keelhauled

Thanks George and Sampson! George, you are right about the work for the furled sails. For me, it adds a good hour or so onto the job for each sail. Those sails take so much time, it amazes me. I think that when its done, I'll have easily two to three times the amount of time that it took to build the yards and masts in the sails. Marc

So, I continue to work on sails. I've sewn on all of the bolt ropes for the close to 30 sails. Also, I decided to serve the earrings and cringles for all of the stay sails and jibs - and have finished that work. some examples of the serving I completed the royals and sky sail with all of the details and then bent and furled them. , A detail of the earring from the port Currently, I'm tyring to decide whether I bent them properly. I've seen them bent two different ways and tried both methods I haven't posted lately because quite frankly you can't tell that I've done any work after 40 hours of sewing. I just keep sewing the same parts sail after sail. I think that this it the more efficient way, but you don't have much to look at. One day all of the sails will amazingly appear ready for bending. I still have all of the earrings to finish. I'm currently working on these areas: the fastening of the yard through the eyes. I also have the rings at the feet - the bolt ropes loop through and must be lashed/served and the yard run through the corner of the sail and ring. -marc

HI, Working on the Cutty Sark and need some feedback on furled sails. I'm calling the top version option 1 and the lower version option 2. I've looked at different references of the Cutty as she was during the tea trade and as the Fierra and have seen the royals furled differently. I made sails with the heights cut in half to reduce bulk. I finished the sails and bent them to the jackstays then furled. The sails and yards in the photos are the mizzen royal and the sky which are essentially the same size. Neither is furled below the yard. I've tried to pull the sails up as high as I could and still attach the slings, although option 2 is actually on top of the jackstays. This is from the front Option 1 is at the top Option 2 is on the bottom This is from the top I have to say that I'm not as happy with the accordion look of option 2 from the sides. Option 1 port side Option 2 port side Comments? Which would you go with? thanks Marc

Thanks Duff, I hope that it helps someone with the same questions that I have, I had the luck of being there at the right time.

Hi Nenad, Merry Christmas! I see that you are looking at how to mount your model. I'm glad that you are going with a cradle. One way to deal with the tipping over issue is to mount the cradle to a wider/heavier base. I mounted the middle cradle of my ship from below the base with recessing the screws. I was also looking at ways of screwing the hull into cradle. But with Balsa for the planking I don't think that screws would structurally hold the ship to the cradle. Is the keel a hard wood? if might want to have three support positions, spaced to prevent hogging. Don't know if it would be an issue or not, but those are the things that keep me up at night. All the best to you and your family, marc

Amazing and Beautiful! The wheel is a work of art Marc!

