glbarlow

Very impressive carvings. 

Glenn: Its not a lot of fun. I can tell you most definitely.. thankfully we have a run of warm weather right now and Im enjoying it.. and my wood shed is happy as well
 
MIKE

Did I buy the first version of the rope hank too soon

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

I didn’t see it listed on your website, but then it also closed for maintenance. 😊

Did I buy the first version of the rope hank too soon

Did I buy the first version of the rope hank too soon

WOP is a great finish I always use. Homemade WOP even better Fun video. 

Very fine work!  The head rails and grating were the hardest part for me on Winchelsea, yours here are nicely done.  Nice workspace you have as well.

WOP is a great finish I always use. Homemade WOP even better Fun video. 

WOP is a great finish I always use. Homemade WOP even better Fun video. 

WOP is a great finish I always use. Homemade WOP even better Fun video. 

Just a little update in the form of a video of what I'm doing.
 
I've been waiting for this for a long time... finally some varnish on the "stern counter." That bare wood was staring at me all this time😩, while the rest was already covered in varnish or paint. But now that I'd attached the wooden trim, I could finally brush on the first coat. I think I'll add another coat or two later, and then it should all fit together nicely. 😁
 
 
 

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

I didn’t see it listed on your website, but then it also closed for maintenance. 😊

Log #31: Framing the Stern Part II
It has been a while since I last posted as much of the work has been incremental small pieces and so I didn't really feel I had a cohesive narrative to share. So while I have titled this post as concerning the stern frames (which do make up a bunch of the work), in general this is more of a collection of odds and ends I have gotten done over the past month.
 
Stern Framing
The first step in finishing the stern framing was to add on the filler blocks to the outside of the outer frames. These blocks provide the material for me to shape the curve of the lower part of the frames. The we made using basswood so they can easily be sanded down.

Next I needed to add filler pieces for the transom. These are designed to help with the shaping of the flow of the planks up to the stern which I figured would be much easier to do by faring as opposed to trying to perfectly design the pieces. To start with I cut two pieces matching the shape of the bottom of the lower counter from my plans.

These were then glued in place with the upper edge darkened with marker. I do this to help avoid overfaring.

Once the filler blocks were in place I started the process of gluing in the filler pieces for the upper part of the transom. First I had to sand down the various pieces at an angle to make them conform to the shape of the upper frames. I don't have any pictures of this process, but it was mostly just a bank and forth process making sure I was taking off the right amount of material at the correct angle. I then took a perspective plan of the transom perpendicular to the angle of the upper framing. I then held it in place with clips to allow me to adjust the positioning of the filler pieces.

And here you can see all the filler pieces in place. I should note that I did leave a bunch of material on the filler pieces to allow me to sand them while on the frames to conform the shape to the proper curve.

Then I turned my attention to the lower counter. I drafted a template for the shape of the outer curve which I used to mark where I needed to sand to. I used the same template flipped to the right to get the other side correct. You can see from the below picture that there is a minor issue with the position of the filling blocks for the upper transom. However, I am not really concerned with this as it look correct on the top and I left sufficient room between the bottom of the filler pieces and the upper framing of the windows to allow for me to make adjustments. The main point of these pieces is to correctly space the frames and define the shape of the upper quarter gallery. In the end they will not be visible as they will be fully covered.

Then to stabilize the frames for the sanding I added two support pieces joining the final bulkhead to the stern frames.

Bow Gunports
The bow gunports also needed to be worked on. I had previously shown how I had added the bottom and tops of them, but now it was time to cut the bulkhead to make room for the port.

I then carefully sanded the area before using the plans to mark the location of one side of the ports. These could not be done with the others as they need to be perpendicular to hull at that point since they are sided by cant frames. The same jigs as previously shown were used to make sure the port size was consitant.

Waterline
I also took this opportunity to mark the waterline. As previously mentioned the waterline is not actually parallel to the keel so I had previously measured and marked the point at the bow and stern to get the correct angle. Now tipping the model with the little bit of wiggle room available on my build board I used my trusty Lego + bluetack combo to mark the consistent waterline along the bulkheads. I need to do this now as I  will need to know the position of the waterline as I plank. Also it will help with properly positioning the Wales as they touch the waterline around midships.

