Elia

Finally a little time for some progress. The front of the pilot house is starting to come together.
 
Russ

A little sanding improved the appearance of the bead board. I think this looks a little more believable.
 
Russ

Here is the dashboard assembly with narrower bead board. I think this looks better than the wider material. Still needs some trimming and fitting. I also think I will go with a smaller wheel.
 
Russ

Just a little more progress. This was the perfect day to work on the model. Nice cool, dry weather.
 
I am making some progress on the pilothouse. This pilot house differs from the trunk cabins I have built for schooners in that a lot of the interior is visible so I need to take some care to make sure that the interior details are presentable. This is all very rough right now, but it is coming along. The dashboard will have dials on it and the small bulkhead below it will have paneling and the wheel will be mounted just below the dashboard. There will be three windows in the openings across the front of the pilot house and the exterior will have vertical planking.
 
Russ

There has been a little more progress. This boat has two rub rails. I am told that the earlier boats had a single rub rail that was much wider than the hull planking. Later boats have done away with the wide rub rail and often have the thinner rub rail that is a bit thicker than the hull plank. This boat happens to have both of them. The thinner rub rail runs from bow to stern and was gotten out of a piece of square stock. The wider piece had to be cut to the curve of the hull and was a bit trickier, both to cut and to fit. I needed to install hidden pins along its inner edge to be able to attach it to the hull. Here are some pics. In the old photo you can see both rub rails. The rub rail is dry fitted on the model photos. I might yet thin its width slightly, just for scale appearance.
 
Russ

Love the comments.  
 
First the number of hoops:  At lengths of 82' and 86' respectively, I decided to make the fore and main yards as two-tree made spars.  The main yard has a 30 ft scarph joinng the two trees, each about 60 ' long.  These were bolted and banded, with heat-shrunk bands about 30" apart over the scarph length.  Then there are bands for the sling, the truss, the inner boom irons and a number of eyebolt/fairlead bands.  Youre right, Druxey - a lot of iron.
 
Massive is right, Wefalck.  The yokes are about 6 feet across and the distance between mast and yard centerlines is about 6 feet as well.  These were both dimensions I estimated from typical data.  With a center diameter of 23" and a length of 86', I estimate this yellow pine main yard to have weighed in at about 3 1/2 tons for just the wooden spar - no ironwork, stun'sl booms, sails or rigging  Of course the weight of all this was mainly taken on the chain sling at the center - with some help from the topping lifts.
 
Still smaller than a main yard on a first rate like Victory: 102' x 24" diam.
 
Ed

No so much a band or two, as a collection of whole orchestras! I had no idea that there was so much hardware attached to a wooden main yard during that era. Beautiful work as ever, Ed.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 276 – Main Yard Truss
 
The main yard truss described here, and the mizzen version, are identical to the fore yard truss.  The basic shapes shown in the first picture were cut out using a band saw with a 1/8" metal-cutting blade with a pasted-on pattern scrap as a guide. 
 

 
I cut both main and mizzen at this stage to avoid another band saw blade change later.  I used the band saw to save time vs. the jewelers saw.  The basic profile of the truss was then filed out as shown below in the next two pictures.
 


 
The eyes at the ends were marked with dividers set from the band brackets on the yard, then drilled to accept 20 gauge copper wire.  The unfinished yoke is shown in a test fit in the next picture.
 

 
In the next picture the yoke has been rounded, polished, and again fitted to the yard band brackets.
 

 
The center hole for the truss arm bolt is shown in this picture with a straight length of 20 gauge wire inserted.  The next picture shows the fabricated truss arm.
 

 
The arm was made using sections of telescoping tube.  The eye that will fit into the mast band bracket was fitted into a slot at one end and silver-soldered.  A short length of 20 gauge wire was soldered into the other end.  In the next picture a flange has been soldered to the wire to hold the arm on the yoke, but allowing it to rotate.
 

 
The assembly is set up, upside down, for bolting to the yard band brackets.  Heads were first formed on one end of the copper bolts.  They were then inserted from the top side o be clipped off just above the bracket surface and peened like the right-hand bolt in the picture.  A square ended punch was tapped with a hammer in the position shown to enlarge the bolt head like a rivet.  The left hand bolt is not yet clipped.  The last picture shows the truss installed on the yard.
 

