rlb

Bees confusion.
 
Last night I was tired and didn't feel like doing much, so I climbed into bed early with a stack of ship modeling books.
 
The first thing I looked at was Lees' drawing of a bowsprit, showing the sheaves in the bees in opposition to what I had modeled!  He had the port sheave aft, and the starboard sheave forward.   I had followed the FFM, which is the opposite.  What to do?  I didn't end up sleeping well.
 
In the morning ensued a search of everything I could find.  I just wanted to know how I should be modeling this on Oneida.
 
I looked at Lees, Petersson, Underhill, Antscherl FFM, Charles Davis, Chuck Passaro, the MSW galleries of contemporary and member models, Frolich's Cygne and Le Cyclope models (which can be seen online), and and Glenn Greico's model of the Jefferson (also online at the TAMU website).
 
All seemed to show the topmast stay on the starboard side, and the topmast preventer stay on the port side.  Okay.  Frolich's models showed the stays both in the forward holes (maybe a French thing), but the contemporary model of Thunderer/Hercules in the MSW gallery, and Grieco's Jefferson, a brig built shortly after and in the same general area as Oneida, show the topmast stay starboard forward, and the topmast preventer stay port aft.
 
Hercules/Thunderer--


 
Jefferson--

 
So I decided that was the way to go.
 
I removed the bee blocks and sheaves--
 
 
And reglued them.  Also, this time I centered the sheaves (vertically) in the bee blocks, not offset as I did before--


 
Hopefully I will sleep better tonight.
 
Ron
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Ed!  Good question.  I have a spar and sail plan for Oneida from Christian Bergh (via Chapelle), which gives me the mast and spar lengths, but not much beyond that.  From there I am using many sources to piece together the info.  Lees' Masting and Rigging to give me the tapering and other shaping info, (and when I get to it, multiple other rigging details), David Antscherl's FFM for various mast and spar details, Chuck Passaro's Syren drawings and instructions, as that is also a brig, for the rigging details.  I expect to use his Syren drawings (especially the belaying plan) as a main guide when I get to the rigging.  And, I peruse the MSW gallery of contemporary models, and member completed models, to learn whatever I can.
 
Ron

Thanks, Dowmer.
 
Bees update:
 
I cut notches into the bowsprit to receive the bees, which exist at this point as the rectangles laying on both sides of the bowsprit--
 
 
Next the bees were glued on.  I purposefully made them just a hair too thick, so they sat just proud above the notches.  Then, when sanded down level with the bowsprit, it made my joinery talent look better than it really is!  The block slots were marked, the ends drilled and then cut out as best I could.  I don't have any files that can get inside a slot that narrow, so I used the chisel and knife from both sides.  The photo makes them look rougher than they do to the naked eye.  There are also some distracting grain streaks in the wood of the bees, but this part of the bowsprit will be stained black, so that's okay--

 
Next was making the bee blocks.  (Just love some of this terminology.)  I cut the slots, and glued simulated sheaves in the proper spots, port forward, starboard aft (We're looking from underneath here!).  I was careful to angle the front of the bee blocks where they meet the angled bowsprit cap--

 
Whoops.  When I glued one, and test fit the bowsprit cap, I noticed the block was wider than the cap, which looked odd.  Sure enough, after re-checking a photo in David Antscherl's FFM book IV (which I recently acquired), the bee blocks clearly don't extend to the cap.  The glue hadn't set yet, so I was able to pry the block off, and after altering both of them to be more correct, glued them in place on the bowsprit--


 
Here is the bowsprit, fit on the ship--
 
 
Finishing the cap is next, then the bowsprit seat/bitts (where the weight of the pin vice is holding down the end of the bowsprit at an approximately correct angle), and then a few more bowsprit details before it gets permanently attached.
 
Ron
 

Work on the starboard lower cheek bracket:
 
After my first attempt at the bracket, which I could tell (before getting very far) was not curved enough, I made a rough card template--

 
Using files, and a sanding block, roughed out the shape--

 
Test fitting on the model.  I am not happy with the curve.  It is still too flat, and not a good transition from the lower cheek--

 
Trying again, this one is better--

 
The three attempts, and using the third one, traced it for the port side bracket (or a fourth starboard try if needed!)--

 
Scraped the molding profile into the bracket--

 
And glued it in place--



 
I will move on to the port side cheek brackets, and then I need to finish work on the bowsprit and it's step.  The bowsprit will need to be installed with it's gammoning, before finishing the headrail work.
 
Ron

A small update.
 
