Bob Cleek

Yikes!

Yikes!

I would contact Andy Davis at Tri Coastal Marine.  I had a very slight contact with him when hiring a Naval Architect for work on SS Meteor Museum ship here in the Duluth Harbor.  They were the Naval Architects and Marine Engineers for the Cangarda project. Still in business, I found them easily on the web.
 
The third paper describes the engineering plant though not in any detail.  The interesting thing is that they are running a triple expansion engine and all of its steam driven auxiliaries with an unmanned engine room. They have overlayed 120 year old machinery with a computerized control system.  The boiler is new.  What I don’t understand is lubrication of the engine.  He mentions using the old drip lubrication pots but old engines using these old lubrication systems required constant monitoring.
 
Roger

For the future I suggest you do a personal build log.  I have always done this so I can remember the paints and glues used and where used.  If I mix a color I record the paints used and the ratio of each so in case of needing a repair I can duplicate the color.  Woods and other materials and where they were used is also a good idea to record.  Upon completion of a model all the information is saved in a note book for later use.
 
Of course if you are doing a build log to share here you can everything recorded here.
 
 

This is true and it's a very common mistake made by inexperienced finishers. This particularly problematic when one is working with a clear coating that is particularly susceptible to ultraviolet damage, such as varnish or epoxy resin. Frequently, the newbie will apply a coat of varnish, even varnish with UV inhibitors) and then, obeying the instructions to "sand between coats," sand off the coat they've last applied. When all is said and done, they think they have applied the required "eight coats of varnish" and can't figure out why their varnish job, which looked great when they were finished, started going to pot in a couple of months. Instead of eight coats of UV inhibitors, they had the equivalent of one coat! This isn't of much import when painting models, though. They don't have to withstand the continual exposure to direct sunlight. (We hope!)
 
However, the CPES should have soaked into the wood sufficiently deep to provide a decent sealing, later sanding notwithstanding. As others have noted, your subsequent coats of barrier coat and various other things should be more than adequate to prevent water damage for the use intended. Remember, though, that epoxy is not "waterproof."  It's moisture permeable to some extent, depending upon the length of exposure, of course. There's a big difference between "moisture" and "water," though. As long as you have any sort of paint on it, there's little chance of the hull getting waterlogged.  
 
"Several coats of satin lacquer" will just add that much more protection to the wood, but it's probably not necessary. It's a matter of personal preference, I suppose, but I'm not much of a fan of "satin lacquer," or "satin" anything, for that matter, except in situations where a protective coating is required on finely detailed surfaces that can't be rubbed. "Canned satin" finishes are simply paint with "dirt" added to dull the finish. On a nice smooth hull, I opt for applying the finish coats without "satin" added, and, if they need flattening down, I hand-rub them with rottenstone and pumice the old-school way, yielding a much finer finish than "paint-on satin."

I don't expect you should have any problem if you coated with G-Flex. The absence of a glass cloth matrix can result in cracking of a rigid polyester resin coating when (and if) the wood expands. However, G-Flex is just that, flexible. This feature is intended to compensate for the expansion of the wood structure. Your use of CPES as a primer should provide an excellent base for the G-Flex. Do make sure your wood below the waterline is well coated. If so, I'd say "splash her when the paint's dry!"
 

I don't expect you should have any problem if you coated with G-Flex. The absence of a glass cloth matrix can result in cracking of a rigid polyester resin coating when (and if) the wood expands. However, G-Flex is just that, flexible. This feature is intended to compensate for the expansion of the wood structure. Your use of CPES as a primer should provide an excellent base for the G-Flex. Do make sure your wood below the waterline is well coated. If so, I'd say "splash her when the paint's dry!"
 

Using the router bit is a trick to be filed away for future use! Brilliant indeed.
 
But... for that shape I'd be tempted to make it freehand with a file or sandpaper on a stick.
 
I'd suggest the following trick: Take a piece of wood a little bit thicker than the thickness of the "ring" you want and with a sharp hand plane off a few nice, curly shavings. wrap these shavings around the spar at the place you want the "ring," laminating the wrapped shaving with wood glue. Add enough turns to make the glued on "ring" higher than the finished one you want to make. When the glue on the laminated "rings" is hardened, turn the spar in the lathe and turn the "rings" to the width, height, and shape you want with small wood turning chisels or jewelers' files. The laminated rings will be solidly part of the spar and adding them on, rather than trying to turn a much larger spar blank to size, should be a big time and work saver. Also, if for some reason you botch it up, all you need do is remove the glued "ring" by turning it off (or soaking it in alcohol if you used PVA glue) and apply another laminated "ring" and have another go at it.
 
