ChadB

19. Anchor Stock Planking
 
I decided to give anchor stock planking for my wales a go instead of the four basic strakes in the plans. I used Peter Goodwin't book on the English Man of War for most of the information. There was a fantastic write up on lengths and just general information on them. So far I've found this book a great investment and a good sidekick to the cross section. 
The very fist thing I learned is that just winging it on a tablesaw will just give you a heap of ebony scrap and leave you a couple bucks short from having to replace it.  So once I got rolling I started by drawing out a template to get sizes and angles. I figured that each plank will have to be pretty exact for them all to fit together nicely, so this was a good starting point. Unfortunately I'm a computer idiot so yes- that is an  actual picture of a drawing .      Next I cut up some ebony making sure all the planks were exactly the same size, specifically 4.5 inches long- which is really important. Then I went about making a jig for the tablesaw that would slide against the fence and cut at the correct angle. I find pictures better than trying to describe- so here's what I came up with. I will not that keeping all the planks the exact size was important to make sure they fit snugly in the jig and didn't bounce around while cutting.        From here everything was pretty simple. The only other note would be that I found ebony is some nasty stuff. It gets all over the place and chips easily, so I tried to give everything a once over to make sure the cuts didn't take any extra. Also, since everything is enclosed in the jig when making the initial cut the triangular piece left over tries to shoot down between the blade and the table, which caused some problems the first few times. I aleviated the situation by using a footpedal to stop and start the saw and stop right before cutting all the way through and just breaking the little triangle off...      I would then just pop it back in the jig and finish that side. Afterward, I just turned it around, made sure it was seated in the jig against the left side and repeated. This was when a footpedal came in handy since I used a pushstick to hold the piece in place.      From there it was just repeating until I had enough (about double whats in the photo for both sides)      After this, fitting them to the frames was simple. Since each side only has 1 full anchor stock and the rest were partial, it was just cutting most up to fit them here and there, but because of the exactness in making  them they all fit well. This can be seen in the photo. which needed some glare to actually see where all of them join!      So once the wales were done and I was contemplating the deck beams, I gave wales, hold and frames that will be seen a coat of wipe on poly. On a separate note- I didn't realize how bad the photos of the hold were (I think my camera is on the way out) until I went back and looked, so here's where I stand now.. -Chad          

Thank you for the honest review! I love the few Ancre monographs I have and was interested in that one... I think I will steer away for the time being.
 
Chad

Just to reaffirm what others have said on this topic - I recently replaced my flex shaft dremel with the dremel 8050 N/18 micro and a 4486 keyless chuck on Amazon. Far better, smoother and more controllable than the awkward flex shaft and other older corded unit I have. The 4486 is a really useful add on to me as it holds anything from micro drills to all the other tool bits.

Love it! Great job!

Love it! Great job!

Thanks for comments😉.
Hawse timbers and cant frames - The construction of these parts is more complicated because the individual frames are not glued directly to each other but have a small gap between them.  Only the second attempt was successful.

If anybody is in the market for a small dedicated drill press, the 8" Harbor Freight model that has gotten good review just went on sale in the latest HF catalog at $55. At that price, it's worth taking a chance.

The Harbor freight bench drill press is one of the best bang-for-the-buck tools I've ever bought. The keyless chuck is surprisingly good for a HF tool and it's still kicking 8 (or so) years later. Matter of fact, when I bought my Taig lathe and needed a motor I found it was cheaper to buy another HF drill press when it was on sale and take off the motor than buy one online. I had the dremel drill press stand beforehand and it was so sloppy. I guess you could get away with it but for the price difference it's better to an actual drill press.
 
Chad  

The Harbor freight bench drill press is one of the best bang-for-the-buck tools I've ever bought. The keyless chuck is surprisingly good for a HF tool and it's still kicking 8 (or so) years later. Matter of fact, when I bought my Taig lathe and needed a motor I found it was cheaper to buy another HF drill press when it was on sale and take off the motor than buy one online. I had the dremel drill press stand beforehand and it was so sloppy. I guess you could get away with it but for the price difference it's better to an actual drill press.
 
Chad  

The Harbor freight bench drill press is one of the best bang-for-the-buck tools I've ever bought. The keyless chuck is surprisingly good for a HF tool and it's still kicking 8 (or so) years later. Matter of fact, when I bought my Taig lathe and needed a motor I found it was cheaper to buy another HF drill press when it was on sale and take off the motor than buy one online. I had the dremel drill press stand beforehand and it was so sloppy. I guess you could get away with it but for the price difference it's better to an actual drill press.
 
Chad  

I have the Dremel drill stand / press and I must be honest the the slop and play in the mechanism isn't good.  It moves in most directions and I have found that you need a really big centre punch mark to get it to drill where you want.  Would I buy another one - NO.  Unfortunately I do not have experience of the Proxxon version so I cannot comment on that.  I am currently looking for a far more accurate replacement.

