Mike Y

Hello all,
 
Havent posted anything for a long time .
 
First of all I would like to thank you all for the trust. Its very pleasant to see that 99% of Clients are very happy with their products.
 
Secondly i would like to apologize for long delivery times. Its summary of holidays, being sick and moving to house. Im trying to catch up on those.
 
Thirdly there has been so many orders/requests lately so i cant really understand whats going on. This created a situation where queue is 4-6 weeks as i only work on Sundays and evening as for me its hobby also.
At some point i thought if i should close the shop as it just takes so much time from family. I have read stories about good wood suppliers closing exactly for the same reason.
After thinking over it for a week i decided to make investment to bring shop to next level and keep up with the normal deadlines of 2-3 weeks.
As a side note i run custom made metal facade factory on daily basis so setting up a shop something im use to.
In nearest months + during the summer i will update the shop with some new equipment (machines, feeders etc) and also room layout to make it more efficient.
Until then please accept little longer delivery times as usual .
 
The webshop has been closed as most orders come in as email anyways but webpage is up there (not been updated).
 
Sadly i have to say that i had to look trough the prices also as everything has gone so expensive starting from heating, saw blades etc etc etc.
 
Regarding stock i have limited myself to: pear, c.boxwood, Alaskan yellow cedar, colored hornbeam, white hornbeam and holly.
Cherry and other spices are might be available based on request.
 
Thank you all again for trust and support!
 
BR
Vahur
Hobbymill.EU

Its not just every part that is a reference of precision and accuracy, but also a superb photo setup!

Very beautiful build! Picking up some ideas from you, appreciate the "in progress" photos!

Its not just every part that is a reference of precision and accuracy, but also a superb photo setup!

Its not just every part that is a reference of precision and accuracy, but also a superb photo setup!

Hello Everyone,
 
Price Reduction!
 
About a month ago I finished a new ropewalk, It has increased my production speed considerably. The headstock's top speed is 12000 rpm... It sounds like a jet taking off but it sure does the job fast. Because of this, I've repriced my whole product line. It's not a huge reduction, The fact that all my threads have gone up in price and I was able to reduce prices is great. The polyester rope received the largest price reduction (roughly 20%) since the Gutermann-E thread price wasn't increased by much. 
 
In other news, work has begun on adding some new polyester colors in the future. I'm planning on adding a darker tan/light brown color for running rigging and also looking for a new standing rigging color. I'll post some pictures when the time comes. Hopefully, I can release them in the fall. 
 
Thanks for looking in
 
🔻Link to my site below 🔻 

Hello,
 
I thank everyone that has ordered rope from my site. I hope you all like it and can't wait to see it show up in some build logs. 
 
I've been busy working on making cable laid rope for the past few weeks. So far I've managed to make them range from 1.25mm - 2.1mm in diameter. Reaching 3mm is the goal eventually. According to my calculations, a 1/64 HMS Victory would need an anchor cable that large. 
 
The pictures below are of the 2.1mm cables. I hope to have them all available online by next week.

 
 
 
 
 

Having some difficulties with the Bollard and Hawse pieces.  
I templated and cut them out but after shaping one side, I think I have misinterpreted the drawings as they don't go together correctly.   I think I know where I went wrong but have sort guidance from Allan and Wayne to set me right.  
 
 

So, all the aft cant frames are fabricated; some still need pre-fairing and tree-nailing.  29F is being glued in so I should get to the straight frames by the weekend (touch wood)

Ok so framing is moving along at about 1 frame station a day. I think this will pick up as I'm working on the aft can't frames at present with F31A glued in a F31F ready to bevel the deadwood join. The chocks are a little more complicated then I originally thought as the bevel on the forward face differs to that on the aft face so a lot of careful fitting up with files is need to get the right fit.
 

I have to admit that the rising woods are not easy to keep neat and tidy.  It may be the cut of wood I am using but I seem to loose some corners on the webs.
 
Perhaps the Cherry is a little dry and brittle? or I am just being a little clumsy....
 
 

Couldn't wait.  Had to do a preliminary fitting tonight otherwise I wouldn't sleep.
 
First dry fit. Someminor shaping to do to fit the knee then test deadwood 4 and 5 elements to make sure everything will go together before I start gluing up.
 
Waiting for some info back from Allan Y regarding the extent of copper between the false keel and the keel.  Does it extend forward and under the gripe?

A little progress. Have just 'cleaned up' the ship's bow and cut out the gun ports (sills not yet fitted). Note the downward sloping of the small beakhead deck (for obvious reasons). The area around the bowsprit opening inspired by solutions as found on "Vasa".
 

 

 

 

Continued: Fore yard- Studding sail boom irons - Cercle de bout-dehors de vergue
In the meantime, I also made the studding sail boom irons for the fore yard. In this context, I would like to go into a little more detail about the method of making the hinges for the two-piece mast clamps. In the studding sail boom irons for the fore yard, the hinge lugs were still bent. In the meantime, I have refined the method, as can be seen in the following photo collage. I think the pictures speak for themselves:

 
To finish this part, here's a picture with the studding sail boom irons for the fore yard already blackened.

