Bob Cleek

It may just be me, but I long ago gave up trying to use 60-80 size bits in any motorized hand-held drill motor, either a Dremel type or a Foredom handpiece. The slightest wobble of the hand usually results in a broken bit. I carefully use a pin vise for drilling by hand with such small bits. For motorized drilling, a good, rigid drill press with no run out is needed. 

I think:
This will cost more in time and tool wear than any perceived savings from DIY.
The Byrnes is on balance economical.
You can also use two tools that you will otherwise need to have anyway:

 
General Tool #15 1-60 drill gauge.
 

 
General Tool #13  61-80 drill gauge.
Both are SS and can be rubbed on a stone to renew the edge. 
Drill bits go astray and the gauge is needed to identify the size. 
 
If the alternative ready made option is an actual jewelers draw plate - a bad choice - expensive and made for actually drawing wire.  The sizes do not match wire gauge sizes.  They must be used from the wrong side, the taper does not help in grasping the bamboo and using a stone on the small size will enlarge the holes because of the taper (although that would take several lifetimes of rubbing). 
 
In my experience:
There are a blue million species of bamboo - which one is used in any particular bag of bamboo skewers no way to know.
Some are soft and draw easily, but are fragile.  Some are hard and fight being pealed into ever smaller diameters.
The interval between each drill number is often too wide.  Going back thru the same hole more than once but at an ever increasing angle might keep a stick from freezing up in the hole and being the devil to push out.  The harder species are worse at this.
It is not easy to get a grip on the stick.  It is difficult not to crush the tip too much to even get back thru a second pass without shaving a new point.  It is about an every pass step - long skewers help make it provide enough final length - after a tedious, frustrating, and time consuming process.
I have yet to find an ideal gripper.  I have the gripper used to pull wire - scissor action - coarse teeth - wants to crush - even with a piece of sandpaper between the surface and the stick.
I bought parallel grip pliers to try and something else featured here that is waiting for testing.  Something with a groove for the stick may reduce crushing.
 
A bag of plastic test tubes and a test tube stand is a way to store the variety of finished trunnels sorted per diameter.  Some sticks are not going to let you draw them down as small as you want.  They are still useful.
 
 

I would take a look at the Byrne's draw plate, it's a good price for the quality of the product.  Put it this way, my son has his own machine shop with full CNC machine capabilities and I still bought one from Jim.  It was just not worth it to make my own.  The reason for this I would only make only one and I am sure he makes them in batches which is far more economical.  Also his is nicely hardened and should stay sharp for a long time
 
There lots of stuff that may be cheaper and easier to make yourself than try to find commercially, this I just don't think is one of them.
Don F

It may just be me, but I long ago gave up trying to use 60-80 size bits in any motorized hand-held drill motor, either a Dremel type or a Foredom handpiece. The slightest wobble of the hand usually results in a broken bit. I carefully use a pin vise for drilling by hand with such small bits. For motorized drilling, a good, rigid drill press with no run out is needed. 

Ain't that the truth! Maybe it's a generational thing, and I certainly can embrace many of the benefits of "the digitization of everything" (without which this forum wouldn't exist,) but I do think we do a disservice to the art of ship modeling by an inordinate focus on CAD and CNC machine tool applications at the expense of a sound grounding in how the vessels we seek to model were actually built in real life. I know I'm a Luddite, and old enough now that it doesn't matter, but as far as I know, nobody's yet invented a CAD program that can strike a fair curve as quickly, easily, accurately, and inexpensively, as a flexible batten of wood, nor a CNC machine tool that can cut a curved piece of wood to fit against its mate as quickly, easily, and inexpensively as a sharp edged tool in an experienced hand.  I, too, marvel at the "master machinists" who turn out perfect replicas using state-of-the-art digital age machinery (and I have a lot of tools myself,) but I lament the elevating of the technical above the artistic for therein lies the difference between an art and a craft.

Bit of trivia: Curved sole planes can be used for backing out, as noted. Many plankers' favorite tool for backing out full sized planks, other than the edge of a disk sander modernly, is the Stanley #70 box scraper.
 
http://www.findmytool.co.uk/images/old/scrapers/stanley/70/large1.jpg   The "two-fisted" handle allows for putting some real muscle into it. Box scrapers were used in the days before corrugated cardboard boxes were common and wooden shipping crates were the norm. Addresses would be painted onto the crates using stencils. The box scraper was used to scrape off the painted lettering on wooden crates so the crates could be reused. Now, they are collector's items, although Kunz makes a short-handled copy of the Stanley original.  
 
 
For modeling purposes, a bit of sandpaper wrapped around a dowel should do the trick, or simply make a curved scraper blade. It rarely takes much backing out to make the fit on a model and unless you are showing the interior of the hull, nobody's going to be the wiser if the faying surface isn't perfect. Remember, though, that if backing out is required, your plank has to be correspondingly thicker or your final hull fairing is going to be a nightmare, if not impossible. The outside face of the plank in the middle of its width will be lowered by the depth of the backing out, so your plank has to be thicker by that amount or  you'll have to take all the whole hull's planking down to that thickness to fair it. Here again, though, with a model, fairing isn't such a big deal as it is on a full size hull.
 