This is also the way I make wooden mast hoops. I wrap a suitably sized wooden mandrel with plastic wrap to prevent the glue from sticking to the mandrel and laminate "hoops" the width of my plane shavings. Then I sand them down to the desired scale thickness and part them on the mandrel with a hobby knife or jeweler's saw (depending upon the thickness of the hoops,) and slide them off the mandrel.
 
Turning small shapes like you've illustrated above is quite easily done using a sanding stick and/or turning knife. It's much easier than making a dedicated cutter tool to do it, unless, of course, you need to make many of the same shape, e.g. belaying pints.

Using the router bit is a trick to be filed away for future use! Brilliant indeed.
 
But... for that shape I'd be tempted to make it freehand with a file or sandpaper on a stick.
 
I'd suggest the following trick: Take a piece of wood a little bit thicker than the thickness of the "ring" you want and with a sharp hand plane off a few nice, curly shavings. wrap these shavings around the spar at the place you want the "ring," laminating the wrapped shaving with wood glue. Add enough turns to make the glued on "ring" higher than the finished one you want to make. When the glue on the laminated "rings" is hardened, turn the spar in the lathe and turn the "rings" to the width, height, and shape you want with small wood turning chisels or jewelers' files. The laminated rings will be solidly part of the spar and adding them on, rather than trying to turn a much larger spar blank to size, should be a big time and work saver. Also, if for some reason you botch it up, all you need do is remove the glued "ring" by turning it off (or soaking it in alcohol if you used PVA glue) and apply another laminated "ring" and have another go at it.
 
This is also the way I make wooden mast hoops. I wrap a suitably sized wooden mandrel with plastic wrap to prevent the glue from sticking to the mandrel and laminate "hoops" the width of my plane shavings. Then I sand them down to the desired scale thickness and part them on the mandrel with a hobby knife or jeweler's saw (depending upon the thickness of the hoops,) and slide them off the mandrel.
 
Turning small shapes like you've illustrated above is quite easily done using a sanding stick and/or turning knife. It's much easier than making a dedicated cutter tool to do it, unless, of course, you need to make many of the same shape, e.g. belaying pints.

Using the router bit is a trick to be filed away for future use! Brilliant indeed.
 
But... for that shape I'd be tempted to make it freehand with a file or sandpaper on a stick.
 
I'd suggest the following trick: Take a piece of wood a little bit thicker than the thickness of the "ring" you want and with a sharp hand plane off a few nice, curly shavings. wrap these shavings around the spar at the place you want the "ring," laminating the wrapped shaving with wood glue. Add enough turns to make the glued on "ring" higher than the finished one you want to make. When the glue on the laminated "rings" is hardened, turn the spar in the lathe and turn the "rings" to the width, height, and shape you want with small wood turning chisels or jewelers' files. The laminated rings will be solidly part of the spar and adding them on, rather than trying to turn a much larger spar blank to size, should be a big time and work saver. Also, if for some reason you botch it up, all you need do is remove the glued "ring" by turning it off (or soaking it in alcohol if you used PVA glue) and apply another laminated "ring" and have another go at it.
 
This is also the way I make wooden mast hoops. I wrap a suitably sized wooden mandrel with plastic wrap to prevent the glue from sticking to the mandrel and laminate "hoops" the width of my plane shavings. Then I sand them down to the desired scale thickness and part them on the mandrel with a hobby knife or jeweler's saw (depending upon the thickness of the hoops,) and slide them off the mandrel.
 
Turning small shapes like you've illustrated above is quite easily done using a sanding stick and/or turning knife. It's much easier than making a dedicated cutter tool to do it, unless, of course, you need to make many of the same shape, e.g. belaying pints.

Brilliant!

Chances are you already have miniature wood cutters like the ones pictured. There is also a chance that one of them is already suitable for your needs. These cutters have usually round shanks, but then either a V-type tool holder or a regular one with an additional V-grooved shim (both pictured) will suffice. Just an idea for a painless improvising.
 

 

 
 

If you want to mill the tool to shape i suggest the following:-
 
Buy some silver steel.
Mill the shape you want into it.
Heat to cherry red and then quench in cold water. (this hardens the tool so that it retains an edge)
Touch up the edges with a diamond file if necessary.
 
Silver steel in its unhardened form can be cut quite easily with HSS tools.
 
I often use this technique for making tools for cutting brass so it will be fine for cutting wood.

@Bob CleekaMakes perfect sense. Thanks!

