jud

Gun ports in the Constitution? Go to sea in a ship of similar size in heavy weather, while there think about keeping a ship dry and her equipment in good condition with open Gun Ports. Also give some thought about living in such a space as the Gun Deck with open ports. Common sense should make anyone very sure that the Constitution had Gun Port lids when she went to sea, only the type should be in question.

jud

Sometimes if feels worst having to watch and unable to do anything than it does to live through it, but it is far worse living through it and the real effect of the experiance  comes after the event. That's when  you can make a difference by helping  out a bit. Hang in there.

jud

There is a video showing the acid sharpening of dull files.

Going to need to enter it yourself, don't know how to make it easy

Edited by Moderator - I loaded the video into the post. It was a bit hard to find using the previous link.

I thought braces were those things that people like me use to keep my pants up, the belt still works, but. Thinking of ordering a pair, be more comfortable than taking a double turn on the buckle and giving it a tug before  securing.   

jud

Will find out which Lindsay book he found the method in and the details.

jud

Using a file card will help keep the teeth clean, can keep them even cleaner by rubbing chalk on the teeth. Work it in to the bottom of the grooves, then wipe the file clean with a rag, leaving the chalk in the grooves. Always lifting the file on the back stroke, is probably a habit you already have. The chalk will keep the filings from building up and sticking at the bottom of the grooves and make the file easier to clean. There is a method using an overnight soak in acid that restores a file, never tried it myself but a friend was bragging about the results he got by doing that. He has a rotary table of mine, when I go get it I will sneak a look at his files.

jud

Not just oily rags will self combust, damp anything and compressed or in a space where the water can't evaporate will do it also. Grandad lost a barn when he got a pocket of damp hay in the loft. That barn had buckboards and other wheeled small carts and wagons and lots of harness and saddles. There was enough harness to equip and use 20 horse teams, he used mules to farm with. Spontaneous combustion was something I was told about, at a very young age.

jud

Deck beams do more than keeping the deck up, posts can do that, When a ships bow hits the next swell with the bow canted down from the swell she is riding, the upper ends of the ribs, because the planking is in compression, will want to move out because of those forces. When she crests a swell, both ends are not supported as well as amidships so the planking goes into tension and tries to push the ribs together. Without those deck beams the ship would tear its self apart. All of the structural members of a floating ship are constantly changing from tension to compression and all beams have dual rolls, one to keep the ship together and placed so the crew can live aboard. Because of the constant changing of the forces working on a ship, joints are well thought out.

jud

Is that a representation of the difference in elevation similar with contour lines, the reference plane being C/L with that plane being horizontal in both ways. Never have seen anything quite like this, it just looks like a way to graphically show the rate of change along the hull, Anyone have a definition of what a "Zebra View image" is? The Z component of a XYZ coordinate?

jud

Perhaps to make boarding more difficult. Without the dead eyes and lanyards available, boarding at the shrouds would be difficult, especially with  weapon in your hand. Sometimes loose netting was used for that purpose.

jud

Good show, that corner fixture and the dowl for indexing your drill bit is a brand new idea to me, it is simple like all good ideas are.Thanks for sharing.

jud

Michal, my comments were not aimed at you but at those who were saying they couldn't create the ball. I was under the impression you were using steel, although some of your photo's looked like it was brass. I must have had jay's need for steel wire imbedded..

jud

Try holding your steel wire in a vice or vice grips that you don't mind getting black and heat the upper end which is close to the holder with your torch, when a yellow-oringe color tap the end with a small hammer, it's called upsetting in blacksmith language, ( Upsetting is the process of making metal thicker in one dimension through shortening in the other. One form is to heat the end of a rod and then hammer on it as one would drive a nail: the rod gets shorter, and the hot part widens. An alternative to hammering on the hot end is to place the hot end on the anvil and hammer on the cold end.). You can find a lot about it on line. The blacksmith neither burns or melt the material he is working with.

jud

Waterways guide the water to scuppers, at least on the ships I rode. You don't want water running off of the deck anywhere, makes for a big mess.

jud

Nice work on your shackle, tricky way using heat to form a ball to upset the ends of the body creating more material where needed on the ends..

I have seen shackles made using flat iron. Made by heating one end in the forge and driving a hole through it with a hole punch, then heating the proper place again on the forge and driving the same hole punch through, then after reheating, bending it to the u shape they usually are, all are not u shaped. I have seen  some that were reheated after forming and hole alignment adjustments done go back into the forge and having the bottom of the u rolled outward. A bunch of them around here, some made using the forge and anvil and others that came with early equipment and wagons that were punched out of sheet. Throw this out, not as criticism but maybe someone can use for their project. Most shackles pins are usually not much smaller in diameter than the body of the shackle, the flat type seem to use smaller pins, some with collars. Nice work on your shackle.

jud

Having chased 8" projectiles around a turret shell deck and the truck running on a track between the barbettes, Also with a few others trying to catch, stop and secure a fork lift in the tank deck of an LST as well as my meal tray and various other things, I have many doubts that all is told about handling those guns on a rolling deck.There must be some equipment missing, tackles are slow, especially the tail tackle, it must be removed from the gun during firing to keep the trucks from running over parts of it. While it is being hooked and the slack is taken out of that tackle, the gun is free to move ahead. Keeping it from moving is much easier than stopping it once in motion, there must be some wheel chocks or some other missing tool lost in history to protect the gun and crew from a run away while the tackle comes into full play, especially on a rolling deck.

jud

Very impressive. Looks like all thread is one of your mainstays and a good idea.

jud.

My drafting table is made from a surplus hospital solid core door that weights about 120 pounds, one edge attached to the desk using a large piano hinge. I envisioned building a tilting mechanism using slack adjusters from truck air brakes. It has been tilted using various thickness boards shifted between the door and desk top for years now but mostly the top has just rested on a 2 X 4, if I need to change it I can. Slack Adjusters never purchased although I had a good solid design using a hand wheel to tilt the thing.

jud

When the guns were ready to fire the tackles were flaked down so they could run without tangle. If the guns were secured for sea, they were secured in various ways and all tackle was off of the deck. Ropes coiled in a flat coil on deck was ornamental only, when the occasion was over the tackle was hung off of the deck, who needs a bunch of line underfoot, holding water and rotting.

jud

Get a new thin blade for your table saw, make a new insert and cut the blade slot with your new blade after you check for everything being square. Make some jigs and saw your wood. Takes a very good band saw to re cut limber with a close tolerance and those small cheap saws are not the tool to do so, even if the advertizing would lead you to believe it would do so well. I have one of those cheap tabletop band saws, boy was I disappointed, haven't used it for years and I have a bunch of new blades for it. I think that if I would machine new adjustable guide supports both top and bottom then use bearings instead of the blocks it came with to guide the blade the quality of the cuts would improve but it's way down on the list of things to do. Others may have had better luck, I hope more will tell their experience..

jud

Common sense would place the chain plats behind the rub strakes or you would expose the chain plate to getting hooked and torn off.

jud

Think I would seal them in an air tight container with a damp sponge for a few days, sponge not in contact with the folded plans. Might allow the plans to be opened without damage. If not, let the moisture stabilize back to normal and try something else. Might be some product out there intended for that use other than water.

jud

The hide glue that is used in hand built saddles comes as a powder that you mix as needed, used in the seat and forks.

jud

Rolling your own always gives a warm and fuzzy feeling. Good idea jay.

jud

Does anyone apply any product like Scotch Guard to their sails before attaching them to their model, to protect them from airborne dust.and also making them easier to clean.

jud