 
This picture shows the top of the yard.  All soldered band joints, though not very visible, were positioned out-of-sight under the yard.
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 275 – Main Yard
 
The main yard was shaped as a two-piece "made spar" by the method used for the fore yard that was described in Parts 247 -248.  After working through the first four foremast yards, the process used here for detailing is now the settled practice I expect to use on the remaining yards. 
 
After shaping and sanding, the yard was pre-finished with a coat of wipe-on polyurethane that was thoroughly wiped off.  Then after complete drying it was buffed with a Scotchbrite® pad.  This helps keep the yard clean by sealing the pores in the wood. 
 
The first picture shows the center sling band and the two truss bands installed.
 

 
All the bands were made from copper strips, about 1/32" smaller than the circumference of the yard. The ends were then butted and silver soldered.  These three and the boom iron bands shown below are .015" thick.  The undersize bands were initially stretched on a tapered mandrel, then pressed to stretch into final position on the yard.  This results in a tight fit that keeps the bands in place.  The bands in the picture were also nailed on the underside with copper wire bolts for additional support, since they have a structural role.  The two truss bands are fitted with brackets for the truss yoke.  The next picture shows the yard with the central array of bands fitted.
 

 
A few of these will be fitted with eyebolts, but most represent heat-shrunk hoops that hold the two spar sections together.  The tapered maple mandrel mentioned above may be seen at the top of this picture.  This is used to shape, file, polish and partially expand the bands after soldering.  This avoids marring and smudging the yard.  In the next picture an outermost reinforcing hoop is shown just inboard of the scarph joint end.
 

 
All of these numerous reinforcing bands and eyebolt bands are .010" thick.  They are positioned to avoid the equally spaced jackstay stanchion holes seen in the picture.  The next picture shows one of the partially fabricated boom irons positioned on the yard.
 

 
This will be removed for further fabrication work.  The next picture shows all the bands out to the boom irons fitted.
 
 
 
 
The picture shows roughed out truss yokes cut out from 1/8" copper plate.  All three lower yard trusses are a standard size.  Making this truss will be covered in the next part.
 
Ed

The complexity of rigging your model is mind-boggling, Ed. It is being beautifully executed.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 274 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Rigging 3
 
The last rigging lines to be installed on the upper topsail yard were the buntlines, the reef tackle and the downhaulers.  The first picture shows the yard with these lines.
 

 
The next picture shows these lines more clearly.
 

 
As with the lower yard, the reef tackle block is tied off to the jackstay where it awaits the bending of the sail.  Its standing end is seized to a single block suspended from the outer boom iron.  The line then passes through the tied-off block, back through the first block, then through one sheave of the double block at the quarters and is belayed on the fife rail below.  The double block is shared by the downhauler used to help lower the yard when gravity alone won't do the job – for example when the ship is heeled.  The standing end of the downhauler may be seen spliced to a shackle on the lower tops'l yard arm band.  Since it is never reefed, the lower topsail yard has no reef tackle.  The buntlines are stopped at blocks lashed to the jackstay as with the other yards.  They then pass through double blocks hooked eyebolts under the crosstrees as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The tied-off topgallant sheet chains shown in this picture is a temporary measure until the topgallant yard is installed.  The next picture shows the rigging on the starboard side.  The large extra blocks dangling from the boom irons on this yard are the halyard blocks for the topmast studding sail yards that will not be installed.
 

 
The next picture shows about one-third of the top's fairlead holes filled at this stage.  All but two will be used.
 

 
In the last picture the halyard gin block may be seen hauled up close to the mast sheave with the yard in its lowered position.  The standing lifts that support the yard when lowered are shackled at their upper ends to the topgallant mast fid and will be added later after that mast is set.
 

 
The work is now shifting to the main mast.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 273 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Rigging  2
 
With all the bench work finished, the yard could now be hung to complete its rigging with a few exceptions mentioned earlier – mainly braces.  This part deals with the halyard and the lower ends of the topgallant sheets.  These are worked together.  Tension in the halyard pulls the yard up.  Sheets are used to hold the model yard down by linking them within the sheet block as described earlier.  In the first picture the yard is suspended in its lowered position – its final position on the model.
 