 
Finally, only the studding sail boom irons for the main yard remain to be made. 
More about that soon ...
 

You bet! Rob Napier once referred to its bow as having the "Mother of all figureheads"!
 
If anyone can duplicate this, it would be Johann!

Thanks Gary, photo Anson.

Hi photo Anson.

Stemson, rising wood
Moving along, I added the stemson and rising wood. Shaping and adding the stemson was straight forward. After that, I started work on the rising wood. Using a piece of 3/8" boxwood, I carefully copied the dimensions of the rising wood using the new milling machine. So much fun! All of the slots are 5/16" which made the process much easier. Basically a two day process that went along quite smoothly. I just needed to stay focused and not rush through it.



Mike

Fore deadwood
In order to find the exact location, I aligned the central spine with the plan and carefully marked the aft location of the fore deadwood.

Having just purchased a Sherline mill, I thought it would be a good time to try it out. With that in mind I made the fore deadwood from 3/8" boxwood. I'm pleased with the result. I added the deadwood to the keel using the registration mark I made on the keel.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to maintain the build concept. With that in mind I went with the laser cut angle wedges for the cant frames. A mix of scratch and kit. When adding the wedges I left a little wiggle room because shifting of these pieces was necessary in order to align them fore and aft. The tops of the wedges were reduced to match the shape of the keelson before gluing them to the deadwood.

Mike

Fred, I have often thought about showing, in great detail, how I go about making parts. The problem I always seem to run into is how to go about doing it knowing that certain subtle techniques are involved.
 
Take the stem for example. As Greg knows, the oscillating spindle sander on curved surfaces can give a smoother result than that of a scroll saw. That gets you somewhere in the ball park. The final shape still needs to be achieved and can be further honed in with some 90° sanding blocks. For myself, I will hold the pieces against a window in daylight and look for light leakage. It can be very time consuming and the back and forth takes technique, finesse and a lot of patience. HTH.

The gammoning knee was cut from an attached paper template on the scroll saw. The final shape was achieved with the disk sander, sanding sticks, #11 Xacto blade and assorted needle files. It would be very difficult for me to put that in writing in such a way that would be easily understood, I think.
 
Mike

I am very excited to be starting Speedwell, my next project and build log. Over the years I have really enjoyed collaborating with Chuck while building his designs. That includes all the ships I have built which are the 18th Century Longboat, Cheerful, and most recently, Winchelsea. Without his help I would never have been able to accomplish anything near what I have done so far. As always, I come away from each build knowing that there is always room for improvement. Hopefully Speedwell will show signs of that.
 
My first attempt at POF was David Antscherl‘s Hayling Hoy. Although it might be considered a first time POF model, I found out quickly that it had many challenges for me. The scratch frames were just one of them. Since that time I never lost interest in trying another POF. Chuck first mentioned building his version of Speedwell at 1/4". At the time, I really wasn’t all that interested in doing a small Speedwell like what Greg Herbert was already working on. That all changed when the decision was made to build an up-sized version. I was not surprised to hear that Chuck would add his own interpretation of the ship which would make it all the more interesting for me to build.
 
Speedwell will be a mix of scratch and kit. Just how much of each I really don’t know. The plan is to build the ship in boxwood which is not an option offered by Chuck. For that I have turned to Hobbymill.EU as my source for the wood and I highly recommend them. https://www.hobbymill.eu/  If I were to go the more traditional route like Greg did on his beautifully built Speedwell, then my build would be a hybrid and I would not be able to follow Chuck on this project.
 
The reference for the build is Chuck's build log and forthcoming monograph. I will try to mention only those things that are different or unique to my build. I think that this would be less confusing for those who wish to follow both logs. My goal is to stay scratch as much as possible while maintaining the basic procedures that Chuck would want all of the builders will follow. It will be challenging in places where it would otherwise be relatively easy. Honestly, I really do prefer it that way.
 
Chapter one: knee of the head, stem and gammoning knee
The knee of the head was made in the usual way. Individual pieces were shaped to the outline of an attached paper template. The paper templates were attached with Elmer's School Glue which I find holds better than rubber cement. The paper can be removed easily with a little water on a Q-tip or paper towel.
 
The mill made it much easier to cut some of the straight segments in parts like the lacing piece.
One more piece then ready for final outer shaping before adding the stem assembly.

The stem assembly is added to the completed knee assembly. The knee sits against a backing piece and small pine blocks are used to tighten the joint while the glue sets.
When sanding the flat taper in the knee of the head, the upper forward area of the bobstay piece was gradually tapered down to 4mm thickness at the upper fore edge. After a final sanding and tapering I added the gammoning knee.

Mike

Very beautiful build! Picking up some ideas from you, appreciate the "in progress" photos!

Very beautiful build! Picking up some ideas from you, appreciate the "in progress" photos!

Very beautiful build! Picking up some ideas from you, appreciate the "in progress" photos!