Current State of Affairs
And here is the current state of affairs after a whole bunch of sanding. I have not fully sanded the inside as I am probably going to wait until the external planking is complete to help with stability. However the rough shape is now correct. Next up I need to frame the quarter gallery doors.

Log #30: Framing the Stern Part I
As I alluded to in update 28, there were a few cases where I took too much off with the faring. One of those is visible in the last image in the post. I had been overzelous in my sanding around the reinforcement for the stern fastener and took too much off of one side. This was actually fixed just after I posted log 28, but I was waiting till my next progress post to show the correction.

You can see I used a combination of scrap pear and wood filler to build up the area before sanding it back down. This time I paid careful attention to the run of the battons in the area and checked from the stern frequently to make sure the bulkheads were the same on both sides.
 
With that correction done, it was time to turn my attention to the framing of the stern. I was pretty apprehensive about this part of the build as even slight issues are much harder to correct (can't just stick some filler on it). Cutting the stern framing pieces turned out to be much easier than I thought. I guess all my practice on the rest of the build has made me much more precise with the scroll saw, but I didn't have issues cutting them apart from the usual very small touchups needed with a file.
 
I cut them out of pear for two reasons:
Strength, the pear is much stronger than plywood of basswood. I have not yet fully decided what I am going to do finish wise around the stern galleries and so there is a chance that I might want to show bare wood. I tried to arrange them so as to minimize grain issues on the thin protruding parts of the pieces.

You can see in the above picture me arranging the two inner frames. I have a basswood filler piece in-between them which represents the shape of the top of the transom. This serves two purposes. First, it will define the shape (though it will ultimately be covered by planking and a thin rail piece). Second, it helps me correctly adjust the spacing on the frames.
 
I spent a long time getting these in just the right place. You can see how in the above picture I am using a square to make sure they are aligned properly with the build board. I would say I spent at least an hour making micro adjustments and looking at it from every angle. Once I was happy I then brushed watered down wood glue into the joints. I did this because I was not confident I could get the alignment done properly before the glue began to set, so it was better to get everything in place and then add the glue.

And above you can see the state of affairs after the next two frames have been added. The filler pieces have not yet been thinned down for final installation, but they work fine as spacers for the moment. The process for adding all the subsequent frames was the same as the first and took place over multiple days. I waited for each set of frames to dry and brushed glue into the joints a second time for each to make sure there was no risk of things shifting.

And here is the current state of affairs. I have added the final two frames, but they are not yet complete as I need to add some basswood filler pieces to the outside of them to represent the complex curve that the outer frames were made of. This technique I am copying from Chuck's Winchelsea instructions which I have relied on heavily in this structural phase of the project. You may also notice that the outer frames are slightly thicker. This is because they need to be sanded to have a slight curve, but this will not be done until the rest of the stern framing is complete.
 
Thanks again to everyone who has stopped by to take a look and for all your encouragement.

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

Can I be a remote member of your club😂🤣
 
Better than the brass rod and board tool I made. 

That is great. Much better than the two pin method I use. 

I am still nursing a bad FLU and Sinus infection.   I have to add it to my site and will reopen at some point today or early tomorrow.  This has been a bad flu season.   It has been a couple of weeks and I still feel like crap.  But I got bored and decided to finish the design for the ROPE HANK TOOL.   I cant just sit around and watch TV, LOL.
 
This tool is a result of an antihistamine high and dizzy dreamlike vision.  It just came to me.  It is so simple its almost stupid, LOL.  I was trying to prepare for a tech session I am doing at our next club meeting.   "How to Belay a line to a cleat or pin".   So after using the traditional method of making a rope hank I just said to myself there must be a better way to do this consistently and quickly.   
 
So now I have a little mock up to show how to belay a line and this tool to demonstrate how to make a Rope Hank.  My club will probably do a lunch where everyone gets these and gives it a try.