It's to make narrower planks in the way of heavily curved frames than to try to back out a thick wide plank.

The Cricut Explore can handle up to about 3/64ths basswood. It has trouble with interior cuts, like for a window opening. It has a pivoting blade so to insure the corner is cut "square" it cuts past the corner, then back at an angle to start on the other section. This leaves a small triangle extra cut out at the corner. Not bad if you will be adding a trim piece to frame the opening, but a pain if you want just the square opening.
 
The new Cricut maker can do at least 1/16th bass, and has a gear driven knife for square corner cuts.
 
I have had difficulty going from CAD to the machine, but have not had time lately to revisit it.
 
If you are trying to cut an existing card pattern (As in a cardstock building, or file download (ship card model, where you want to print out the file and cut to the printed patterns) you are limited to I think 6X8 inch maximum output size. This is because their proprietary software Design Space uses your browser software as a print engine, and you are limited (for unspecified reasons).
 
Clipart and Line drawings can use the full  size sheet up to the largest cutting pad size. Remember though that the cutting pads are sticky to hold the material, so small delicate parts can break or rip when you go to remove them.
 
As I say I've not had time recently to play with my Explore machine more.

For sure. They are very handy for building model case frames. It's nice to have an easy way to put a perfect 45 degree cut on a piece of wood. They are a rather specialized tool, though. It depends upon how often you need to make a small 45 degree cut for a joint. There are other ways to do it, of course, but few so accurate. I've only used them on picture framing molding stock. They aren't cheap if you set out to buy one. A chisel or a hobby knife will cut most model plank stock without any problem. One might find a standard guillotine paper cutter to be just as capable and even handier for more jobs and at a fraction of the cost.
 

With the caveat that I've never done this, I'll suggest that the Cricut (pronounced "cricket") home CNC cutting machine is designed to solve the problem of small scale lettering transfers for modeling purposes, among others. (It shows a lot of promise for photo-etch quality cutouts from card stock, too.) My daughter has one and loves it. It seems to be "a girl thing" as their marketing is directed to crafty "soccer moms," and I haven't seen the Cricut system mentioned in this forum at all as yet. I does seem to be becoming quite popular and the results it produces are excellent. While there is a plethora of "clip art" images for use with the machine, one can also generate their own with any computer graphics program or word processing font. I'd be interested to know if any modelers are using it and how they like it. Once the pandemic gets over, I plan to fool around with her Cricut and see what applications for modeling I can come up with for it.
 
 
 
 
 

With the caveat that I've never done this, I'll suggest that the Cricut (pronounced "cricket") home CNC cutting machine is designed to solve the problem of small scale lettering transfers for modeling purposes, among others. (It shows a lot of promise for photo-etch quality cutouts from card stock, too.) My daughter has one and loves it. It seems to be "a girl thing" as their marketing is directed to crafty "soccer moms," and I haven't seen the Cricut system mentioned in this forum at all as yet. I does seem to be becoming quite popular and the results it produces are excellent. While there is a plethora of "clip art" images for use with the machine, one can also generate their own with any computer graphics program or word processing font. I'd be interested to know if any modelers are using it and how they like it. Once the pandemic gets over, I plan to fool around with her Cricut and see what applications for modeling I can come up with for it.
 
 
 
 
 

With the caveat that I've never done this, I'll suggest that the Cricut (pronounced "cricket") home CNC cutting machine is designed to solve the problem of small scale lettering transfers for modeling purposes, among others. (It shows a lot of promise for photo-etch quality cutouts from card stock, too.) My daughter has one and loves it. It seems to be "a girl thing" as their marketing is directed to crafty "soccer moms," and I haven't seen the Cricut system mentioned in this forum at all as yet. I does seem to be becoming quite popular and the results it produces are excellent. While there is a plethora of "clip art" images for use with the machine, one can also generate their own with any computer graphics program or word processing font. I'd be interested to know if any modelers are using it and how they like it. Once the pandemic gets over, I plan to fool around with her Cricut and see what applications for modeling I can come up with for it.
 
 
 
 
 

For sure. They are very handy for building model case frames. It's nice to have an easy way to put a perfect 45 degree cut on a piece of wood. They are a rather specialized tool, though. It depends upon how often you need to make a small 45 degree cut for a joint. There are other ways to do it, of course, but few so accurate. I've only used them on picture framing molding stock. They aren't cheap if you set out to buy one. A chisel or a hobby knife will cut most model plank stock without any problem. One might find a standard guillotine paper cutter to be just as capable and even handier for more jobs and at a fraction of the cost.
 

Hi Bob, 
In this case the price was very, very negligible. I think these things were around 500.00 new and used they still go for around 150.00. I bought it for a very small fraction of that! Personally I have a hard time with a hobby knife on a 1/4 inch plank. I can never keep the plank still enough under a straight edge nor get the cut perfectly up and down. This chopper can be used to cut pretty much any angle if you abandon the 'fence'. I'll give it a shot and figure it out.
One can never have too many toys 

Not to worry. On a model, the backing out depth dimensions are quite small and it doesn't take much. the sharp turns at the bottom corners of the transom are the worst. If you look at the full size hull pictures above, you can barely see the amount of backing out. You should be able to "fudge" most of it if the inside of the hull isn't too visible in the curved places. On a full size hull, you want the planks laying flush against the frame faces for structural reasons. That's not so important on a model. Keep your frames narrow and you'll be okay.