 
In this lowered position, the yard would be down on its lifts that will be rigged later.  Unless there was some desire on the part of the captain to show off the masts with yards at the upper sailing heights, this is the most likely position after the sails were taken down.  Note that the yard at this stage droops down a bit due to the clearance between the mast and the parral.  In the next picture the yard has been raised to its upper position.
 

 
The yard would be at this height under full sail.  It would be lowered as reefs were taken in to shorten sail.  The sails above would have been fully taken in before reefing this sail, so the yard could be lowered freely.  I fixed the yard temporarily in this position so the gin block shackle could be fitted to the end of the halyard chain.  The shackled block is shown in the next picture.
 

 
In this picture the yard has been lowered.  The copper shackle will be blackened.  Note the drooping topgallant sheet chains.  These will eventually be shackled to the topgallant clew lines when that yard is installed.  The next picture shows the topgallant sheets at the sheet block.
 

 
The chain sheets are connected to wire falls that run down toward the foot of the mast.  The wire cable was made by twisting up 36 gauge stainless wire and is less than 1" in diameter – hard to see.  I have highlighted the wire in white in the picture.  This runs down to the block of a whip, which has a standing end hooked to a deck eyebolt and the fall belayed on the fore fife rail.  When the sheet is put in tension to hold down the yard in this position, the chain interferes with the cap, as shown, if it is rigged through a fairlead in the top.  This line would normally be slack with the yard in this position.  I could leave it slack and rely on the downhaulers to hold the yard down, but slack model wire is pretty unruly and does not look good.  I have tentatively rigged this line to run vertically down along the mast so that it runs in a straight line to the whip block in the lowered position.  The two whip blocks with the cable connections may be seen near the center of the next picture.
 

 
The wire cable is just visible in the picture after rerunning it as described above, roughly on the centerline of the mast.  The standing end of the halyard is also wire, slightly larger, and may be seen at the lower part of the next picture.
 

 
Without full tension, the wire shape shows the problem described above. Sufficient chain has to be left on this leg to raise the yard.  The lower end of the wire standing leg, after tensioning, is shown seized to a channel eyebolt in the next picture.
 

 
This wire is a bit more visible – still pretty slender.  The running leg of the halyard is shown shackled to the upper block of a triple purchase tackle in the next picture. 
 

 
The lower block is hooked to a channel eyebolt on the port side.  This halyard arrangement was used on large yards to distribute the weight forces to both sides of the hull.  This tackle would consume a lot of rope when the yard was lowered.  The downhaulers used to help lower that yard and the other yard rigging will be described in the next part.
 
 
Ed

Thanks, everyone.
 
The tool for strapping blocks is helpful on larger blocks, say over 1/8" to 3/16".  Many on the model are small at the 1:72 scale so it is easier to simply tie these around a pin.  The tied black faux seizings are hard to distinguish and are much easier to make.   Larger blocks and double blocks may be seized using the fixture, but the thread ends need to be cut off short.  I have been setting the distance between pins by eye, but if there were very many to do this way I would want to add either some marks for different blocks sizes or use wooden gauge strips based on size.
 
Mark, I have not seen details of how jackstays were held in place.  Perhaps the 3/4" rods were bolted or riveted at the ends or to one of the stanchions.  On the model they are a close enogh fit in the eyebots that they stay in place.  I tacked the first ones with CA, but that does not seem necessary.  The brass rods are blackened, passed through the full yard, then clipped in the center and at the ends.  the brass wire is in straight lengths.
 
I am glad to hear the shackles are working for you, Pat.  I could see expanding the use of this type to reduce the need to solder so many.
 
Ed
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 272 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Rigging  1
 
The last picture in Part 271 picture showed the yard set up for rigging, but first the topgallant sheet blocks had to be fitted to the yard.  The first picture shows a trial fit with one of these before both were blackened.
 

 
This picture also shows the studding sail boom irons on this end of the yard and the two jewel blocks at the end of the boom.  Studding sail blocks that would likely have been "permanently" rigged will be shown on the model, but other studding sail rigging will not be modeled.
 
In the next picture the yard has been returned to the fixture and rigging of the footropes has begun.
 

