druxey

If the antique wood is a little brittle, you may be able to restore pliability as the veneer folk do: a very dilute solution of glycerin in water. Spray the cut strips and let them dry between sheets of plain newsprint under weight for a couple of days. (It may take longer in regions of higher humidity as it takes longer for the water content to evaporate out.)

If the antique wood is a little brittle, you may be able to restore pliability as the veneer folk do: a very dilute solution of glycerin in water. Spray the cut strips and let them dry between sheets of plain newsprint under weight for a couple of days. (It may take longer in regions of higher humidity as it takes longer for the water content to evaporate out.)

Remember this post Gentlemen? We are not alone

Our local Solid Waste Disposal Site, aka “The Dump” has a large section where visitors can take away items thrown away by others.  The stuff is free.  They have one entire building full of furniture.   Next time I go there I’ll have to see if I can find any mahogany.  It’s probably all veneer but Duluth does have a large number of old very large homes, once residences to wealthy families, so maybe I’ll strike gold.
 
Roger

Good on them for promoting recycling. Our local dump does not allow you to pick up anything someone else left, for some reason.

Nicely textured and colored!

Looking much better. And I agree: G1 needs to be rotated more.

Yes, do try to avoid cross-grain wherever you can. G1, for instance, has one arm completely cross-grain. Rotate it until the grain runs at about 45 degrees to each arm.  You can minimise waste by placing parts on a 'V A V' principle.

Perhaps such discussion - which can be valuable - should be on a separate thread and not a build log?

The safe choice would be natural wood. However, light grey or pale gray-green might be other choices to consider. Usually the 'red' was actually red ochre; a brownish red.

Nicely textured and colored!

Nicely textured and colored!

My test cuts are done and now it is time to sand them all correctly; some parts are already sanded to the lines. 
Since the wood is ticker that needed and once all parts are sanded (or before, will need to decide), wood need to be run thru the table saw or band saw to reduce the thickness to correct dimension.  
These steps might looks too much but need to test the process and tools required and "repetitio est mater studiorum".
 

Happy modelling..

3
 
After all surfaces were treated, the barrel looked like the photo. The length is 120 cm.

The painting was done with two shades of brown and black to get a weathered rusty surface. The inside of the barrel still needs to be made matt black.

The mouth of the barrel is a bit rounder, as the examples often show.

The breech has to be slid into the back.

The breech during the assembly of the parts. Which was entirely according to the method of the barrel.

The breech ready to be painted.
 

In the Dutch language, a breech was called a "snelleke". It resembled a beer mug in appearance and the medieval name of a beer mug was "snelleke". In reality, this barrel would have weighed 95 kg but now only 40 kg.

This is the situation on this day. It will take somewhat longer before I can show you more
 
Constant
 

2
 
The barrel was originally manufactured from long, flat hammered iron bars girded by hoops, the normal way to make gun barrels at the time.
The rather small embrasure with a diameter of 200 mm had to be able to allow the barrel with the forged rings to pass through. Existing barrels show that these rings were often only 20 mm thick. I applied this here and so the tube couldn't be much thicker than 110 mm.
This results in the internal diameter of the barrel, the caliber. I ended up with 70 mm, after comparing it with existing barrels.
All those measurements are approximate, and the barrel had to be made according them.
I made the barrel from two PVC sewer pipes, which had the required diameters, namely 115 mm and 75 mm (with an internal size of 68 mm)
Pushed together, the outer circumference and the inner diameter provided the required dimensions.
 
The two PVC pipes with spacers around the inner tube.

 
The two tubes pushed together

 
A total of 38 rings of MDF had to be cut out in thicknesses of 8 and 12 mm. I did that manually with the fret- saw. At least three rings glued together now formed a ring.


Those rings were slid around the tube in the right places and secured with superglue. The course between the rings was now much too slippery. We agreed that the barrel would have the appearance of an excavated barrel and would therefore be heavily rusted and rusted in here and there. So the slipperiness had to disappear.
 
Around the tube, between the rings, there was first double-sided tape. Very tight thin rope was wound over it, without gaps in between, on the left of the photo. I needed about 145 meter. Then a thin layer of liquid MDF was smeared on top of it, on the right side of the photo. After which it became a rough surface after drying. That surface was filed and trimmed again until a lumpy surface was created, which was then painted in a rust color.

The MDF rings were also smeared with liquid MDF at the same time as the gaps. In this way, it became a unity.
 
 

Hi photo Victory .
 

The safe choice would be natural wood. However, light grey or pale gray-green might be other choices to consider. Usually the 'red' was actually red ochre; a brownish red.

The safe choice would be natural wood. However, light grey or pale gray-green might be other choices to consider. Usually the 'red' was actually red ochre; a brownish red.

That's the way to do it without torturing either the plank or yourself.

An excellent primer for learning rigging techniques, Toni! 

An excellent primer for learning rigging techniques, Toni! 

Something went wrong, these words belong to the former message
 
A photo of the niche in which such a cannon stood. In the background the loophole with a short slit above it.

A photo of such a cannon in the National Military Museum in the Netherlands.

Constant
 

And at some point we got serious with the foot horses. First the thimbles were tied into the stirrups and the four-pack on each side was secured against being breathed away.



Then average out the distances for the stirrups.



For the distance between the thimble and the upper reference point, I made a small 9 mm gauge so that the distance is even when being glued down. Then 3 turns with the free end and glued that on too. When all 4 stirrups were in place, the foot horse was pulled through the thimbles and secured with an external knot before and after the thimble to prevent it from slipping through.



Then a short standing test, and lo and behold, it looks quite plausible.



Then knotted the eye on the inside of the foot horse to secure it. It was THE perfect eye. But I had overlooked the fact that the clamp on the other side of the yardarm went further out than expected, see orange thread ...

... so I cut off the eye and spliced in an extension, luckily it's hardly noticeable at this point, uffz.




This time the length was better and the eye was lashed with 4 turns on the other side of the yard.



Here is the finished ensemble and ...



... even our little able seaman was happy with it up there.



XXXDAn

Mast steps
Over the weekend I completed the two mast steps. The location of these is very important and the plans really helped me out here.
 
Mizzen step: The first thing I did was to tack glue the three sections together with a spot or two of school glue. Then I milled the notch which goes over the keelson. After breaking the pieces apart, I milled the notch into the top of the middle piece and glued the aft and middle sections together permanently. Next, I angled the bottom edge about 5° to account for the upward sweep of the keelson. I worked the two sections until everything was sitting flush with the limber strakes and keelson. The fore section was then positioned over the keelson, against the first two pieces, and shaped accordingly.
 
You might be asking, why didn't I  just glue all three pieces together from the start? It wasn't long before I realized that the shape of the fore and aft pieces were not Identical. The aft piece had a slightly different angle at the foot than the fore piece. This is due to the twist in the limber strake, I think. Doing this in stages allowed me to get each piece angled correctly without the hassle of trying to work the whole piece at once.
 
According to the plan, the center of the mizzen step sits .151" (approx 5/32") in front of the aft edge of frame 11F. I glued the step into position using a cross piece and shim to account for that distance. This also helped to get the step perpendicular to the keel.

Main step: This was made basically the same way as the mizzen step. It sits over frame Ba. Unlike the mizzen step, I didn't need to taper the foot. The distance between the centers of the two steps is approx 9-5/32".

For the pins I turned down a 1/16" dowel using the Dremel tool. They are press fitted without the need for glue.

I've had so much fun making these that I almost forgot that I need to finish up the outer hull planking.😏
 
Mike

Well done and a nice presentation, Chris. You can be proud of the result.