Bob Cleek

Smith and Company's' Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer (called in the trades "CPES" is a special penetrating epoxy sealer (not an epoxy adhesive) originally formulated for the conservation and restoration of decayed "gingerbread" on Victorian wooden structures. It took the wooden boat marine industry by storm about fifty years ago when it was invented. It's secret forumula is something much more than thinned epoxy adhesive, which some substitute for it. It's penetrating ability (it's about the consistency of water) is derived by it's very "hot" solvents. ("Apply only in a well-ventilated area.") I've used many gallons of it over the years restoring wooden boats. It would soak into that rigging, I'm sure, and bind it together as well as anything, and it does not leave a glossy sheen on the first coat, which is all you should need. It's a two part coating, mixed 50/50.  You can telephone Steve Smith, the inventor, and he is happy to advise customers on its many properties for use in many applications. It's sold in most decent marine chandleries these days, as well as some hardware stores. Many have tried to duplicate it, but only "CPES"(tm) is the real deal. I bet it would work very well on that rigging. It does not dry hard and brittle, but retains flexibility and I expect if it were formed as it dried, it would yield very realistic catenaries. 
 
See: http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/
 
From what I've seen of your descriptions of the condition of that rigging, it's really not long for this world and any that's preserved will simply break in short order. It's the customer's call, of course, but it seems more a candidate for a total re-rigging than for the restoration of the existing fiber components. Some material that will penetrate the existing rigging and form a matrix material is the only thing that's going to work at all. Just my take on it, but it's a really old model and that rigging seems to have lost any strength it ever had at this point. I'm watching with interest to see if it can be saved.
 
As the saying goes, "You're a better man than I, Gunga Din!"
 

Lee Valley describes Bridge City's tools as "aspirational." I'd say that's quite accurate.  

I got the plane for precisely this reason. It's original price was too much but it was $89 when I ordered it. I'd seen it recommended and thought the price was reasonable for a quality plane.
 
I have only had time to briefly try it (I received it 2 weeks ago). It is very sharp out of the box and more importantly the blade adjustment is very precise. I have yet to try the thicknessing part. I will need to make a jig first since I'll need the wood at an angle. 
 

I don't think that their CNC manufacturing equipment can tell the difference between China and any place else, which leads me to wonder why they would suffer the indignity of a "Made in China" label when they probably could have made them just about anywhere for probably close to the same cost.  They'd have looked a lot classier if they said, "Made in Switzerland." Bridge City Tools isn't competing in the same market as Harbor Freight, for Pete's sake!   
 
The Bridge City plane above is much more sophisticated in design than the wooden Lee Valley miniature planes. It has a 1" blade, or so. The Veritas metal miniature planes in Lee Valley's collection of "minature tools," while nicely made and very "cute," and they do work like the full-siize prototypes, they are, IMHO, of very limited value for useful work. They are more "collectible miniatures," as were once very popular, but, come on, how often does one have call for a shoulder plane with a quarter-inch blade?
 
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Thread drift trivia: 
 
It's widely known that Walt Disney was an avid live steam railroad modeler, but not so widely known that he was also an avid hands-on modeler of all things himself and built one of the largest private collections of miniatures in the US, if not the world. Many of these were 1" or 1.5" to the foot tools, firearms, and the like. His idea for Disneyland, which he once called a "full-size miniature village," grew out of his hobby interest in miniatures. If anybody gets the chance, check out the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. A large selection of his miniature collection is on display there. The miniature tools are quite amazing.
 
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/miniature-worlds-walt
 

I thought that was cool, too, but I probably would get more use out of a spar-tapering kit than a pencil-making kit.  
 
(Every so often, I visit Bridge City Tool's website, just for grins. It's hard to believe, but they've been in business for quite a while, so I guess people do buy their stuff. They don't seem to have much of a steady line of tools. Instead, they feature specific tools which seem to disappear after they stock is sold out, never to return. Maybe they are catering to the collector's market, or something.)
 

Bridge City Tools, the Tiffany's of tool companies, has a new tool that's perfect for spar-tapering, although it's actually designed for making chopsticks! 
 
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/csmv1-chopstick-master?variant=31915440046193
 
 
It's on sale right now, marked down from $339.00 $269.00! Such a deal!
They're serious. I don't think this is an April Fool's joke.
 
They do have a now-more-affordable modelmaker's plane with a clever and supposedly accurate thicknessing feature that's reduced from $169.00 to $98.00. I might be tempted to step up from my trusty old Stanley #100.
 
