merchant- Service, including a Description of an improved Rule for Mast-makers; also a new Method by which large Yards may be made from small Trees, and repaired when sprung in the Slings, &c. - p., pl., London (printed for J.W. Norie and Co.). E Petersson, L. (2000): Rigging Period Ship Models. A Step-By-Step Guide to the Intricacies of the Square-Rig.- 128 p., Washington (US Naval Institute Press). B Pilaar, J.C., Mossel, G.P.J. (1858): Handleiding tot de Kennis van Tuig, Masten, Zeilen, enz. Van het Schip.- 535 p., X pl., Amsterdam (de Wed. G. Hulst van Keulen, reprint Fontes Pers, Amsterdam). SCHOMBERG, A. (1832): Practical Remarks and Observations on Building, Rigging, Arming and Equipping His Majesty’s Ships of War &c..- London (Longman) (?R 2788/10) B SCHRAGE, K. (1989): Rundhölzer, Tauwerk und Segel.- 187 p., Herford (Koehlers Verlagsgesellschaft mbH). Steel, D. [Ed.] (1794): Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship.- London. B Steel, D. [Ed.] (1818): The Art of Rigging (Nachdr. 1974 Fisher Nautical Press).- 136 p., London (Steel, Goddard & Co.). B STEINHAUS, C.F. (1869): Die Construction und Bemastung der Segelschiffe.- 137 p., Hamburg (L. Friedrichsen & Co., reprint 1977 Horst Hamecher, Kassel). B UNDERHILL, H.A. (1946): Masting & Rigging the Clipper Ship & Ocean Carrier.- 304 p., Glasgow (Brown, Son & Ferguson). K UNDERHILL, H.A. (1955): Sailing Ships Rigs and Rigging.- 127 p., Glasgow (Brown, Son & Ferguson). E VERDIER, M. (1837): Nouveau manuel complet de la marine. Premiere Partie. Gréement.- 290 p., Paris (Librairie Enciclopédique de Roret).

Apart from the reasons mentioned by others, applying any kind of lacquer to the whole sheet might also make more difficult to remove the laser-cut parts, as the lacquer will run into the cut slots and act as glue.

Well, zu Mondfeld sometimes seems to have transgressed his competences and played the guru ... When I saw the title of the post, I had the same thoughts as Allen: why would one want to serve backstays and in particular over the full length ? It is always a good idea, if there is evidence missing, to take say a yard and position it in the extreme positions and then check what kind of running rigging on the sails or the sail itself might come into contact with parts of the standing rigging. Making a mental exercise, I could envisage that, when sailling high up the wind the windward clew of the main-course might touch the backstays when hauled out. Similarly when sailing almost before the wind with the spanker boom fully swung out, the boom, the gaff, and the spanker might touch the back-stay of that mast. It would make some sense to serve the respective contact areas of the rear-most backstay.

Looks shipshape !

The transom looks a rather complicated piece ... good Luck !

The effort pays off 👌

OK, you put the plank seam into the corner of the transom. I was under the impression that the plank would have to bent cross-wise and concave to fit into the corner ...

The end of this strake is going to be interesting ...

I feel almost like a heretic bringing up this subject, but have you thought of using a CAD-system such as DelftShip to develop the planking diagram ? I have been thinking of this, because I will be facing the problem soon of having to clinker-plank a boat that is only a couple of centimetres long. Traditional ways of taking off plank widths will be rather difficult to use. The planking itself will not be so difficult - some years ago I made a little dinghi about 3 cm long from Eric McKee's planking diagram in his booklet on clinker boats.

No. 5 is not actually Catrovejo scissors, but a needle-holder. I also have two pairs of Castrovejo scissors. The first, smaller one I bought some 25 years ago and it is only used for rigging to keep it sharp, so that I can cut the thinnest lines or fluff. The sliding ring ones seem to work quite well for me and I have used them a lot in recent times. In order to hold my miniature (1.4 mm long) blocks, I cut a recess into the face of the brass pads in one of them. Hand-vices where the jaw open parallel are not so easy to find, but I found these two specimens on a flea-market/ebay. New they tend to be very expensive.