Work continues on the cheeks and headrail.  The primary cheek pieces are glued.  The headrail is dry-fit, still some fine tuning to do.  And the upper cheek piece as it connects to the scroll is roughed out, and dry-fit.  It also needs some further shaping work--

 
Ron
 

Thanks Dowmer. 
 
While I was looking at photos of headrails, I saw one or two versions of a simple scroll figurehead, one of which was kind of similar to Chapelle's.  Oh well, I wanted the star!
 
With the sun making an appearance through the window, here's the current billethead.  It fits on the stem now just about the way it needs to--

 
Though it looks like the bowsprit is resting on the billethead, there is a very slight gap, as there should be, between them.
 
Continuing with the starboard headrail now, after taking off material to thin it down, it's held up to the bow to evaluate its shape.  (The cheeks have also been glued in place to help in judging the curve of the headrail)--

 
It's still needs much thinning down, but there is a worse problem.  It drops too low over the hawse holes (hidden in shadow).   I could possibly cut off some of the upper end where I'm holding it with the tweezers, but then I don't think the curve is going to look right at the aft end.
 
I cut another piece, with a slightly flatter curve, worked on it for a while and here it is--

 
This also still needs much thinning down, but I'm satisfied with the basic shape. 
 
That being the case, I marked the port side headrail on a piece of my diminishing stock of Castello Boxwood--

 
Ron
 
 

Thanks Lou, and all who have liked.   Yes this area of the ship is a real challenge to me and one I can't really totally visualize yet, but it's only wood and I can cut a new piece as many times as I need to! 
 
I have been working on the billethead.  I redrew it with a smaller star and some other refinements (not sure how refined they are, but they're the best I can manage!), and carved it out--

 
I was happy with the star, but the lower center part just kind of got mangled.  It's also overall too big.   I need to trim the whole piece down, which means sanding this carving off and trying again.  Fortunately the piece is also too thick at this point, so I have a couple tries at it before I need to start with a new piece.
 
Here it is closer to the right size, with the design drawn on, with an ever smaller star.  There are still some gouges from the previous attempt, but I don't think they will be a problem.  It's still a tad too big, but I don't think I can do smaller!--

 
And carved out.  I was able work in a couple of the little "barbs" as the scroll winds around the star, though the star itself is not quite as nice as the bigger one from the previous attempt--

 
The small "tang" at the bottom helped me hold the piece as I was carving--
 

 
But that comes off now--

 
Here is the piece next to the plans.  You can see mine is bigger, and a different design.  Maybe I should have tried to match it closer, but I'm not really sure what I would carve for those squiggles trailing off the scroll!  It also seems a little blank on the forward area.  (Sorry Mr. Chapelle!)  My top cheek molding will transition into the scroll that wraps around the star, instead of stopping separately behind, as shown on the plans.  I think this will resolve my oversize issue, as my height is close, but not the width--
 
 
Here is the piece dry fit on the stem--

 
There is still some carving work to do, and there is a notch in the back (you can just see it the previous photo where I am holding it next to the plan) that needs to be deeper so the piece slides farther back on the stem.  The curl at the bottom needs to line up with the front of the stem.
 
 
Ron
 

Thanks to all the 'Likes'
The iron strap was glued. It is composed of three parts. The seams between each length was filled with some modelling epoxy.

The support bracket for the flag has also been glued and the seam filled with some colored lightweight wood filler.

The whole is sanded with fine-grit sandpaper and receives some touching up of paint. The bolts have been simulated.
I still have to apply some rust brown weathering powder to the strip.

It's time to begin to place the resin castings... and then to carve...
 

Thanks to all the 'Likes'.
The resin castings are in place.





I will start now to carve the Queen Anne cypher.

Thanks to all the 'Likes'.
 
The Queen Anne cypher was glued on a scrap piece of 1/8" thick cherry. I used some Uhu stick's glue. When everything is dry and strong, I started by removing the residue of laser chart and rounding the edges using a sharp #11 blade.  I referenced the drawing found in the appendix of the instruction manual. The arrows added on the drawing are very useful to know the right direction of cutting.


Finally, I made a light sanding with a small piece of sandpaper. I have to hope that the separation with the backing piece goes well...

The carving of the next 6 pieces will probably be more complex but I will mark beforehand with a pencil the stop cuts on the drawings and on the carving blanks.
 

The Queen Anne cypher was separated from his backing piece (one night in the alcohol bath)  and glued.
I worked on the rudder. I followed the instructions strictly. Ah ! this manual ! What a pleasure !