I don't think it should be difficult. Pushing the sandpaper against one side of a long piece will cause deflection that can cause difficulties, including breaking the piece. However, if you fold your sandpaper in half and place the folded sandpaper over the piece and apply pressure with your thumb on one side and forefinger on the other (pinching the sandpaper,) you can easily apply sufficient pressure to the sandpaper against the piece on opposing sides and thus avoid any deflection. This technique also allows you to do twice the sanding in any given amount of time.
 
An alternate technique is to glue a piece of sandpaper to a flat stick the same length as the workpiece and apply pressure against the workpiece starting at the side you want to end up being the thinner end. As the sanding progresses, apply pressure to the entire piece as the thinner side becomes smaller in diameter. The flat stick will ensure that the taper is even the entire length of the workpiece and the even pressure from the flat of the stick against the workpiece will also negate deflection otherwise caused by pressing on the middle of the workpiece alone.

I don't think it should be difficult. Pushing the sandpaper against one side of a long piece will cause deflection that can cause difficulties, including breaking the piece. However, if you fold your sandpaper in half and place the folded sandpaper over the piece and apply pressure with your thumb on one side and forefinger on the other (pinching the sandpaper,) you can easily apply sufficient pressure to the sandpaper against the piece on opposing sides and thus avoid any deflection. This technique also allows you to do twice the sanding in any given amount of time.
 
An alternate technique is to glue a piece of sandpaper to a flat stick the same length as the workpiece and apply pressure against the workpiece starting at the side you want to end up being the thinner end. As the sanding progresses, apply pressure to the entire piece as the thinner side becomes smaller in diameter. The flat stick will ensure that the taper is even the entire length of the workpiece and the even pressure from the flat of the stick against the workpiece will also negate deflection otherwise caused by pressing on the middle of the workpiece alone.

I expect most anybody with a lathe grinds their own cutting tools at one point or another. I don't see why brass couldn't be used for turning wood in a pinch, but why would you want to go to the trouble of grinding the tool in brass when a HSS tool would be no more difficult to make from a standard blank on the grinding wheel than the brass one and would be far easier to sharpen to an edge that would last much better than the brass one. (Lathe tools are ground, not milled, at least as far as my experience with them goes.) For custom shapes to turn wood, a custom-shaped cutter blade can be rather easily made from any scrap metal such as an old disposable utility knife blade or even a heavy single edge razor blade using a Dremel tool for grinding and shaping the edge you want for turning out belaying pins and the like. (When I do this, I put the blade in a small long-nosed pair of vise-grip pliers and rest the pliers on the turning tool rest.) Gerald Wingrove's book, The Techniques of Ship Modeling, covers this technique in depth. 
 
Most any of the many lathe operation manuals available for free download online, such as the excellent U.S. military training manuals. South Bend's How to Run a Lathe, and Atlas Machine Tools Manual of Lathe Operation, will have chapters on the proper grinding procedure for various types of cutting tools.
 
If all you want to do is turn a "small round over edge" and a "very narrow groove," in wood, I'd suggest you try cutting the groove with a jeweler's saw or similar saw or a suitably sized file and shape the rounded edge freehand with a flat jeweler's file or sanding stick. Grooves are easily made with a parting tool of the required thickness if you have one or a parting tool can be made of a piece of metal of the desired thickness with a corner sharpened.
 
 
 
 

Square stock for making shaft keys, (Keystock) is available from industrial supply stores and even some better hardware stores.  I don’t know the exact chemical analysis of this material but suspect that it is ordinary non  hardenable low carbon steel. This would work for turning tools intended for short term service and would probably last longer than brass.
 
I personally find an ordinary bench grinder difficult to use as the circular grinding wheel makes it hard to form straight shapes.  I have one of those stationary belt sanders with a 30in circumference x 1in wide belt.  I tried using this to form a lathe tool and it worked fine.  It also worked better at controlling the temperature of the tool blank during grinding than the bench grinder.
 
Roger

Dave, what Bob says is right. However, to answer your specific question, you can make a cutter out of brass which may suit the occasional odd job. It will not keep an edge and sharpening will probably change any profile you previously had. 
So, I reccomend sticking with HSS or carbide cutters. It's very rewarding to grind your own cutters and not difficult. 
HTH 
Bruce 

I expect most anybody with a lathe grinds their own cutting tools at one point or another. I don't see why brass couldn't be used for turning wood in a pinch, but why would you want to go to the trouble of grinding the tool in brass when a HSS tool would be no more difficult to make from a standard blank on the grinding wheel than the brass one and would be far easier to sharpen to an edge that would last much better than the brass one. (Lathe tools are ground, not milled, at least as far as my experience with them goes.) For custom shapes to turn wood, a custom-shaped cutter blade can be rather easily made from any scrap metal such as an old disposable utility knife blade or even a heavy single edge razor blade using a Dremel tool for grinding and shaping the edge you want for turning out belaying pins and the like. (When I do this, I put the blade in a small long-nosed pair of vise-grip pliers and rest the pliers on the turning tool rest.) Gerald Wingrove's book, The Techniques of Ship Modeling, covers this technique in depth. 
 