Being so cheap, you can buy more and file the slots wider for bigger parts ...

I may have posted these pictures before. Below a selection of the various work-holding tools I have collected or made over the years: 1 - Archimedes drill for watchmakers. 2 - Slender modern pin-vice with hollow fluted brass body. 3 - Slender antique pin-vice with hollow fluted brass body. 4 - Shop-made pin-vice with walnut body and head made from an insert drill-chuck; these drill-chucks are unfit for their intended purpose as they usually do not run true. 5 - Eclipse toolmaker's pin-vice with knurled steel body; these come in different sizes. 6 - French-style pin-vice; these are closed with the sliding ring and have usually brass inserts in the two jaws that can be adapted to special needs; 7 - Dito, here the jaws are replaced in hard-wood for delicate parts. 8 - Antique laboratory pin-vice with fluted wooden handle. 9 - Modern pin-vice with fluted wooden handle; these come in different sizes and capacities. 10 - Antique toolmaker's pin-vice for very delicate work in confined spaces. 1 - Toolmaker's hand-held vice that is closed with a sliding ring. 2 - Hand-vice with parallel serrated jaws moved by a screw. 3 - Antique american style hand-vice; the jaws are closed by screwing in the conical body; the handle and body have been replaced. 4 - Hand-held collet-holder; this uses horological lathe collets; the advantage is that work can be transferred between the holder and the lathe when it has the nominal collet diameter. 5 - Castrovejo surgical non-locking needle-holder; they come in various sizes, this one is for eye-surgery. 6 - Antique surgical locking needle-holder; these come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes. I tend to go around flea-markets and ebay to look for antique pieces or 'seconds' from the production of professional medical tools and the likes (regular prices are just not affordable), because the quality is usually so much better than what hobby shops try to flog to us hobbyists. The problem with many pin-vices is that their jaws are serrated - not good for use on wood. Finding one with smooth jaws is not so easy. We also had a thread here some time ago on 'third hands', where people showed their home-grown ones. OK, this is something for those with the right machinery, but the ones you can buy for a few € / £ / US$ today tend to be too flimsy and imprecise. Below is the one I made myself on the basis of an inherited cast-iron lab stand. It can also double as a little vice with a function similar to those fly-tying vices. I made clamps from different materials, such as steel, brass and Novotex and the ubiquituous electrical 'crocodile' clamps can also be used. In addition, I bought some ceramic jaws as used in soldering tweezers, but did not get around to make the clamps for them yet. I also made two types of hooks to hold blocks and ropes respectly. Another useful attachment are little collect chucks that clamp from near zero up to about 3.2 mm - 1/4". These chucks with collets can be found on ebay at around 2€ or so. They are useless for their intended purpose, but good for holding wires and other round objects - even thin flat objects, as they are slotted cross-wise.

David, you made me doubt for a moment and I went to the workshop, put a marker-pen dot on one side of mine and started counting: there are definitely five sides. Broaches always have an unequal number of cutting edges to avoid chatter. This applies to machine broaches even more.

Good move, but pay attention, there are actually two kinds, the five-sided cutting broaches and the round smoothing broaches. They also come in different size categories, the smalles for watch work and the largest (up to about 6 mm) for clock work. Watchmakers supply houses have them, but these days they can also found on ebay etc.

You may also want to make yourself a clamp with a depression at the front for holding the block, while working on it. Think of a wooden clothes peg cut flat at the front so that closing part is really right at the front. The pegs are cheap, so can make yourself several to accomodate different sizes of blocks and in different orientation. You may need to increase the holding force by winding a rubber band around the front.

Hier is an example of a rivetting wheel as used by jewellers and dental technicians, randomly taken from the internet (Busch is a well-known brand that is internationally available): Cutting the grooves into pulley sheaves is easy, you just need to grind youself a pointed lathe tool with a rounded nose.