Hi guys, I've been working on the bolt ropes... and working...and working... much labor not much to show. I'll take some photos this weekend. I've figured out a method to serve the cringles without driving myself crazy. I've also been on the road almost half the time. So, not as much work on the Cutty as I would have liked. However I have gotten more info on the sails and bolt ropes. I posted the following in another forum on this site where I was asking about the Cutty's sails, but I wanted to share it here as well. I was traveling in Sydney in October and was able to talk with two sailing masters about bolt ropes, cringles, and serving. I was able to speak to the master of the HMB Endeavor. I noticed that some of the cringles on the stay sails aboard the HMB Endeavor were wormed and served while others weren't, while still others were wormed, served, and leathered. Further these were analogous cringles (for example tack cringle on one stay sail vs. tack cringle on another). So I asked the master why they were different. She said that it depended upon whether they had an eye (a detail I didn't notice) or how much they would they were used or chance of being chaffed. She said if the cringle would experience a great deal of wear and abrasion, then a metal eye was used and the bolt rope was wrapped abound the eye and seized without serving. She said that no serving of the line was needed if the metal eye was used since the eye took all the wear. If the cringle was expected to have less wear, but still substantial then the cringle was served and leathered. If the line had even less wear then it was just served. I was able to also talk with the sailing master of a restored ship that was in Sydney harbor for a few days. I took the name, but I can't find it right now. It turned out that he also loved the Cutty Sark and was very knowledgeable about sailing ships of the late 1800's. He told me essentially the same info that the HMB Endeavor's Master had provided about the cringles. He added that the earrings of the square sails were often served even if they did have a metal ring since the sails were in contact with the yard arms. Concerning the bolt ropes, he said that he had also come across historic accounts of the Cutty as well as other ships where the information did not match between sources. He said that it was because the details of how the sails were set up, such as serving, metal eyes, etc.were up to the Master. Also the Master may change some of that set up at sea depending on how the sails were wearing. So if you went aboard the same ship during different times with the same master or a different master, those sail details and even the size of the sails might be different. He said that he wouldn't sweat those details on a model, any combination of serving, eyes, etc would be acceptable. I told him of the HMB Edveavor's stay sails not all being set up the same. He said that it was a perfect example of what he was talking about and showed me examples of the same inconsistencies on his ship. On his ship the top sails had their lower bolt rope - the foot rope- served. He said it was because they rub against the stays. I told him that I have accounts of the Cutty with and without it's foot ropes served. He said that it probably depended upon which sails and when the observations were made. If the observations were from the early 20th century when she was a training vessel or when she was being used as the Frederica it was probably because of the same issue as his ship and they wanted to make the sails last longer without having to replace the foot rope (bolt rope) of those sails. However, she probably didn't have the foot rope served when she was in the tea and wool trade trying to break records. He said that the bolt rope adds weight to the sail and doesn't allow it to have as rounded a belly for the square sails, so the master would have sucked up having to repair the sails more often for the gain in speed. He also said it wouldn't have been two unusual to have 2 or 3 suits of sails, light weather sails, a duplicate or heavier set and a foul weather set. He also showed me where the standing rigging was served to prevent chaffing of the standing rigging from the running rigging or other standing rigging. We were talking about working on the yards. He said that when he was kid he almost never used the foot ropes that hang down from the yards. He said that they used to walk out on the top of the yards and then hop down and swing over to the foot ropes when they got to the end of the yard. He said that you can't do that anymore due to safety concerns and everyone is harnessed onto the yards. He said that they also used to go between the mast by walking along the stays. He said that there were usually enough lines that you could grab one to another as you walked across. I also asked him the royal and sky masts in old paintings and models. They don't usually have Jacobs ladders or rat lines. He said that they weren't needed - any sailor could get up those masts just by shinnying up the mast, they could also just go up a shroud. He said that many professional sailors can still go up that way. A crew was working on the ship and when they came down, the master told one to go up the back stay to the top for me. The guy went over to the rail and grabbed the stay (I noticed he didn't have a harness on, but I didn't say anything). He went up hand-over-hand very quickly to the top and then slid back down the stay. He also went up the fore castle without using the ladder for me. I had a question about how hard it was to get up when you're at sea and the steps are stowed away as they were on the Cutty. He just stepped on the Windlass and grabbed what I think was a jib sheet and when right up onto the deck, then just swung/stepped down. He was actually much, much, faster getting up and down to the fore castle this way than I was using the steps. Finally the same sailor went back to work going up the ratlines and over the outside to the top without slowing when he hit the futtock shrouds. The only thing that slightly slowed him down was transferring his safety line and that didn't slow him much. When I have seen videos of crews, mainly volunteer crews work a tall ship it was much different than watching this professional sailor. It is always amazing how helpful and friendly sailors are when you show an interest in their work and have some knowledge about the ship and its working. These guys were great at filling in some of the gaps! So in the end, it seems like I can detail the sails almost however I like and not be out of line with reality. Marc