What Keith said. If you didn't use CA, you may be able to sand down far enough to get to bare wood and give it another try. Otherwise, you'll have to do the deck over again, taking care to avoid any glue on the face of the planks.

What Keith said. If you didn't use CA, you may be able to sand down far enough to get to bare wood and give it another try. Otherwise, you'll have to do the deck over again, taking care to avoid any glue on the face of the planks.

What Keith said. If you didn't use CA, you may be able to sand down far enough to get to bare wood and give it another try. Otherwise, you'll have to do the deck over again, taking care to avoid any glue on the face of the planks.

Welcome to MSW AntonK,

When CA glue is used, it soaks into the wood and become almost impossible to remove, even with heavy sanding. 
 
Bradley

Interesting thoughts. 
 
About hollow planks, my take would be to glue sand paper to a piece of wood rounded to the approximate curve of the frame(s). Possibly with some steering aide to keep the sanding centered on the plank.

Ain't that the truth! Maybe it's a generational thing, and I certainly can embrace many of the benefits of "the digitization of everything" (without which this forum wouldn't exist,) but I do think we do a disservice to the art of ship modeling by an inordinate focus on CAD and CNC machine tool applications at the expense of a sound grounding in how the vessels we seek to model were actually built in real life. I know I'm a Luddite, and old enough now that it doesn't matter, but as far as I know, nobody's yet invented a CAD program that can strike a fair curve as quickly, easily, accurately, and inexpensively, as a flexible batten of wood, nor a CNC machine tool that can cut a curved piece of wood to fit against its mate as quickly, easily, and inexpensively as a sharp edged tool in an experienced hand.  I, too, marvel at the "master machinists" who turn out perfect replicas using state-of-the-art digital age machinery (and I have a lot of tools myself,) but I lament the elevating of the technical above the artistic for therein lies the difference between an art and a craft.

Finestkind! Been around for years. From the folks that brought us The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language ("OED" citation in academic works. It's the academic gold standard.) That's what its a "companion" to. There's a movie out starring Mel Gibson about how they made the OED, The Professor and the Madman, now on Prime or Netflix, one of the two. Worth a watch.
 
I think of it every time a newbie posts a question asking what some nautical term means. As my father used to say, "Look it up in the dictionary yourself. That way you'll remember it."

Odds are, Canada is no better than most everywhere else. The economics of internet marketing has pushed a lot of the "brick and mortar" stores out of business and the online retailers are pretty much the only game in town if you don't have a dedicated hobby shop close by. You can get a good idea of what tools and supplies are available from these two internet retailers: https://modelexpo-online.com/ and https://www.micromark.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9cKInpjM7gIVIz2tBh0FlwgqEAAYASAAEgLtU_D_BwE  However, "buyer beware," many of their offerings are priced higher than they might be found elsewhere and, as for tools, may be of lower quality than professional grade tools that will last two or three lifetimes. Watch for sales and discount codes (some of which are available by clicking on the advertisers' logos on this forum's home page.) Other good sources of tools are commercial jewelers' supply houses and surgical and dental instrument supply houses. 

Odds are, Canada is no better than most everywhere else. The economics of internet marketing has pushed a lot of the "brick and mortar" stores out of business and the online retailers are pretty much the only game in town if you don't have a dedicated hobby shop close by. You can get a good idea of what tools and supplies are available from these two internet retailers: https://modelexpo-online.com/ and https://www.micromark.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9cKInpjM7gIVIz2tBh0FlwgqEAAYASAAEgLtU_D_BwE  However, "buyer beware," many of their offerings are priced higher than they might be found elsewhere and, as for tools, may be of lower quality than professional grade tools that will last two or three lifetimes. Watch for sales and discount codes (some of which are available by clicking on the advertisers' logos on this forum's home page.) Other good sources of tools are commercial jewelers' supply houses and surgical and dental instrument supply houses. 

Finestkind! Been around for years. From the folks that brought us The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language ("OED" citation in academic works. It's the academic gold standard.) That's what its a "companion" to. There's a movie out starring Mel Gibson about how they made the OED, The Professor and the Madman, now on Prime or Netflix, one of the two. Worth a watch.
 
I think of it every time a newbie posts a question asking what some nautical term means. As my father used to say, "Look it up in the dictionary yourself. That way you'll remember it."

Finestkind! Been around for years. From the folks that brought us The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language ("OED" citation in academic works. It's the academic gold standard.) That's what its a "companion" to. There's a movie out starring Mel Gibson about how they made the OED, The Professor and the Madman, now on Prime or Netflix, one of the two. Worth a watch.
 
I think of it every time a newbie posts a question asking what some nautical term means. As my father used to say, "Look it up in the dictionary yourself. That way you'll remember it."