I have three of them in different sizes, but mainly use them on my milling machines. Fixing them to the base of the PROXXON-drill could be somewhat inconvenient, but the original vice could not be screwed down either. Not sure about the current arrangements. The 1" vices have four holes on the sides tapped M4 and two at the bottom. I cut two pieces of small angle iron or aluminium the length of the vice and drilled holes to match the four tapped holes. The angles were screwed to the sides and had a number of holes in the horizontal part with which it can be screwed to machine tables. The larger vice have horizontol through holes (I think 6 mm) for a round rod that goes through the lug with which the moveable jaw is screwed down. I made a 6 mm rod and cross-drilled it with 3 mm to take some long M3 screws with which to tie down the vice onto machine tables. The vices also have to round notches at the end for simple hold-down clamps. If you think of getting one of the 1" vices, make sure you get one with the shallow recess on top of the jaw - this comes very handy for small pieces. The others don't seem to come with this feature. BTW the vices may also run under the name of EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) vices, where they are used to hold the electrodes. I didn't check, whether RDG Tools do have these vices, but thought that I bought one of mine from them. But I may be wrong, as this must have been some 15 years ago.

I bought my vice in the early 1980s and from the beginning was never really happy with it, because of the rather poor guide for the moving jaw. At that time I didn't know of better alternatives. However, I don't know, whether the vice has been improved since. Personally, I now would get myself a (or several of different size) so-called toolmaker insert vice. These close very precisely and are ground on all faces, so can be mounted horizontally, vertically and sideways, which offers multiple ways of work-holding. The 1-inch size costs around 40€ on the Continent. They are typically made in India or China and most tool suppliers have them, e.g. https://www.rdgtools.co.uk/ (I hasten to add that I have no other connection to this company than as satisfied customer - in those old pre-Brexit days). Below an example picture randomly picked from the Internet:

David, why do you think, a two piece-strake will be easier ? I would have thought that fitting a continuous piece would be simpler in the sense, that one does not need to deal with lifting up or off-set butts.

Have you tried rivetting ? Jewellers have so-called rivetting wheels, this are kind of hardened steel wheels with a wavy rim that fit into your hand-held drill. You make the hole slightly conical from the outside with a conical reamer and let the stanchion protrude a bit. With the wheel you hammer flat the protrusion without stressing too much the rail. You would probably need a sort of jig to hold the rail in.

Looking excellent - as expected ! Did you make some sort of jig for soldering the rails on the staircase ?

I didn't check against my photographs, but were the planks really butted ? I would have throught that in the USA at that time it would have been easy to obtain full-length planks.

In about 1977 I bought what by modern standards would be a primitve hand-held drill. At that time I hadn't heard of Dremel and, I think, PROXXON was not on the market yet. This drill consist of a motor in an aluminium tube, brass tube screwed to the motor shaft with a set-screw that acts as a seat for the collets. A set of good steel collets for bit up to 1/8" (or 3.2 mm) belongs to it. I am still using it almost daily. In around 1983 I bought the PROXXON bench drill, when it first came onto the market and with it all the extras then available, namely a kit to convert it into a light wood-lathe or disk-sander. I have abused it for all these purposes and light routing too. It was worth every 'Pfenning' I spent on it. I gather the ball-bearings could do with replacing by now, but originally, it was capable to do more than what was advertised, namely drilling 0.5 mm holes, I frequently drilled holes down to 0.3 mm diameter with it. Or course, it could not compete with the small Swiss precision benchdrills I knew from my university's workshops. I added to the abuse by buying a larger 3/8" drill-chuck for non-modelling work, but otherwise preferred the collets, which would take up to 1/8" shafts. The PROXXON drill is belt driven (I still use the first belt), but I rarely used anything else but the highest reduction (the motor is a standard 90 W sewing machine-type motor with presumably 3500 rpm. In order to reduce speed further, I am using a plug-dimmer. This in turn is plugged into a socket that is wire to a foot switch, allowing hands-free operation.