Very nice work so far!!!!!
 
 
Chad

Very nice work so far!!!!!
 
 
Chad

Beautiful work, Jason!

Reminds me of an article I read many years ago about a master knife maker in Japan who rejected one out of every three blades that he forged. The mark of a true craftsman is to not be satisfied with substandard work. I'm not a master craftsman myself ... maybe someday.

Very nice so far!!!
 
Chad

Holy smokes Michael- you could probably sell that ebony now and get a better return than if you had invested that $70 in the stock market! 😂 I can't argue with the messiness of ebony dust but i think the whole toxicity thing gets blown a little out of proportion. I'm all for substitutes, but I agree with Mike that IMO nothing really comes close to the beauty of finished ebony. i look forward to seeing the Lee Valley substitute in action, though!
 
Chad

Holy smokes Michael- you could probably sell that ebony now and get a better return than if you had invested that $70 in the stock market! 😂 I can't argue with the messiness of ebony dust but i think the whole toxicity thing gets blown a little out of proportion. I'm all for substitutes, but I agree with Mike that IMO nothing really comes close to the beauty of finished ebony. i look forward to seeing the Lee Valley substitute in action, though!
 
Chad

Holy smokes Michael- you could probably sell that ebony now and get a better return than if you had invested that $70 in the stock market! 😂 I can't argue with the messiness of ebony dust but i think the whole toxicity thing gets blown a little out of proportion. I'm all for substitutes, but I agree with Mike that IMO nothing really comes close to the beauty of finished ebony. i look forward to seeing the Lee Valley substitute in action, though!
 
Chad

Holy smokes Michael- you could probably sell that ebony now and get a better return than if you had invested that $70 in the stock market! 😂 I can't argue with the messiness of ebony dust but i think the whole toxicity thing gets blown a little out of proportion. I'm all for substitutes, but I agree with Mike that IMO nothing really comes close to the beauty of finished ebony. i look forward to seeing the Lee Valley substitute in action, though!
 
Chad

I just picked up a Dremel Stylo+ the other day and so far I love it.  I have been using a Dremel 300 with the flex shaft for quite a while but there has been something wrong with the speed control so i decided to break down and get a new one. The regular dremel tool always feels too bulky so the flex shaft is a nice addition, but even then I felt like I was always repositioning it so it didn't knock something off the workbench. I decided since I mainly use it for drilling angled holes and light sanding I wouldn't need a ton of torque. So far it has fit the bill perfectly. My favorite part it it feels even more nimble than the flex shaft handle and it weighs nothing so it's really easy to move around with it. It has variable speeds and juuust enough torque for sanding. I'm pretty sure if I pushed hard enough I could bog it down easily, but it has forced me to sand a little bit less agressively which is a good thing. I don't think it would be useful for anything outside hobby work, but then again that's exactly what it's designed for!
 
Chad

I just picked up a Dremel Stylo+ the other day and so far I love it.  I have been using a Dremel 300 with the flex shaft for quite a while but there has been something wrong with the speed control so i decided to break down and get a new one. The regular dremel tool always feels too bulky so the flex shaft is a nice addition, but even then I felt like I was always repositioning it so it didn't knock something off the workbench. I decided since I mainly use it for drilling angled holes and light sanding I wouldn't need a ton of torque. So far it has fit the bill perfectly. My favorite part it it feels even more nimble than the flex shaft handle and it weighs nothing so it's really easy to move around with it. It has variable speeds and juuust enough torque for sanding. I'm pretty sure if I pushed hard enough I could bog it down easily, but it has forced me to sand a little bit less agressively which is a good thing. I don't think it would be useful for anything outside hobby work, but then again that's exactly what it's designed for!
 
Chad

I just picked up a Dremel Stylo+ the other day and so far I love it.  I have been using a Dremel 300 with the flex shaft for quite a while but there has been something wrong with the speed control so i decided to break down and get a new one. The regular dremel tool always feels too bulky so the flex shaft is a nice addition, but even then I felt like I was always repositioning it so it didn't knock something off the workbench. I decided since I mainly use it for drilling angled holes and light sanding I wouldn't need a ton of torque. So far it has fit the bill perfectly. My favorite part it it feels even more nimble than the flex shaft handle and it weighs nothing so it's really easy to move around with it. It has variable speeds and juuust enough torque for sanding. I'm pretty sure if I pushed hard enough I could bog it down easily, but it has forced me to sand a little bit less agressively which is a good thing. I don't think it would be useful for anything outside hobby work, but then again that's exactly what it's designed for!
 
Chad

Thanks for entering it for me Keith- I really wish I could've been there! In hind site, I wish I had you mention that plans were from MSW to maybe rope some prospective ship builders in! Your Cheerful is an amazing build and rightfully took first place! Congrats!!

That looks awesome! Great work Joss!!