Bob Cleek

Easy Off oven cleaner sprayed on aluminum and then washed off should result in a patina that approximates the appearance of galvanizing. Experiment to see if that works for you. If not, paint is probably the best solution. 

A traditional froe is a wooden handle with a right angle straight blade at the bottom.  It was used to split out Cedar shingles.  The blade is a wedge that splits along the grain instead of cutting the wood.  The wood peels apart.
I have a smaller version - sort of looks like a paint stirring stick in shape - from a Japanese tool site - it was designed to split Bamboo.
 
You make a new yard - it is straight when finished - the wood was from a dowel - the dowel came from the outer part of the board and the grain is curved -  over time,  the yard seeks equilibrium - the rest of the board is gone, so no restraint - and it follows the grain -   I am just calling the bend "a dog's leg".   I do not know of any actual spars that are anything but straight - so dog's leg  is slang for an unwanted bend.
 
Spar is the umbrella term for masts, yards,  and booms.  I do not know if it is official, but it seems to be.
 
I do POF.  I use all bends - (two paired frames with each overlapping each butt joint of the other) - I like tight gaps - the closer the join, the stronger the bond.   No wood to wood joint will have enough PVA squeeze out to starve the joint (in a healthy situation)- especially if both surfaces are 100% covered first - wood is hydrophyllic - unlike metal - and too much clamping pressure (unhealthy) would crush the outer wood fibers before too little PVA is left .   I guess Basswood could too easily crush, but I class that species as being inappropriate for much of anything important.  For my needs, the Irwin clamp was a failure.   Another factor is to not use too fine a grit sanding medium on a wood surface that will be at a glue joint.  I like 220 but that is right at the edge of being too smooth.  The wood wants some "tooth".  Too fine a surface and it becomes metal-like.

Dowels are made using a punch type cutter.  The grain is often not dead straight.  If the grain is at a slope or angle - over time the dowel may follow the curve of the grain.
Using a froe on a straight grain board to split out straight grain sticks to turn into spars may save having a model with dog leg spars.
 
I use a lot of 4" ratchet clamps.  I want squeeze out pressure.  The Irwin clamps that I have are poor at generating any sort of pressure.  The only ones that I found that work to my needs are the HF clamps with the big grey wing nut.
The Widget Supply, MM, and small grey nut HF clamps have not done the job for me.

The Finished Product.

Behold: "FrankenLathe"

By the way, that's the cleanest my garage workbench has been in a looooong time! I'm sure many of you can relate.
 
I wanted to build this as cheaply as possible, but without compromising safety and the effectiveness of its purpose: sanding dowels of various lengths and thicknesses for wood model ships. With a LOT of great advice provided in this thread, I purchased the following items, as I felt their particular "roles" in the operation of the lathe were too important.
 
Links for where I purchased each part are provided in the part name. Prices are in USD as of early November '22.
Cheap, corded hand drill with locking trigger: $19
Variable Speed Motor Controller: $22
Momentary Foot Switch: $10
3mm bore Pillow Block: $7
 
Total purchase: $58 USD
 
The rest was just wood I had laying around.
Base length: 42"
Base width: 5"
Rail length: 32 1/2"
Rail height: 1 1/2"
Max dowel length (including what's in the drill chuck): 29"
 
The base:
The base was as-is: a 42" x 5" length of finished oak that was from a built-in bookcase that was in the house when we bought it. I'm questioning if I needed to make the overall length that long, but I figured I may do taller ships in the future. The masts on my current - and first - project are only 10". I can always move the tailstock close to the headstock for smaller projects. If the base were too short, it's be a lot harder to make it longer!
 
The rails were the same length as the base, and I cut those to stop before the drill mount/headstock assembly.
 
The headstock assembly:
The drill is set on a piece of 2x4 that I narrowed to be just the width of the drill at its widest, as I knew that I would need vertical wood supports on the side of the drill to keep it in place. As you can see from the pictures, I used a lot of shims to keep the drill steady in all directions while being used. The stained blocks of wood that you see are from lengths of pine 1x2 cut to various sizes depending on what I needed it for. I glued and screwed all connection points, except for the shims - I just glued those. I ended up redoing each of the parts of the frame structure several times to get each part just right so the dowel stayed centered in the tailstock and the drill did not move while I was sanding. I measured and test-sanded a LOT to get the headstock to stay steady to my satisfaction.

The tailstock assembly:
The Pillow Block (I had no idea such a thing existed), suggested by @RichardG (Thanks, Richard!) was perfect. The center bore is only 3mm, and I'm wondering if that might cause issues for larger size dowels in the future, but it serves the purpose of my current project and my next planned ship. There are, of course Pillow Blocks with different size bores, so an option in the future might be to get a couple of various sizes and just build more tailstocks and switch them out as needed.

That's about it. I started with a basic, rough idea of what I wanted to accomplish - as you can see in the image in my first post, I got great advice here, and I'm very happy with the outcome. I like the name "FrankenLathe" (courtesy of Mrs Capella), as the whole thing is just a mish-mash of purchased items and different pieces of wood and hardware that I had laying around.
 
Oh! I also want to give shout-outs to @Dr PR @Jaager and @wefalck
 for their suggestions about momentary foot switches and variable speed motor controllers. Really, everyone here had great advice.
 
If you have any questions about some particular point regarding the lathe, I'll be happy to answer them!

Easy Off oven cleaner sprayed on aluminum and then washed off should result in a patina that approximates the appearance of galvanizing. Experiment to see if that works for you. If not, paint is probably the best solution. 

Easy Off oven cleaner sprayed on aluminum and then washed off should result in a patina that approximates the appearance of galvanizing. Experiment to see if that works for you. If not, paint is probably the best solution. 

Easy Off oven cleaner sprayed on aluminum and then washed off should result in a patina that approximates the appearance of galvanizing. Experiment to see if that works for you. If not, paint is probably the best solution. 

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. 

Throw that thing out, and obtain a good Parallel Rule. Preferred them over drafting machines for a long time. 

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...  

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...  

Hmmmm! Best not to upset the admiral.

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...  

It was easy, she just flipped over the pan.

I believe the starboard railway cradle supports collapsed! She survived the event without damage, though. 

I had a passing familiarity with Cangarda. She was restored by Jeff Rutherford's shop in Richmond, CA, in my neck of the woods. A buddy of mine attended to her relaunching and very nearly "dumped" her in that exercise.
 
 
 
 
I'd think Jeff Rutherford would know how you could locate whatever lines and plans drawings may be available for her. See: Rutherford's Boatshop (rutherfordboats.com)

I believe the starboard railway cradle supports collapsed! She survived the event without damage, though. 

I believe the starboard railway cradle supports collapsed! She survived the event without damage, though. 

I had a passing familiarity with Cangarda. She was restored by Jeff Rutherford's shop in Richmond, CA, in my neck of the woods. A buddy of mine attended to her relaunching and very nearly "dumped" her in that exercise.
 
 
 
 
I'd think Jeff Rutherford would know how you could locate whatever lines and plans drawings may be available for her. See: Rutherford's Boatshop (rutherfordboats.com)