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/hp-8-mini-block-plane

That horse arrangement would permit crew to work either side of the boom on the horses simultaneously. (They're called horses on the yards, too, the pendents along the yards' lengths which support the horses are called stirrups, IIRC.) However, again, one would question what evolution would occasion the need to have two crew out on the boom at the same time.  Given their size, they'd provide a "leg up" from the taffrail, but that's about it.  The swivel guns mounted port and starboard are unusual as well, unless, of course, somebody is trying to board the vessel broadside to the stern. (Normally, they would be stowed below and only mounted for action and then on the side from whence an attack was anticipated.)   Lady Washington's designer, who consulted me on another of this traditional designs long ago, knows what he's doing and takes care to get it all historically correct. You won't go far wrong following his lead.

I don't think that their CNC manufacturing equipment can tell the difference between China and any place else, which leads me to wonder why they would suffer the indignity of a "Made in China" label when they probably could have made them just about anywhere for probably close to the same cost.  They'd have looked a lot classier if they said, "Made in Switzerland." Bridge City Tools isn't competing in the same market as Harbor Freight, for Pete's sake!   
 
The Bridge City plane above is much more sophisticated in design than the wooden Lee Valley miniature planes. It has a 1" blade, or so. The Veritas metal miniature planes in Lee Valley's collection of "minature tools," while nicely made and very "cute," and they do work like the full-siize prototypes, they are, IMHO, of very limited value for useful work. They are more "collectible miniatures," as were once very popular, but, come on, how often does one have call for a shoulder plane with a quarter-inch blade?
 
***************************
Thread drift trivia: 
 
It's widely known that Walt Disney was an avid live steam railroad modeler, but not so widely known that he was also an avid hands-on modeler of all things himself and built one of the largest private collections of miniatures in the US, if not the world. Many of these were 1" or 1.5" to the foot tools, firearms, and the like. His idea for Disneyland, which he once called a "full-size miniature village," grew out of his hobby interest in miniatures. If anybody gets the chance, check out the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. A large selection of his miniature collection is on display there. The miniature tools are quite amazing.
 
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/miniature-worlds-walt
 

I thought that was cool, too, but I probably would get more use out of a spar-tapering kit than a pencil-making kit.  
 
(Every so often, I visit Bridge City Tool's website, just for grins. It's hard to believe, but they've been in business for quite a while, so I guess people do buy their stuff. They don't seem to have much of a steady line of tools. Instead, they feature specific tools which seem to disappear after they stock is sold out, never to return. Maybe they are catering to the collector's market, or something.)
 

Bridge City Tools, the Tiffany's of tool companies, has a new tool that's perfect for spar-tapering, although it's actually designed for making chopsticks! 
 
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/csmv1-chopstick-master?variant=31915440046193
 
 
It's on sale right now, marked down from $339.00 $269.00! Such a deal!
They're serious. I don't think this is an April Fool's joke.
 
They do have a now-more-affordable modelmaker's plane with a clever and supposedly accurate thicknessing feature that's reduced from $169.00 to $98.00. I might be tempted to step up from my trusty old Stanley #100.
 
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/hp-8-mini-block-plane

I can't recall seeing it on a ship model, but it was a common arrangement, I believe. Wrapping a heavy breeching line around a knob could foul the quoin. A cu*t splice worked into the breeching line was also commonly used.  (Proper splice name expurgated so as not to offend the sensibilities of those not fluent in nautical nomenclature.)
 
Thimble rig:
 

 
Carronades frequently had the thimble cast on the cascabel, as in this example on HMS Victory.
 

 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_artillery_in_the_Age_of_Sail
 
 

Sounds like it's time for Shop Notes 3 !
 
Excellent books! Among the very best for, well... for shop notes. There's more to learn from them than anything else I've ever seen in one place. The spiral binding was an excellent move. My copy of #1 was the original paperback binding and it's become a "loose leaf" collection over time. I suppose I should have it re-bound with a plastic comb binding, as pictured above. I used to work in an office where we had one of the machines for doing that, but that was long ago. Office Depot, Staples, and FedEx Office do it.

I don't think that their CNC manufacturing equipment can tell the difference between China and any place else, which leads me to wonder why they would suffer the indignity of a "Made in China" label when they probably could have made them just about anywhere for probably close to the same cost.  They'd have looked a lot classier if they said, "Made in Switzerland." Bridge City Tools isn't competing in the same market as Harbor Freight, for Pete's sake!   
 