I also added micro bolts of 0.4 mm.

The tiller was simply carved from a 1/16" x 1/16" cherry strip using a sharp #11 xacto blade.

After painting, the two pieces was glued.



Time to work on the two flags... and continuing to carve...

I just made a little advance on the flag staffs.
They are in place waiting on the flags.

In parallel, I worked on the oars. The problem was to find a solution to repeat the regular shaping of the blades.
I built a little jig for this.

Just turn the blade halfway in order to have a regular angle on both sides.


Then the blades are slightly bent

All the four pieces are finally glued together

The ten sweeps are ready for the painting phase...
 

The oars are almost complete


I just need to add the thin tape around the tip of the blade.
 
The Flags have also been added. I think the flag at the bow need more folds...


I just have to finish the carvings...

Time has passed since my last message.
As I have a very specific idea for the base and it requires the use of a table saw (which I have not yet ...), I move quietly on the sculpture of  the decorative carvings.
For construction of the base, the table saw (a Proxxon FET, shipping costs to Europe for a Byrnes table saw is unfortunately too high... 😪) will be delivered by Santa Claus, so I have time to finish the carvings quietly until Christmas.

Having finished the first 2 carvings, it was at the time of the setting up on the barge that I realized my stupidity 😲
The decorations must be symmetrical and should not be carved on the same side.... So I have to start one of her again ...

The good news is that each carving had a small piece of broken and I could not find any more broken parts that I had yet set aside....
I was able to repair one of the broken elements by sacrificing the second carving (which anyway was unusable because carved on the wrong side) 😀

The second good news is that I reproduced the same mistake in preparing the second part but as I just started to sculpt one of them, I'll be able to glue the second piece on the right side. 😂
A second set of extra boxwood carving blanks should arrive shortly from Syren...
 
 
 

It's been a while ! Unfortunately, I was away from my workshop for 5 long weeks following a surgical operation on my right hand in February (see the photo taken the day after the surgery).

I can now start doing some small jobs and it is also a good thing to regain the mobility of my hand.

So I take this opportunity to finish the carvings for the Queen Barge.

Work in progress...

Thank You Michael, Chuck, Ryland and to all the 'Likes'.
Ryland, it's really nice to be able to find your way to the workshop and especially to be able to reuse your right hand. Shaving with the left hand is not always very safe. 😅
 
I finished all the carvings.

They are now in place and I am not unhappy to have opted to use them.


I steel have to order the wood for the base. And it will be my first completed project 😁
 
 

The hawse hole piece is now blackened, using the 'ebonizing' technique.
 
First mask off around the piece--

 
Then paint it with the Quebracho Bark Extract--

 
Followed (while it's still wet) by the Iron/Vinegar liquid--

 
In a few seconds it's quite black--

 
Masking removed--

 
It will get some Tung Oil finish which will warm it up a little, and it'll match the wale and bulkhead cap, which were blackened the same way.
 
This is my model for the billet figurehead, from the USS Constitution--

 
I'll simplify it quite a bit.  Here's my rough sketch.  I'm not quite happy with it, so I'll sand this off and try again--

 
Ron
 

Slow progress on a number of things:
 
I marked the stem piece for the gammoning slot, drilled two holes, and then threaded it onto the jeweler's saw to cut the slot--

 
After cutting the slot, I gradually cut it out with micro chisels and files, then glued it onto the stem.   I'll drill the bowsprit stay holes in place, I'm not sure exactly how they are going to line up yet--

 
I cut a rough blank for the billet figurehead piece.  This will be a new experience, carving it--

 
And I'm roughing out one of the headrails.  Once I have the shape fine tuned a little, I'll cut the other one--
 

 
Here's the bowsprit fit in place, with some starting work on the bowsprit cap--

 
The cheeks are getting there.  The two starboard side pieces are done, and the port side pieces still need some thinning down.
 