 
The stirrup eyes and the ends of the footropes are secured with lashings – to jackstay stanchions in the case of stirrups and the inner ends of the footropes, and to the outer boom irons in the case of the footrope outer ends.  The next picture shows a lashing being tied.
 

 
Guterman® quilting cotton is being used for all small lashings – black for permanent connections and ecru for temporary – like reef tackle blocks and inner boom lashings.  To make this type of lashing, I have been double looping the line through the eye and around the boom iron (or stanchion, etc.) A clove hitch is then made around the turns as shown.  Before this is tightened the other end is pulled to shorten the lashing to its final length.  The hitch is then tightened and the lashing touch with diluted glue.
 
There are several blocks lashed to the yard for buntlines, reef tackle, downhauls, etc.  On this yard most are 9" (1/8") single blocks, strapped with a single thimble.  For these small blocks I usually form an eye around a pin, tie it with a double hitch to simulate the seizings, then tie an overhand knot under the block to simulate the strap splice.  Some of these may be seen lying about in the second picture.  For blocks with thimbles at each end, this method is not practical. So something more like the actual strapping is made.  A strap loop is first made as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The rope is wrapped around two pins set at a distance that will allow the two eyes to be seized.  The strap splice is made by passing the rope through itself then gluing.  When the glue dries the block is inserted as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The excess strap rope is cut off and a seizing tied to form the eye at each end of the block.  This method was used for the reef tackle blocks lashed to the outer boom irons.
 
The next picture shows the method used to simulate a shackle between the halyard tie and the iron gin block with the finished shackle shown in the inset.
 

 
The picture shows a test of the method.  The actual connection will need to be made on the model after the tye chain is attached to the yard band and threaded through the mast sheave.  To make this shackle, wire is passed through the chain link then through the eye on the block from both directions with an overhand knot set within the block eye.  The ends are then pulled tight and clipped off as shown in the inset.  The final configuration of the halyard will be shown in the next part.
 
The next picture shows the bench work finished and the yard ready to be hung.
 

 
The topgallant sheet chains may be seen hanging from the center sheet block and from the cheek blocks at the ends.  Securing the two chains inside so the yard may be pulled down by the sheet tackles was discussed in an earlier post.  The picture also shows the chain halyard tye suspended from the sling band.  All the chain ends are threaded with wire to assist in getting then through the various sheaves.  Pushing on a rope has its difficulties but pushing on chain is impossible.
 
In the last picture the yard has been hung and is ready for the next steps – securing the sheets and halyard.
 
 

 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 271 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Ironwork 2
 
The first picture shows all the ironwork fitted to the yard except for the pieces containing brass that were blackened before assembly.
 

 
All band eyebolt holes have also been drilled. At this stage the yard and its metalwork were cleaned using isopropanol and cotton swabs.  The next picture shows a closer view.
 

 
The 28 gauge jackstay eyebolts are pushed into their holes, which seems to be sufficient to keep the jackstays in place.  The next picture shows the yard with its copper ironwork blackened.
 

 
To blacken the copper parts, the entire assembly was brushed with liver of sulfur solution starting at one end.  As the copper turned black, the yard was held under running water to wash off excess blackening solution.  The yard was then left to dry overnight.  The next picture shows the yard temporarily fitted to the mast.
 

 
After drying, the yard was finished with satin wipe-on polyurethane using foam swabs to apply and wipe the finish.  After trying other finishes I am starting to settle in on this method.  The foam swabs are free of lint.  The jackstays are brass and were blackened with full strength Brass Black® before sliding them through the eyebolts.  Except for the wooden parral, no glue has been used on this yard.  The center of the yard is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The parral band pins are only temporarily inserted. Note that there is a slight gap between the parral lining and the mast, allowing the yard to slide up and down easily.  In the last picture the yard has been removed and set up for rigging work.
 

 
The long, slender topmast studding sail booms have been fitted and tied off at their inner ends.  The yard is ready to be mounted for rigging.
 