I have some additional insight. I was traveling in Sydney in October and was able to talk with two sailing masters about bolt ropes, cringles, and serving. I was able to speak to the master of the HMB Endeavor. I noticed that some of the cringles on the stay sails aboard the HMB Endeavor were wormed and served while others weren't, while still others were wormed, served, and leathered. Further these were analogous cringles (for example tack cringle on one stay sail vs. tack cringle on another). So I asked the master why they were different. She said that it depended upon whether they had an eye (a detail I didn't notice) or how much they would they were used or chance of being chaffed. She said if the cringle would experience a great deal of wear and abrasion, then a metal eye was used and the bolt rope was wrapped abound the eye and seized without serving. She said that no serving of the line was needed if the metal eye was used since the eye took all the wear. If the cringle was expected to have less wear, but still substantial then the cringle was served and leathered. If the line had even less wear then it was just served. I was able to also talk with the sailing master of a restored ship that was in Sydney harbor for a few days. I took the name, but I can't find it right now. It turned out that he also loved the Cutty Sark and was very knowledgeable about sailing ships of the late 1800's. He told me essentially the same info that the HMB Endeavor's Master had provided about the cringles. He added that the earrings of the square sails were often served even if they did have a metal ring since the sails were in contact with the yard arms. Concerning the bolt ropes, he said that he had also come across historic accounts of the Cutty as well as other ships where the information did not match between sources. He said that it was because the details of how the sails were set up, such as serving, metal eyes, etc.were up to the Master. Also the Master may change some of that set up at sea depending on how the sails were wearing. So if you went aboard the same ship during different times with the same master or a different master, those sail details and even the size of the sails might be different. He said that he wouldn't sweat those details on a model, any combination of serving, eyes, etc would be acceptable. I told him of the HMB Edveavor's stay sails not all being set up the same. He said that it was a perfect example of what he was talking about and showed me examples of the same inconsistencies on his ship. On his ship the top sails had their lower bolt rope - the foot rope- served. He said it was because they rub against the stays. I told him that I have accounts of the Cutty with and without it's foot ropes served. He said that it probably depended upon which sails and when the observations were made. If the observations were from the early 20th century when she was a training vessel or when she was being used as the Frederica it was probably because of the same issue as his ship and they wanted to make the sails last longer without having to replace the foot rope (bolt rope) of those sails. However, she probably didn't have the foot rope served when she was in the tea and wool trade trying to break records. He said that the bolt rope adds weight to the sail and doesn't allow it to have as rounded a belly for the square sails, so the master would have sucked up having to repair the sails more often for the gain in speed. He also said it wouldn't have been two unusual to have 2 or 3 suits of sails, light weather sails, a duplicate or heavier set and a foul weather set. He also showed me where the standing rigging was served to prevent chaffing of the standing rigging from the running rigging or other standing rigging. We were talking about working on the yards. He said that when he was kid he almost never used the foot ropes that hang down from the yards. He said that they used to walk out on the top of the yards and then hop down and swing over to the foot ropes when they got to the end of the yard. He said that you can't do that anymore due to safety concerns and everyone is harnessed onto the yards. He said that they also used to go between the mast by walking along the stays. He said that there were usually enough lines that you could grab one to another as you walked across. I also asked him the royal and sky masts in old paintings and models. They don't usually have Jacobs ladders or rat lines. He said that they weren't needed - any sailor could get up those masts just by shinnying up the mast, they could also just go up a shroud. He said that many professional sailors can still go up that way. A crew was working on the ship and when they came down, the master told one to go up the back stay to the top for me. The guy went over to the rail and grabbed the stay (I noticed he didn't have a harness on, but I didn't say anything). He went up hand-over-hand very quickly to the top and then slid back down the stay. He also went up the fore castle without using the ladder for me. I had a question about how hard it was to get up when you're at sea and the steps are stowed away as they were on the Cutty. He just stepped on the Windlass and grabbed what I think was a jib sheet and when right up onto the deck, then just swung/stepped down. He was actually much, much, faster getting up and down to the fore castle this way than I was using the steps. Finally the same sailor went back to work going up the ratlines and over the outside to the top without slowing when he hit the futtock shrouds. The only thing that slightly slowed him down was transferring his safety line and that didn't slow him much. When I have seen videos of crews, mainly volunteer crews work a tall ship it was much different than watching this professional sailor. It is always amazing how helpful and friendly sailors are when you show an interest in their work and have some knowledge about the ship and its working. These guys were great at filling in some of the gaps! Marc

Pretty fast. I think that it was only 2 to 3 weeks. May take longer the closer you get to Christmas However long it is, the saw is worth the wait! Jim even mounted the micrometer and miter guide extension for me. Their attention to detail and customer service is great!

Congratulations Barry! My wife is giving me the saw for Christmas! It already arrived and she allowed me to open. I convinced her that I needed check everything and fire it up. Then I had to box it back up until the holiday. I guess I can wait. The saw is even better than I imagined. The motor is quiet and the saw has no vibration! Have fun! Marc

Looking good! keep it up! marc

Looking wonderful!!! I can't wait to get off the road and back into the ship yard. I'm very jealous of you! Keep up the wonderful work! Marc

It is a great book! It's harder to find information on Merchant ship sails. Thanks again Ed! marc

Thanks Ed!