Most any of the many lathe operation manuals available for free download online, such as the excellent U.S. military training manuals. South Bend's How to Run a Lathe, and Atlas Machine Tools Manual of Lathe Operation, will have chapters on the proper grinding procedure for various types of cutting tools.
 
If all you want to do is turn a "small round over edge" and a "very narrow groove," in wood, I'd suggest you try cutting the groove with a jeweler's saw or similar saw or a suitably sized file and shape the rounded edge freehand with a flat jeweler's file or sanding stick. Grooves are easily made with a parting tool of the required thickness if you have one or a parting tool can be made of a piece of metal of the desired thickness with a corner sharpened.
 
 
 
 

I expect most anybody with a lathe grinds their own cutting tools at one point or another. I don't see why brass couldn't be used for turning wood in a pinch, but why would you want to go to the trouble of grinding the tool in brass when a HSS tool would be no more difficult to make from a standard blank on the grinding wheel than the brass one and would be far easier to sharpen to an edge that would last much better than the brass one. (Lathe tools are ground, not milled, at least as far as my experience with them goes.) For custom shapes to turn wood, a custom-shaped cutter blade can be rather easily made from any scrap metal such as an old disposable utility knife blade or even a heavy single edge razor blade using a Dremel tool for grinding and shaping the edge you want for turning out belaying pins and the like. (When I do this, I put the blade in a small long-nosed pair of vise-grip pliers and rest the pliers on the turning tool rest.) Gerald Wingrove's book, The Techniques of Ship Modeling, covers this technique in depth. 
 
Most any of the many lathe operation manuals available for free download online, such as the excellent U.S. military training manuals. South Bend's How to Run a Lathe, and Atlas Machine Tools Manual of Lathe Operation, will have chapters on the proper grinding procedure for various types of cutting tools.
 
If all you want to do is turn a "small round over edge" and a "very narrow groove," in wood, I'd suggest you try cutting the groove with a jeweler's saw or similar saw or a suitably sized file and shape the rounded edge freehand with a flat jeweler's file or sanding stick. Grooves are easily made with a parting tool of the required thickness if you have one or a parting tool can be made of a piece of metal of the desired thickness with a corner sharpened.
 
 
 
 

I expect most anybody with a lathe grinds their own cutting tools at one point or another. I don't see why brass couldn't be used for turning wood in a pinch, but why would you want to go to the trouble of grinding the tool in brass when a HSS tool would be no more difficult to make from a standard blank on the grinding wheel than the brass one and would be far easier to sharpen to an edge that would last much better than the brass one. (Lathe tools are ground, not milled, at least as far as my experience with them goes.) For custom shapes to turn wood, a custom-shaped cutter blade can be rather easily made from any scrap metal such as an old disposable utility knife blade or even a heavy single edge razor blade using a Dremel tool for grinding and shaping the edge you want for turning out belaying pins and the like. (When I do this, I put the blade in a small long-nosed pair of vise-grip pliers and rest the pliers on the turning tool rest.) Gerald Wingrove's book, The Techniques of Ship Modeling, covers this technique in depth. 
 
Most any of the many lathe operation manuals available for free download online, such as the excellent U.S. military training manuals. South Bend's How to Run a Lathe, and Atlas Machine Tools Manual of Lathe Operation, will have chapters on the proper grinding procedure for various types of cutting tools.
 
If all you want to do is turn a "small round over edge" and a "very narrow groove," in wood, I'd suggest you try cutting the groove with a jeweler's saw or similar saw or a suitably sized file and shape the rounded edge freehand with a flat jeweler's file or sanding stick. Grooves are easily made with a parting tool of the required thickness if you have one or a parting tool can be made of a piece of metal of the desired thickness with a corner sharpened.
 
 
 
 

Cute and handy little plane if you're right-handed. I'd be inclined to pass on the $25+S&H shooting board, though. It wouldn't take much to throw one together from shop scraps. 

Most decidely!  

It was at that point that she discovered it was a casserole, not a pie. What can i say, it looked like a pie to me when I took it out of the freezer! So I said, "Don't blame me. Who bakes a pie at 120 degrees anyway?' And it went downhill from there...