The Bridge City plane above is much more sophisticated in design than the wooden Lee Valley miniature planes. It has a 1" blade, or so. The Veritas metal miniature planes in Lee Valley's collection of "minature tools," while nicely made and very "cute," and they do work like the full-siize prototypes, they are, IMHO, of very limited value for useful work. They are more "collectible miniatures," as were once very popular, but, come on, how often does one have call for a shoulder plane with a quarter-inch blade?
 
***************************
Thread drift trivia: 
 
It's widely known that Walt Disney was an avid live steam railroad modeler, but not so widely known that he was also an avid hands-on modeler of all things himself and built one of the largest private collections of miniatures in the US, if not the world. Many of these were 1" or 1.5" to the foot tools, firearms, and the like. His idea for Disneyland, which he once called a "full-size miniature village," grew out of his hobby interest in miniatures. If anybody gets the chance, check out the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. A large selection of his miniature collection is on display there. The miniature tools are quite amazing.
 
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/miniature-worlds-walt
 

I don't think that their CNC manufacturing equipment can tell the difference between China and any place else, which leads me to wonder why they would suffer the indignity of a "Made in China" label when they probably could have made them just about anywhere for probably close to the same cost.  They'd have looked a lot classier if they said, "Made in Switzerland." Bridge City Tools isn't competing in the same market as Harbor Freight, for Pete's sake!   
 
The Bridge City plane above is much more sophisticated in design than the wooden Lee Valley miniature planes. It has a 1" blade, or so. The Veritas metal miniature planes in Lee Valley's collection of "minature tools," while nicely made and very "cute," and they do work like the full-siize prototypes, they are, IMHO, of very limited value for useful work. They are more "collectible miniatures," as were once very popular, but, come on, how often does one have call for a shoulder plane with a quarter-inch blade?
 
***************************
Thread drift trivia: 
 
It's widely known that Walt Disney was an avid live steam railroad modeler, but not so widely known that he was also an avid hands-on modeler of all things himself and built one of the largest private collections of miniatures in the US, if not the world. Many of these were 1" or 1.5" to the foot tools, firearms, and the like. His idea for Disneyland, which he once called a "full-size miniature village," grew out of his hobby interest in miniatures. If anybody gets the chance, check out the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. A large selection of his miniature collection is on display there. The miniature tools are quite amazing.
 
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/miniature-worlds-walt
 

I don't think that their CNC manufacturing equipment can tell the difference between China and any place else, which leads me to wonder why they would suffer the indignity of a "Made in China" label when they probably could have made them just about anywhere for probably close to the same cost.  They'd have looked a lot classier if they said, "Made in Switzerland." Bridge City Tools isn't competing in the same market as Harbor Freight, for Pete's sake!   
 
The Bridge City plane above is much more sophisticated in design than the wooden Lee Valley miniature planes. It has a 1" blade, or so. The Veritas metal miniature planes in Lee Valley's collection of "minature tools," while nicely made and very "cute," and they do work like the full-siize prototypes, they are, IMHO, of very limited value for useful work. They are more "collectible miniatures," as were once very popular, but, come on, how often does one have call for a shoulder plane with a quarter-inch blade?
 
***************************
Thread drift trivia: 
 
It's widely known that Walt Disney was an avid live steam railroad modeler, but not so widely known that he was also an avid hands-on modeler of all things himself and built one of the largest private collections of miniatures in the US, if not the world. Many of these were 1" or 1.5" to the foot tools, firearms, and the like. His idea for Disneyland, which he once called a "full-size miniature village," grew out of his hobby interest in miniatures. If anybody gets the chance, check out the Disney Family Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco, CA. A large selection of his miniature collection is on display there. The miniature tools are quite amazing.
 
https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/miniature-worlds-walt
 

Bridge City Tools, the Tiffany's of tool companies, has a new tool that's perfect for spar-tapering, although it's actually designed for making chopsticks! 
 
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/csmv1-chopstick-master?variant=31915440046193
 
 
It's on sale right now, marked down from $339.00 $269.00! Such a deal!
They're serious. I don't think this is an April Fool's joke.
 
They do have a now-more-affordable modelmaker's plane with a clever and supposedly accurate thicknessing feature that's reduced from $169.00 to $98.00. I might be tempted to step up from my trusty old Stanley #100.
 
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/hp-8-mini-block-plane

Sounds like it's time for Shop Notes 3 !
 
Excellent books! Among the very best for, well... for shop notes. There's more to learn from them than anything else I've ever seen in one place. The spiral binding was an excellent move. My copy of #1 was the original paperback binding and it's become a "loose leaf" collection over time. I suppose I should have it re-bound with a plastic comb binding, as pictured above. I used to work in an office where we had one of the machines for doing that, but that was long ago. Office Depot, Staples, and FedEx Office do it.