Ed

Here is another link for smaller spools.  You want solid bare copper.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Mandala-Crafts-Beading-Wrapping-Jewelry/dp/B00YDEZAAO/ref=pd_sbs_201_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00YDEZAAO&pd_rd_r=GN21WV3R8EJD5Z4ZPXP4&pd_rd_w=1hKTE&pd_rd_wg=4fvLo&psc=1&refRID=GN21WV3R8EJD5Z4ZPXP4

Here is a link, Maury.  You can find smaller spools.  A lot of artistic wire is coated.  You do not want that.  If is is magnetic it must be copper coated steel?  
 
https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Copper-Bright-Diameter-Length/dp/B000IJU1ZW/ref=pd_ys_c_rfy_rp_all_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000IJU1ZW&pd_rd_r=GKKJMHVS3KZ7SHEPMZ9Y&pd_rd_w=GV3pT&pd_rd_wg=uhINb&psc=1&refRID=4AFD9YGQTP100F9AHBEV

Thank you all for the comments and likes.
 
Yes, Druxey, there is a lot of ironwork on these lower yards, but it will become less as we ascend.
 
Pat, copper does have some distinct advantages and some disadvantages.  On the plus side: the ability to blacken parts after mounting on wood, its ductility that permits forming, stretching of wire for reducing diameter and hardening, the ability to expand rings to an accurate fit, and availability of copper wire in a wide range of sizes.  On the negative side, it is soft and difficult to machine compared to brass.  Brass machines well and is less prone to bending.  
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 270 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Ironwork 1
 
To avoid excessive repetition and to avoid tedium in these posts, I will not be describing all 18 of Young America's square yards at this same level of detail, so do not despair.  However, the first three are each different in the way they are supported and rigged.   Some of the fittings are therefore unique and it has been interesting to design and make them.  Even so, some of the work shown in this post has been described before.  The first picture shows the fore upper topsail yard with its parral and all of the bands fitted except for those that support the boom irons.
 

 
All but the yardarm bands at the ends were made by cutting and silver-soldering .010" thick copper strips that were slightly undersized so they would be stretched to a tight fit when positioned on the yard.  After soldering, the bands were shaped, filed, and polished on a separate tapered mandrel to avoid damaging or smudging the yard.  I believe all this was described in earlier posts.  The bands at the yardarms were made thicker using copper tube.  These stronger bands will be drilled for multiple eyebolts – at least three each.  Slices of tube were expanded to fit the yardarm as shown in the next picture.
 

 
A hardened scribe is being used to expand the band by tapping with a hammer with the band resting on the edges of the vise jaws.  The band was then pressed into position on to the yardarm as shown below.
 

 
This band will be drilled for three eyebolts – one for the standing lift, one for the brace, and one for the downhauler used on these doubled yards.  Most bands have at least one eyebolt fitted.   These were all drilled later.
 
Supports for the studding sail booms are the most complex pieces to make.  These include a boom iron on the yard and another at the end of the yard.  This latter support requires ironwork to reinforce the yardarm for this loading.  The next picture shows one of the boom irons set up for soldering.
 

 
The band for the boom was made from tube as described above.  The square arm was made from brass for stiffness.  The copper strip under the arm was used to center the arm on the band.   The next picture shows the next assembly step.
 

 
The length of the square section needs to be cut fairly accurately.  One soldered assembly is being checked in the picture.  The yard bands were made from somewhat thicker strips (.015") for strength. The next picture shows one of these assemblies fitted and the pair of fabricated outer irons for this yard.
 

 
The outer irons are supported by a strap bored at the end for the outer iron.  This strap is secured to the yardarm by two tightly fitted bands.  These were of the soldered type.  In the next picture, one of these is being polished on the tapered scriber.
 

 
The vise was again used to force the bands over the longitudinal strap as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The support straps were predrilled to fit the boom irons, but to avoid possible damage, the yardarms were hand drilled with a much smaller drill, then bored out to full depth by hand after the ironwork was fitted.  This is being done with a pin vise in the next picture
 

 
This complex metalwork at the arms was given some additional shaping and smoothing.  It was then very lightly polished using a new, clean buffing wheel.
 
To be continued.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 269 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Parral 2: Ironwork
 
In the first picture the wood yoke has been glued to the octagonal flat on the aft side of the yard.  One of the bands that reinforce the connection of the yoke to the yard has been fitted and the other is shaped but awaiting attachment.
 

