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Thank you very much for the suggestion, Larry. As it happens, I already have my other part on the way--it should get here tomorrow. But even better news!! Ilhan Gokcay kept a copy of my Oneida log, pictures and text, which I now have. Thank you, Ilhan!! I will post at the pictures and reconstruct the log as a timeline with my text. I'll leave out the responses and miscellaneous chatter. Ron

Thanks for the advice, Harvey and Jay; I will take it. I have a couple of inexpensive chisels I can practice with, and forgo the expensive (I just looked it up!) sharpening guide. Ron

Ilhan, Your Mayflower is simply beautiful. Outstanding craftsmanship in every aspect! Thanks for posting it. The "In progress" line in your signature is blank---what's next? Ron

Bless you, garyshipwright. I'm so happy to see this coming back! Ron

Elia, This is going to be one beautiful model. The bluejacket windlass insn't bad, but how much more satifying to make your own! Ron

My Lee Valley 1/4" Chisel. I use it far more than the No.11 knife, or a fairly inexpensive micro carving set I have. When I got this, it was SHARP. But now, I think it's becoming only SHARP. I'm getting dismayed because I don't know how to sharpen it, and I don't want to ruin it by trying. I think I will be getting one of those roller gismos that holds the chisel at a set angle, and I'll learn how to sharpen. Ron

Thanks, Elia. It's good to be building again. Thanks, Patrick. The gluing and ungluing works well with pear, a very hard wood. I'm not sure it would work as well with something softer, like basswood, for example. With basswood filing and sanding go much faster, so it might end up being easier just to do them individually, in that case. I don't know. I'm working toward making and installing everything that needs to go on the inner bulwarks. Part of that task is drilling the rest of the carronade eyebolt holes. Marking the spots with a pin-- And drilling. For most of these, I need to work through the ports on the opposite side. It's also important to do this before any structures are built up on the deck-- I ran out of eyebolts previously, so it's now time to make some more. The smallest I found to buy are not small enough. I'm sure the right size is available somewhere, but I've not minded making my own. It would probably be better to work up a jig to do these, but (and this is bad) I'm usually very lazy when it comes to making jigs. Or maybe I have jig-phobia. In any event here's my method for these. I'm using soft brass wire, 24 gage. Grip the very end in round nose pliers, and twist all the way around-- Until you end up with this-- Take the wire out, and re-grip so you can twist back the other way-- Something like this-- And end up with this. This is the most crucial step. If I don't get this result, I just cut it off and start over. You need to end up with an off-center loop that is slightly open-- Grip the loop with regular needle-nosed pliers and carefully twist back to center the loop. If you do it right the loop closes up and gets even smaller-- Here's the finished eyebolt next to a purchased one-- These take me between 15 and 20 seconds apiece (I could probably do it in 10 if I was really trying hard), though I can only stand to do about 10 at a sitting. I need to make about 100 more. Ron

Elia, Glad to see you and Arethusa back on MSW! She's a beauty, and I'll be following your build. Ron

I second that, Alex. Probably your model has inspired me more than any other. Thanks for re-posting your Sphynx log. Ron

Robert, Your Mars looks great. I'm envious of your scarf joints! Keep up the good work. Ron

Priceless!!

Russ, if one had a milling setup, this method could work even better. By hand, in my imagination at least, it saves some time! Don, Oneida is a great kit for someone who would like to test the waters of scratch bulding, but may not feel confident about jumping in fully (that describes me exactly). For another thing, if you don't have a power jig-saw, the laser cut frame pieces, deck beams and knees will save you a ton of time over cutting them out by hand. The plans, on-line instructions, and laser cut framing are adequate to complete a basic model, but if you want to take it a step further--as many Oneida builders seem to do--be ready to invest a lot more time in research and yes, scratch-building. In that case you will very quickly leave the kit plans and instructions behind. I'm very thankful to Dave for making this kit available, and he's been very willing to customise it for whatever woods you'd like to use. Just be aware that not everything is spelled out in the manner of a Chuck Passaro kit!! Ron