That horse arrangement would permit crew to work either side of the boom on the horses simultaneously. (They're called horses on the yards, too, the pendents along the yards' lengths which support the horses are called stirrups, IIRC.) However, again, one would question what evolution would occasion the need to have two crew out on the boom at the same time.  Given their size, they'd provide a "leg up" from the taffrail, but that's about it.  The swivel guns mounted port and starboard are unusual as well, unless, of course, somebody is trying to board the vessel broadside to the stern. (Normally, they would be stowed below and only mounted for action and then on the side from whence an attack was anticipated.)   Lady Washington's designer, who consulted me on another of this traditional designs long ago, knows what he's doing and takes care to get it all historically correct. You won't go far wrong following his lead.

Gee Bob, I don't know.  I think that I prefer the $699 pencil making kit.  😆

Although a horde of ants climbing in your rigging might be a bit disconcerting for some!

I still have to make a display base (and maybe a case) but I think I'm going to call this build finished. Not everything is quite as tight and perfect as I'd like it to be, but overall I'm very happy with how this turned out for my second build. Please pardon the ugly fence background, after I get the base finished I'll try to do some proper shots and post a gallery.
 
Thank you all for the likes and comments; they were very encouraging and I simply appreciate this community!
 

It's Portia Takakjian, "Tah-kok-gee-in." 
 
Her AOTS book was on Essex. HMS Fubbs may have been one of the three builds addressed in her Ship Modeling Techniques book. I fortunately found a great deal on a used copy that's coming in the mail. I've had my eye out for this title at a reasonable price for some time.
 
AOTS: The 32 Gun Frigate Essex   https://www.amazon.com/32-Gun-Frigate-Essex-Anatomy-Ship/dp/0851775411
     (Hardcover: 3 used from $154.84 - 1 new from 97.75)
     (Paperback: 3 used from $565.99 - 1 new from $919.00)
 
Ship Modeling Techniques   https://www.amazon.com/Modeling-Techniques-Portia-Takakjian-1990-04-06/dp/B01HCADDZ4
     (Paperback: "3 Used from $183.87 - 2 new from $768.57"
 
I really don't know what's with Amazon's book pricing. Perhaps they need to revise their algorithms. It seems like some sort of digital "monkey see - monkey do" issue is operative. Somebody sees a price on line and asks more for theirs, and that gets repeated over and over again and the prices just keep getting inflated automatically like Bitcoins. I can't imagine why anybody would pay $919.00 for a new paperback copy of an AOTS book when a lot of 27 new hardcover copies were just remaindered for $150.00 at an online auction. I can't imagine anybody's paying the kind of prices that some of the books on Amazon are listed for. it's certain that poor Portia, who died too young, never saw the kind of money her two books are bringing these days. She was working on an AOTS volume on the 32 gun frigate Raleigh at the time of her death. She was a fascinating maritime historian and ship modeler about whom not a lot seems to have been written.  A classically trained illustrator, her "day job" was as an academic scientific illustrator, her maritime interests were an avocation and she only modeled ships later in her life. Her papers were left to the G.W. Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport.  What I found particularly fascinating was that while raising two boys as a single mom, she managed to build what her Mystic Seaport biography calls " one of the best, privately held, period shipbuilding and naval architecture book collections in the USA." Wouldn't we all give our eye teeth for something like that!
 
 
Here's her bio from the Mystic Seaport website: https://research.mysticseaport.org/coll/coll289/
 
Biography of Portia Takakjian
Shortly after Portia Takakjian’s death on February 17, 1992, Scottie Dayton, friend and associate, commented in the May/June issue of Seaways as follows: “On 17 February noted ship modeler, researcher and author, Portia Takakjian lost her battle with emphysema. True to her nature, Portia was busy helping others right to the end. She was an extraordinary lady, as anyone who knew her will tell you. Her capacity for caring and giving was boundless.
She was born in Los Angles in 1930, but spent most of her time in the villages of Tarrytown and Piermont on the Hudson River just above New York City. After completing high school she worked as a fashion model for the Ford Agency while attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and later the Art Students League.
Portia’s art career originally focused on illustrating children’s books. Her reputation in this field earned a listing in Gale’s “Authors and Illustrators”, while some of her work became part of the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. Besides illustrating books, Takakjian rose to the level of senior illustrator and draftsperson at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.
Her interest in ship modeling surfaced while raising sons Kyle and Erik. Takakjian understood how vital a quality reference library was and set about establishing one of the best, privately held, period shipbuilding and naval architecture book collections in the USA. As her knowledge and skills increased, her studio also evolved into a first-class model shop.
When the Hudson River Museum invited Portia to exhibit her models, the interest in how they were constructed led to teaching a weekly class in her workshop. She realized early on that there was little published material to help the beginner, so she began imparting what she’d learned by writing magazine articles.
Portia had much to be proud of, but the publication of the “32-Gun Frigate Essex” by Conway Maritime Press was a crowning achievement. “Essex” was the first title ever produced on an early American vessel for their esteemed Anatomy of the Ship series. Conway’s editors were so impressed with the quality of her plans and the accuracy of her modeling that they permitted her to choose the vessel and deadline for another title. Portia selected the 32-gun frigate Raleigh (1778). Her obsession to finish Raleigh “before it finishes me” drove her over each physical obstacle.
Portia left behind an impressive legacy in her models and writings, but more importantly, she touched and forever enriched the lives of those she met.”