 
All "iron" fittings on the yard are copper, to facilitate later blackening with liver of sulfur solution.  The uninstalled band shown in the picture was shaped around the yard and yoke.  It includes a short overlapping tab that will be used to through-bolt the band using a copper wire bolt.  In the next picture one of these bolts is being inserted through a drilled hole at the base of the yoke.
 

 
The short tab is located on the underside of the yard – out of sight.  The copper wire shown was next clipped just above the surface on both sides of the yoke and peened to form a tight connection.  The next picture shows the upper side of the banded parral.
 

 
The next picture shows the underside of the yard/parral and parts of the hinge/clasp that will hold the yard to the mast.
 

 
To simulate the hinge/clasp fitting, short lengths of wire were drilled to accept copper wire pins that will slip into holes in the parral.  The wire pins were soldered into the holes.  The piece on the left has been filed to shape.  These assemblies were then silver soldered to the half-circle band as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The picture shows dividers that were set to the spacing between the pins and used to mark the bands on either side of the circular yoke opening.  The above two pictures also show simulated leather lining in the opening.  This was made from dyed heavy paper glued to the wood.  In the next picture the spaced holes are being manually drilled to receive the long copper pins.
 

 
I drilled these manually to avoid disturbing the boring setup on the milling machine described in the last part.  There are never enough tools.  The last picture shows the completed parral except for blackening and fitting of the lining on the hinge/clasp.
 

 
Copper wire bolts have been driven through the arms of the yoke into the yard to simulate those used originally and to provide additional strength.  Next, the rest of the ironwork on the yard will be added.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 268 – Fore Upper Topsail Yard Parral 1: Wooden Yoke
 
All square yards above the lower topsails will be secured to their masts with parrals.  These each consist of a wooden yoke bolted and strapped against the aft flat of the octagon at the center of each yard.  The yoke is clamped to the yard by means of a hinged strap.  The first picture shows the finished, but as yet unblackened, parral assembly fitted to the fore upper topsail yard.
  

 
The picture also shows the center sling band, the bands for quarter blocks and the holes drilled for the jackstay eyebolts.  This part describes only the modeling of the wooden parral yoke.  You will note in the picture that the inside of the mast opening is lined on the wood face.  The lining of the hinged clasp will be done later.  The next picture shows the wooden yoke before assembly.
 

 
The yoke has been notched for the sling band, but not yet for the two quarter bands.
 
The wooden yokes could be shaped manually, but more precision in the circular opening may be obtained by boring the opening using the milling machine fitted with a rotary table.  Starting with an oversized wood blank, the circular opening of the yoke was bored first, followed by rip sawing to yield a half circle, then sawing the base, and finally shaping the curved sides.  The circular opening was bored using the setup shown in the next picture.
 

 
The four jaw chuck conveniently centers and holds the piece.  For modeling, the diameter of the opening will be 2" larger than the topmast diameter at the lower cap.  This allows 1" for lining and 1" clearance.  In practice, these allowances were more like a total of 1½" – ¾" for leather lining and a ¾" gap.  The bore was made by centering a milling bit on the rotating table, offsetting the bit to cut the correct ID (= hole radius – bit radius), lowering the running bit through the piece and rotating the table a full 360 degrees.   The resulting bore was very precise.
 
Centering the table on the mill spindle using the normal dial indicator method can be a tedious task – a lot of work for this single bore.  The setup shown in the next picture simplifies and speeds up this task and yields sufficient accuracy for these borings.
 

 
The method uses two short lengths of close fitting telescoping tubing.  The larger size is clamped in the four jaw chuck mounted on the rotary table.  The smaller tube is chucked in the spindle.  The X and Y tables are then adjusted until the tubes fit together smoothly as shown – centering the table.  This is most easily done using the sensitive drilling attachment, which is then replaced by the milling chuck. 
 
In the next picture, the yoke has been sawed to yield a half circle for the opening.
 

 
To accurately make this cut, the depth of wood below the bore was measured.  To this was added one-half the bore diameter.  Digital calipers were then set to this dimension and used to set the rip fence on the saw.  After cutting the half circle, the rip fence was reset to the full depth of the yoke and the base excess sawed off.  The curved faces of the yoke were then cut out on the scroll saw and finished with files/sanding.  The notches for the bands were then filed out and the yoke glued to the yard as shown in the next picture.
 