Caroline, It's fun to revisit your build of SF. After that little (not at the time!) setback at the start, and trials with the ships boat, we can see your confidence just take off! Thanks for re-posting. Ron

Thanks, Robert, Patrick, and Clay! In between checking out everyone else's "new" logs this afternoon, I managed to make some cleats. Hoping to make it easier to get them somewhat uniform, I tried this method: I cut a spare strip of planking stock into appropriate lengths. These were glued up (with Elmers white glue aka PVA) into "blocks" of six at a time-- The block of cleats was then shaped to the basic profile using sandpaper, chisels and files-- Isopropyl alcohol weakens the glue-- And they are separated back into individual pieces for fine-tuning with a file-- I need two different sizes--here's a shot of some of the rough "blanks" including two finished cleats-- Ron

Clay, Good to see your Euryalus back on MSW. I look forward to watching her come along. Ron

Ed, Thank you for taking the time to reconstruct your log of Naiad. Ron

Remco, It was fun to look again at all your past photos--some I did not remember, such as the tiny key! Your craftsmanship and detail work is just amazing. Thank you for putting these photos back on the site. Ron

Karl, I am very glad and thankful that you go to the trouble to post again your fantastic model. Ron

Thanks, Chuck. Thank you for your dedication to MSW, it's amazing how quickly it's rebuilding! Ben, John, Christian, thanks. I do hope to be able to put back at least the pictures, from the past. Remco, Håkan, I was very nervous about this fix. In my post I mixed photos from the port and starboard sides, but I did the port side first--that is the side that I expect to be toward a wall when the model is done and I figure out where to display it! I tested out my method on that side, all the way to applying finish, and learned a few things, to try differently on the starboard side. The two things I was most concerned with were keeping a crisp straight line with the cutting away, and the stain bleeding into the bulwark planking. The stain wasn't a problem as long as I took care with the brush. But the straight line was difficult. There were sections where the wale was glued seamlessly, and I had trouble maintaining a good line there and sometimes where there were the end joints in the wale planking below the line. Ron

Michael, That's fantastic. And now you really can sail her!! Ron

Looking forward to the rigging, John. Can't wait to see the rest of the mast, the boom, etc. Ron

Beautiful, Rob. The wood colors look very good. Is that the Kauri for the limber strakes? Ron

Hi Michael, I followed your progress prior to the crash, and I'm glad you are back with this amazing model. I wonder if you could provide some kind of scale figure (even just a block of wood 6' tall--maybe you had one before, I can't remember) because we rarely see models of this scale, and I have a hard time visualizing a person on your cutter! Regards, Ron

Håkan, Very nice to see Regina back on the forum. Thank you for reposting all the past photos of the making of your details! Ron

Old business: I have an adapter part on order so that I can put my old hard drive in my new computer, and retrieve all the old photos. New business: I have a tough time, sometimes, with the "leave well enough alone" concept. The wale on my Oneida has been bothering me since I first put it on, almost three years ago. At the time I was confused about the meaning of this line on the Chapelle drawing: My interpretation (keep in mind I knew next to nothing, and couldn't find much info) was that it marked a difference in the wale between a strake of "straight" planking above the line, and top and butt planking below. How silly. But that's the way I built it. I now believe (having seen a little more of the shipbuilding world) that it indicates a change in the thickness of the wale. Below is a sketch of the wale as built, with a dashed green line showing how I think it should have been built-- I just couldn't leave this alone, so work was begun to change it-- Looks pretty ragged here-- But better after sanding-- During the staining process-- And the result after one coat of finish-- I probably didn't take it down quite far enough, but I'm satisfied that at least the difference is there now-- There's not much rhyme or reason sometimes to the things I "need" to fix, and the things I let go. This one fell in the former category but now I'm happy and I can move on! Ron