Big Creek
 
Per the posts from Dziadeczek and Druxey, you don't need clamps.   Pre taper each plank, bend by spiling (see the article here at MSW by David Antscherl) or just using heat as demonstrated by Chuck Passaro in his article on forming the bends and there is no need for clamps.  If you still want some security while the glue sets, soft wood blocks and elastic bands as Druxey mentioned is a great way to go.  If you are worried about dinging the plank place a piece of felt between the block and plank.   
 
And if you still want really good quality and versatile clamps, you are best off making your own.   Do a search of Ed Tosti's build logs as he uses his own home made wooden screw clamps and may give some details on making these in the logs.  If not, he goes into detail on making these in Volume I of his book on the Naiad.    You can make them with throats and jaws as small or large as you want.
 
Allan
 

I am posting this to tell forum members about reconditioning my Byrnes saw. In doing so I hope to help others wanting to improve the performance of this precision machine.
 
I don’t remember exactly when I bought my Byrnes table saw but I would not be surprised if it was 20 years ago. I must admit that it has not been an entirely happy marriage; burnt blades, stalling during cutting, kickbacks, etc.
So before tackling a new ship model project, I decided to see if I could improve its performance to the point where I could use it without getting frustrated.
 
I first gave the saw a good cleaning and a needed oiling of the blade adjustment mechanism.  I then made a simple bracket from aluminum angle that mounted via a #4 machine screw onto the slide of my miter gage.  My dial indicator could then ride back and forth along this slide to measure the parallax of the rip fence.  I found that the rip fence from the front of the saw to the approximate centerline of the blade spindle deviated from parallel by .006in.
 
To correct this I followed Jim’s procedure posted above.  All went well until I got to the last step.  Each time I loosened the front and back brass finger screws, slid the fence back and forth and retightened the brass finger  screws (front first) the fence measured.006in out of parallel.  It finally dawned on me that tightening the back finger screw was pulling the fence out of alignment.
 
I then went through the alignment procedure except loosening  the two #4 cap screws mounting the back mounting bracket to the fence instead the four #4 cap screws on the front bracket.  This solved the problem as the fence when slid and locked into place remained parallel.
 
I then tackled the blades.  Inventory revealed several Thurston I-192 and I-193  blades, all discolored with deposits of resin.  I began by scraping this off with a single edged razor blade, and cleaning with a Dremel rotary wire brush.  I later tried my wife’s fabric pre -treatment spray.  This loosened the deposit to where it was removed easily.
 
The blade teeth seemed sharp but were badly discolored.  A block of wood with a piece of 1/2in dowel made an effective fixture for holding the blade.  Each tooth was addressed with a small triangular sharpening stone followed with a triangular needle file.  As a final measure, a piece of abrasive cord was run through the gullet of each tooth.  Like dental floss!  I was surprised at the amount of black “gunk” that was removed.
 
Today I mounted a resharpened I-193 blade in my saw.  Using a block of wood to push a piece of 1/4in thick hard maple against the fence and using a push stick I easily sawed off two strips.  There was no discoloring or fouling of the blade. I cannot remember when the saw has worked this well.
 
Similar measurements on my10in table saw indicate that it’s fence is out of alignment by as much as .03in, five times that of the Byrnes saw, but its enormous power allows it to effortlessly chew through almost anything. The lower powered Byrnes saw and metal slitting blades requires much closer alignment.  In the future I will check it regularly.

Yes, I just filed straight across with both the stone and the file.  It seemed to work.  While cleaning and sharpening the blade was necessary.  I am convinced that even a slight bit of fence misalignment affects the saw’s performance.