Ron 

Work on the Bowsprit Bitts:
 
I started the notches for the crosspiece with the saw--

 
The notches in both the uprights and the crosspiece were cut out with the saw, a knife, and files.  The knees are temporarily glued together so they can be identically shaped, and the small piece you see next to the file will go underneath the bowsprit tenon, near the deck--

 
The shaped knees are easily separated with isopropyl alcohol--

 
Here are the pieces of the bowsprit bitts.  You should be able to detect the slight upward angle of the knees because the deck is sloping up at the bow.  Full disclosure, the uprights are probably a little oversized, and they should probably be tapered as they go below the deck, but I made them very early in the build, when I wasn't aware of such details, and I planked the deck around them.  I do not have a problem letting this go as is--

 
Here are the uprights, knees and cross piece dry fit--

 
There is one problem, which in this case, I do not want to let go as is.  If you look at the main bitts on the right in the above photo, you see the deck planking goes around them, and they correctly sit on the deck beams below.  With the bowsprit bitts, at the time I planked the deck I didn't think enough about how they would be made, and I planked over the areas where the knees should be.  This means surgery on the deck--

 
I will not carve this out all the way through to the deck beams.  Just enough so it looks like the deck is planked around the knees.  Here are the two shallow knee slots carved out--

 
And the knees dry fit--

 
Now the bowsprit added to get an idea of how it looks all together--

 
The bitts pieces were then glued together.  They were glued while fit on the ship, so looked exactly like the last photo.  Except for that little piece that goes underneath the bowsprit.  The glued up bitts were taken off, and the little foot piece was glued on, using the bowsprit to space it correctly--

 
So here's the glued up assembly--
 
 
This slides neatly into place, still unglued to the ship itself for now--

 
And with the bowsprit added--


 
It's good it's not glued in yet.  I realized looking at the photos that I had forgotten to very slightly round the edges of the knees, as was done on the main bitts knees.
 
Ron
 
 

Thanks Lou, and all who have liked.   Yes this area of the ship is a real challenge to me and one I can't really totally visualize yet, but it's only wood and I can cut a new piece as many times as I need to! 
 
I have been working on the billethead.  I redrew it with a smaller star and some other refinements (not sure how refined they are, but they're the best I can manage!), and carved it out--

 
I was happy with the star, but the lower center part just kind of got mangled.  It's also overall too big.   I need to trim the whole piece down, which means sanding this carving off and trying again.  Fortunately the piece is also too thick at this point, so I have a couple tries at it before I need to start with a new piece.
 
Here it is closer to the right size, with the design drawn on, with an ever smaller star.  There are still some gouges from the previous attempt, but I don't think they will be a problem.  It's still a tad too big, but I don't think I can do smaller!--

 
And carved out.  I was able work in a couple of the little "barbs" as the scroll winds around the star, though the star itself is not quite as nice as the bigger one from the previous attempt--

 
The small "tang" at the bottom helped me hold the piece as I was carving--
 

 
But that comes off now--

 
Here is the piece next to the plans.  You can see mine is bigger, and a different design.  Maybe I should have tried to match it closer, but I'm not really sure what I would carve for those squiggles trailing off the scroll!  It also seems a little blank on the forward area.  (Sorry Mr. Chapelle!)  My top cheek molding will transition into the scroll that wraps around the star, instead of stopping separately behind, as shown on the plans.  I think this will resolve my oversize issue, as my height is close, but not the width--
 
 
Here is the piece dry fit on the stem--

 
There is still some carving work to do, and there is a notch in the back (you can just see it the previous photo where I am holding it next to the plan) that needs to be deeper so the piece slides farther back on the stem.  The curl at the bottom needs to line up with the front of the stem.
 
 
Ron
 

Thanks, stuglo.  Well, six years ago I was right here!  If only you had found the site earlier.  I have great admiration for all those who worked at this ship modeling pre-internet, or at least pre MSW, as you have done.  Though I've always loved ship models, I had never even considered trying to build one--I wouldn't have even known where to start.  Then one day I saw a friend's Canoe that he had built from a Midwest kit.  Pre-internet I suppose I probably would have learned from him where a brick and mortar store was to buy the kits, gotten some advice, etc., and probably have given up on the first try.   Instead, Google was here, and so am I.
 
The Coronavirus precautions have shut down my office today, so I was able to spend some time modeling.
 
Here's the gammoning work--

 
The bowsprit bitts have been glued in, and the bowsprit is now permanently attached.  I didn't glue the bowsprit to anything, but with the gammoning done it's not going anywhere.
 
No sooner did I do this than I regretted it.  Now I have to blacken the forward part of the bowsprit in place, and I'm worried about how my ebonizing is going to work where I have to have a clean line dividing the blackened from unblackened area.   
 