Thanks guys! Great info. I really appreciate the replies! Marc

looking beautiful! really nice work! Glad you made it home safely! Marc

Hi HOF, sounds like you don't have anything to worry about. My hull is really heavy. I used balsa fillers and completely filled her below the waterline and she is about an inch thick between the waterline and the lower deck

Looking good! I think that showing us the process for molding your canons would be interesting to see. Hope you include it! Your last photo is much improved in its' sharpness. Maybe more light will help the camera reduce it's shake if you can't put it on a tripod. take care, marc

Hi Nenad, Most of the cloth is just for playing. It was scraps. The final sails have very nice cloth that is translucent enough that you can see the thickness differences of the hems and reef line when the sun shines behind. Very much like a real sails. They are a very thin cotton. In most of the photos that I've seen and historic sails that I've seen in museums, the bolt rope and the lines that connect it to the sails are tan, while the sail stitching seems to be the same color or close too it as the sails. Still I may play with lighter colors. thanks Marc

After I had completed coppering the hull, I mounted it to two bronze pedestals. I can't seem to find photos. Over the years, the ends and part of the top changed color. I thought that maybe the walnut had been dry before I stained and coated it with acrylic. I stripped the acrylic off and soaked the walnut base in lemon oil then tung oil regularly over months All surfaces looked the same. I then stained the surface then coated it in acrylic All surfaces looked the same. Two years passed and then it occurred again. Here is what I'm talking about I posted the issue I was having. The reply was that sometime woods have issues in the transverse or ends of the boards. So I stained over the acrylic on the ends, let it dry and coated it with acrylic after 2 year it was still fine. I read that some where that this technique is used for woods that don't stain evenly. While I was waiting the last two year period, the ship was in a construction cradle and I had time to think over a concern that I had struggled with for several years. I was always concerned about the stability of the ship using only the two pedestals. I was worried about the straightness of her keel and of the ship model rolling side to side and breaking her mount, yards, masts, god knows what. The model had always felt solid in the pedestals and had been in that mount for over five years without issue. Still I had always been concerned, taken measurements of the keel to the base, never seen any movement. The hull is very heavy due to all of the filler block and double planking. Then I came across two posts where the models had rolled off the pedestals, With one the damage was fairly severe to the hull. Both had serious damage. That was enough for me. I really liked the pedestals, but wasn't going to risk my model over it. I saw several examples, new and hundreds of years old, where rods were used at mid-ship to help support the ship and keep it from rolling. Then I saw an admiralty model where a cradle was used at mid-ship with the pedestals. I really like the look, so I made my own. I used Brazilian Cherry. Beautiful, but hard, wood. I learned that I'm not good manually using a jewer's saw to cut the wood. After 5 hours to cut the top out and sand it down. I gave up on the manual saw and ordered the proxxon saw. I mounted the wood jewler's saw blade and the other three cuts took me about 15-20 minutes each! I really like this saw. Anyway, here's the results. The cradle is contoured to the haul and just supports the ship while, the pedestals have large screws that are about three inches into her and holds her down. The cradle will not let her yaw/rotate or roll. She is locked securely in place. The cradle also is attached to the base by pins, so It can't move either. The base has a set of T-nuts on the bottom to secure the base down to a table or the base of a case using 1/4 inch bolts from underneath. She should be secure.........I hope. Marc

Doing research on the bolt ropes. It's sounding like earrings were wormed, served, and had leather stiched, while the bottoms had the bolts, wormed and served around a ring that sort of looks like Mickey Mouse's head. Still looking into it. In the mean time, I've been playing with the sewing machine and serving machine. some examples of different stitching lengths widths and hand sewing mixed with machine

New deck houses are looking good. that is some serious bracing you have going on! All the best for your Mother-in-Law!

Hi, Need help. I'm building the Cutty Sark and getting ready to put bolt ropes on the sails. Should the earrings of the bolt ropes be served? Thanks marc

Nils, I keep going over and over your build. So much valuable information! Thanks for sharing and your ship is amazing!bo Also I bought a sewing machine and the hemming foot that you posted for bolt ropes because of your posts. Thanks for the inspiration and teaching! Marc

I just had a large boxwood shrub die on me. Can't figure out why. Just turned brown over a week period while I was gone. I never though of trying to mill the wood. Doesn't seem to have many straight pieces or branches that are wide enough to do much. Maybe when I cut it down I'll try to see if there is anything that can be used. Nenad, I wouldn't cut down a healthy shrub. As you said, they take forever to grow. Is there a boxwood tree? Surely people are using wood from the shrub. Marc