 
You will note that the banding shown on the drawings in some of the photos was later corrected.  Fitting this banding and making the hinge/clasp will be described in the next part.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 267 – Halyard Gin blocks
 
In preparation for work on the upper topsail yard, I decided to make the iron gin blocks for the halyards for all three of these yards.  These are suspended aft of each topmast from a chain tye shackled to the central band on the yard.  The tye passes through the sheave just below the topmast hounds.  There is one of these iron tye blocks for each of the three upper topsail yards.  They allowed the load of these relatively heavy yards to be distributed to both sides of the ship by means of tackles that will be described later.  The heavy stationary yards below are supported by iron trusses as previously described, while those above have simpler, lighter halyard rigging.  The first picture shows the three finished gin blocks.
 

 
The blocks have inverted T frames that house iron sheaves and an eye at the top to attach the chain tye.  Two have 12" diameter sheaves, one 10".  The frames could be made from formed metal strips, but I chose to use flattened brass tube for these.  The tube was flattened in a vise as shown in the next picture.
 

 
Pieces were then sawed off and given some shaping to form parts for the basic two-piece assembly shown in the picture.  It was then a simple matter to silver-solder these using the setup shown below.
 

 
One side at a time was soldered. The frames were then further refined in size and shape as shown in the next two pictures.
 
 
 

 
The brass strip holding the frame in the above picture served as an anvil to impart some squareness to the frames and to straighten the sides.  The strip also allowed the frames to be center-punched for drilling without deforming the shape.  In the next picture the eyebolt has been soldered into a small hole in the top of the frame and the sheave pin holes are about to be marked for drilling.
 

 
A wooden spacer was inserted into each frame to avoid bending during rilling of the axle holes.  The last picture shows the completed blocks before blackeneing.
 

 
The sheaves were turned and drilled in the lathe from brass rod, then secured with peened copper pins.  The assemblies were then polished, cleaned, and blackened using Brass Black®.  Meanwhile, work progressed on the upper yard itself – next post.
 
Ed

Alfons,
 
Very nicely done eyeband version 2.  That really looks the part.
 
Elia

Alfons,
 
Very nice dory rail and very very nicely done oar.  I have to say again that's a great looking dory you've built.  The smoothness of the wood finish, along with the paint job, makes for a really attractive little boat.
 
Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 239 – Revisions - Spencer and Headsail Rigging
 
The running rigging described in the last two parts has been revised.  In the case of the spencer gaff the fall of the vang was obstructed by the outer boats on the skid beams.  To correct this, I added lead blocks to the forward topmast backstay and led the fall down to its pin through a fairlead on that stay.  The first picture shows the original configuration on the port side and the revision on the starboard side.
 

 
The revised rig retains the same eyebolt for the standing leg of the vang, which then passes through the block on the shortened pendant, then through the lead block and a fairlead, both on the forward topmast stay.  The fall then belays on the same pin as before.  The next picture shows the starboard lead block and fairlead.
 

 
The old rope coils and belaying were removed as shown in the next picture.
 

 
A cotton swab soaked in isopropanol was laid on the rope for a few minutes to soften the wood glue. The rope was then easily removed.
 
The other revision involved the halyards on the three headsails.  I initially considered three typical configurations for these – no blocks, a single block whip from the deck, and a single block at the head of the sail.  I installed the first, simplest method as described in Part 238.  Shortly after installing these, I thought more about this and was concerned about no mechanical advantage on these rather large sails.  In checking (belatedly) the 1870's photo of the ship in New York, the blocks at the lower ends of the stays are clearly visible.  So, that configuration has now been installed on all three stays.  The foot of the topmast stay is shown in the next picture after revision.

This may be compared with the first photo in Part 238.  The revised lower rigging of the outer jib halyard is shown in the next picture.
 

To avoid re-rigging the downhaulers, the lower blocks were strapped to the shackle in place – a most difficult task, especially with shaky hands. The shackle eye was tied first, then the splice at the base of the block.  The inner jib stay at the left of the picture has not yet been converted. 
 
The upper ends of the stays are shown in the next picture with the standing ends of the halyards tied to the stays.
 

The last picture shows all three halyards converted.
 

So, we are now back on track after a short detour.
 
Ed