Here is my discarded earlier mast attempt, now being used for experimentation.  On the far right is my first try.  I used some masking tape (removed at this point), and blackened up to the edge of the masking tape.  Unlike paint, which lays on the surface, the ebonizing seeps into the wood.  That part of the photo is a little out of focus, but sure enough, the blackening seeped under the masking tape.  In the middle is an attempt where I am going to use the Tung Oil finish to perhaps seep into the wood and make a barrier.   The same thing on the left, only here I have added some masking tape so that when I take it off before staining, the Tung Oil will have formed a sharper line, with a slight "lip"--


 
Neither of those attempts worked.  The masked version was the worst.  Though curiously, the left side of that one, where I didn't care (and there was no Tung oil finish!), had almost no noticeable bleeding!!  The attempt on the right side of the photo was better as far as the clean line I was trying to achieve--very little bleeding (though it was also against the Tung Oil finish!), but I hadn't managed to paint a very straight line.  I wasn't sure what to learn from this!--

 
The staining doesn't go deep into the hard pear wood, so I tried filing off the seeped areas--

 
That worked okay, but unfortunately there was some re-seepage when I tried applying some Tung Oil finish which was about half diluted with mineral spirits.  [I am considering this after all has been done--maybe the Tung Oil finish, especially when diluted, has the effect of "pulling" the stain.  Though why didn't it do that on the right test?]
 
Thinking about how that back edge had turned out so well, made me try to duplicate it.  I thought it might have been because I didn't try to paint right up to the line with the second part of the blackening mixture, and it had just floated in, meaning that I hadn't brushed the second application to that line, it had just mixed with the "pool" of the first liquid in that area, and that it somehow didn't bleed.
 
Below on the flat wood, the right side is where I tried to duplicate the floating in of the blackening , but at the middle/left, where it mattered, one little blip still bled.  After this, on the left, I tried cutting a line with a knife to try and give a hard edge, and maybe limit the seepage, and again floated the second solution into the first, instead of painting with the brush up to the line.  This pretty much worked.  Then I tried covering this with the more viscous, undiluted, Tung Oil Finish to see if it would stay okay.  I didn't get additional seepage.  (That is also what is shown reapplied to the earlier attempt on the mast.)  I seemed to have some clues to a technique that might work. [More experiments were surely warranted, but sadly not carried out because truly I am more hasty and impulsive than scientific]--

 
My technique on the bowsprit is going to be: 1) Incise a line 2) Paint the first part of the blackening (the Quebracho extract liquid) up to the line 3) Float in the second part (the rusty iron solution), and hope for the best.  Undiluted Tung Oil finish after.   This all would have been so much easier if I hadn't attached the bowsprit first.  Here incising the line--

 
Here blackened--

 
 It worked pretty well, just that one little spot aft of the bees where I went astray with the application of the first part.  I used a knife to (mostly) shave that away--

 
It's not perfect, but it's done.  You can also notice where I had applied finish to the inner part of the bowsprit before I did the gammoning.  The blackened part now also has a coat of finish, but the rest of the bowsprit does not.  I still need to attach some things to it--

 
I have more of this partial blackening to do on the masts.  Hopefully I'll improve my technique.  Why not be done and just paint it?   Part of it is the challenge I guess, but I also don't want these black areas to look different, in color or sheen, than the ones I've already done on the hull. 
 
And all that, from the bitts to the bees, was so I could do the gammoning prior to finishing the headrails.  That's next.
 
Ron
 
 
 
 

After looking at the bowsprit in place, I wasn't sure I had it at the right angle.  The cap seemed tilted forward a bit.  I pulled the bowsprit out and laid it against the Chapelle drawing, and the angle of the cap to the bowsprit was spot on, so it seemed the bowsprit needed to tilt up a little.  That little chock I put down at the deck needed to move up to the top of the bowsprit tenon, and the bowsprit tenon/heel needed to sit right down on the deck.
 
Here is the chock piece moved to just under the crosspiece--
 
 
And now test fit with the bowsprit--

 
You should be able to see a slight difference in the two following pictures.  The first is before I changed the angle, the second, after--


 
Next I did a trial gammoning, just to get an idea of how to do it, and also to mark on the bowsprit where the cleat should go--

 
The cleat was then cut out.  Following Glenn Greico's model of the brig Jefferson, there is only one wide cleat, on the top of the bowsprit--

 
The gammoning is of tarred rope, so I made a test, one piece stained black, and the other a dark brown.   It's a little hard to see the difference here, but I like the brown better, it's not as stark, a little warmer--
 
 
So, gammoning cleat attached, rope ready with the eye splice in the end--

 
Ron 

Thanks, stuglo.  Well, six years ago I was right here!  If only you had found the site earlier.  I have great admiration for all those who worked at this ship modeling pre-internet, or at least pre MSW, as you have done.  Though I've always loved ship models, I had never even considered trying to build one--I wouldn't have even known where to start.  Then one day I saw a friend's Canoe that he had built from a Midwest kit.  Pre-internet I suppose I probably would have learned from him where a brick and mortar store was to buy the kits, gotten some advice, etc., and probably have given up on the first try.   Instead, Google was here, and so am I.
 
The Coronavirus precautions have shut down my office today, so I was able to spend some time modeling.
 
Here's the gammoning work--

 
The bowsprit bitts have been glued in, and the bowsprit is now permanently attached.  I didn't glue the bowsprit to anything, but with the gammoning done it's not going anywhere.
 
No sooner did I do this than I regretted it.  Now I have to blacken the forward part of the bowsprit in place, and I'm worried about how my ebonizing is going to work where I have to have a clean line dividing the blackened from unblackened area.   
 
Here is my discarded earlier mast attempt, now being used for experimentation.  On the far right is my first try.  I used some masking tape (removed at this point), and blackened up to the edge of the masking tape.  Unlike paint, which lays on the surface, the ebonizing seeps into the wood.  That part of the photo is a little out of focus, but sure enough, the blackening seeped under the masking tape.  In the middle is an attempt where I am going to use the Tung Oil finish to perhaps seep into the wood and make a barrier.   The same thing on the left, only here I have added some masking tape so that when I take it off before staining, the Tung Oil will have formed a sharper line, with a slight "lip"--


 
Neither of those attempts worked.  The masked version was the worst.  Though curiously, the left side of that one, where I didn't care (and there was no Tung oil finish!), had almost no noticeable bleeding!!  The attempt on the right side of the photo was better as far as the clean line I was trying to achieve--very little bleeding (though it was also against the Tung Oil finish!), but I hadn't managed to paint a very straight line.  I wasn't sure what to learn from this!--

 
The staining doesn't go deep into the hard pear wood, so I tried filing off the seeped areas--

 
That worked okay, but unfortunately there was some re-seepage when I tried applying some Tung Oil finish which was about half diluted with mineral spirits.  [I am considering this after all has been done--maybe the Tung Oil finish, especially when diluted, has the effect of "pulling" the stain.  Though why didn't it do that on the right test?]
 
Thinking about how that back edge had turned out so well, made me try to duplicate it.  I thought it might have been because I didn't try to paint right up to the line with the second part of the blackening mixture, and it had just floated in, meaning that I hadn't brushed the second application to that line, it had just mixed with the "pool" of the first liquid in that area, and that it somehow didn't bleed.
 
Below on the flat wood, the right side is where I tried to duplicate the floating in of the blackening , but at the middle/left, where it mattered, one little blip still bled.  After this, on the left, I tried cutting a line with a knife to try and give a hard edge, and maybe limit the seepage, and again floated the second solution into the first, instead of painting with the brush up to the line.  This pretty much worked.  Then I tried covering this with the more viscous, undiluted, Tung Oil Finish to see if it would stay okay.  I didn't get additional seepage.  (That is also what is shown reapplied to the earlier attempt on the mast.)  I seemed to have some clues to a technique that might work. [More experiments were surely warranted, but sadly not carried out because truly I am more hasty and impulsive than scientific]--

 
My technique on the bowsprit is going to be: 1) Incise a line 2) Paint the first part of the blackening (the Quebracho extract liquid) up to the line 3) Float in the second part (the rusty iron solution), and hope for the best.  Undiluted Tung Oil finish after.   This all would have been so much easier if I hadn't attached the bowsprit first.  Here incising the line--

 
Here blackened--

 
 It worked pretty well, just that one little spot aft of the bees where I went astray with the application of the first part.  I used a knife to (mostly) shave that away--

 
It's not perfect, but it's done.  You can also notice where I had applied finish to the inner part of the bowsprit before I did the gammoning.  The blackened part now also has a coat of finish, but the rest of the bowsprit does not.  I still need to attach some things to it--

 
I have more of this partial blackening to do on the masts.  Hopefully I'll improve my technique.  Why not be done and just paint it?   Part of it is the challenge I guess, but I also don't want these black areas to look different, in color or sheen, than the ones I've already done on the hull. 
 
And all that, from the bitts to the bees, was so I could do the gammoning prior to finishing the headrails.  That's next.
 
Ron
 
 
 
 

Beautiful work but where were you when I needed you when I struggled with my Oneida 6 years ago and wasn't even aware of this site. You inspire and will help others