Bob Cleek

So very, very true! The older we get, the more we realize how easily history, ours or the culture's, is lost. 

Bob, I have found that to be true about a lot of things. I was 50 years old before I realized what an interesting character my grandfather was. He died two years before I was born, but I failed to sit down with my mother and try to understand who he was before she, too, passed. I'm trying to instill in my grandchildren an interest in their own parents' backgrounds and their family histories, and begin journaling at a young age. Their parents are all for that.

Well they might have been able to let it a little farther forward. Forward is fast, at least until the rig comes down. The idea is the sail becomes an airfoil from top to bottom. 

It is all a matter of engineering. The first consideration is unless the spar is really strong you don’t want much load at the partners. That represents a big stress concentration and will break it if the load goes up too much. Say if you are running and get hit with a big puff. Then it is supporting the rest of the rig to keep it in column. This assumes a wooden spar, I have rarely seen any of those pictured with prebend. I also think the load cases work much better if the spar is more or less in compression. Again, think about the case of getting hit with a big puff.
 
Now that the spar is supported and in column, get everything that you need to out of the way so you can trim the sails. What works to weather may not on a reach, and you may need something completely different far off the breeze. The load paths continually change as the apparent wind angle changes. 

Yeah, the internet has its limitations when it comes to nautical nomenclature and "google translator" is even worse! I pity the guys who buy kits with instructions in Italian or Spanish. Danged if I know what that "stick" is really called. 
 
You're doing the research necessary to build a really fine and accurate model. I'm hoping to see the construction phase of the project! I wish I'd made a photographic record of Galilee when I had the chance.  I lived a couple of blocks up the Napa Street hill from her last resting place in the mud adjacent to the Napa Street Pier and came to be known as "Galilee Harbor" back in the 1970's. I could have climbed aboard and taken all the photos I wanted of her back then. At the time, I really wasn't all that interested in her history. At one time there were all sorts of old wooden sailing vessels sinking into the mud along the Sausalito shoreline. The only reason I knew her name and not the others was because the houseboat community where some of my friends lived was called "Galilee Harbor."

Call it what you will, but the two types of mainsails were very much contemporaneous for hundreds of years before Turner designed Galilee. A jib-headed sail has an essentially triangular shape and a "pointy" head with a single halyard. A gaff-headed sail has four corners with two halyards, a throat halyard which hoists the throat of the gaff boom and a peak halyard which hoists the end of the gaff boom. Galilee definitely has "a single attachment fitting." It's the bridle or saddle running on the short bridle at the head of the sail with the fall of the mail halyard attached. The "stick" which holds the two ends of the bridle apart when under tension, isn't a "yard," which crosses a mast, nor a "boom," which has sheets that control a sail. If named for its function, it is clearly a "spreader" or a "batten." I would called it a "head batten," in the same way it's modern equivalent is called a "head board." Galilee has but one main halyard. Her sail is triangular shaped. It's indisputably a "jib-headed" mainsail.
 
The purpose of the spreader and bridle is the same as the purpose of the main halyard crane: to provide a fair lead of tension from the halyard crane to the mainsail without the halyard fall (bottom) block being pulled toward the mast and chaffing, thereby interfering with the operation of the main halyard tackle. The bridle spread by the "stick" on Galilee's main is the contemporary equivalent of of a "headboard" on a modern jib-headed mainsail.
 
The "stick" between the bridle ends is under a compression load created by the weight of the mainsail (and perhaps the main boom, depending upon whether it were fastened to the mast with a gooseneck or boom jaws.) That load is not particularly related in any way to the loads generated by the wind on the sail. Those wind loads are transferred to the sheets and create a compression load on the main boom far greater than the load created by the weight of the sail and boom, which contribute nothing to the load on the main boom. A properly designed main boom would not likely break under the load of any wind on the mainsail. (As the wind blows against a sail, the vessel heels, thereby proportionately reducing the pressure on the rig by reducing the amount of area directly exposed to the wind as the angle of heel increases.) However, an uncontrolled jibe would create a shock load when the boom fetched up against the mainsheet on the opposite tack which could cause a fracture as pictured above. To prevent such damage, many contemporary vessels of Galilee's size employed a patent "shock absorbing" mainsheet horse which I believe Galilee had, but which, apparently, was not up to the task in the instance pictured.
 
 
Gaff-rigged main showing use of halyard crane with tackle attached to the gaff boom throat, causing throat halyard to run free of the mast.
 
 

 
Gaff boom bridle saddle on bridle with halyard fall block attached:
 

 
Modern mainsail headboard:
 

Ah, this explanation makes more sense. I was viewing the term "triangular sail" in a much narrower way than necessary. And I probably gave the spreader/batten or whatever we can call it more significance than needed.
 
Appreciate the clear and complete clarification, Bob.
 
Terry

Roger,
Jim sells custom made bushings that allow arbors larger than 1/2" to fit. With one of them, I can use the 1" key way slitting blades that I bought long ago.
You just have to arrange the specs with him.

The negative reviews in regards to the Byrnes saw attachment are not a reflection on its function or how well it does it.  For the most part, they are in response to questions about which attachments to buy.  These questions generally come from relative beginners, who do not have bottomless sources of funds.  They are seeking to economize and find shipment costs more favorable when everything is all in a single shipment.   The need for an angle cut for components of a scratch ship model is not one that presents very often.  It is therefore a "yacht" type situation.
That is, if you do not know for sure that you will have a serious need for angled cut stock, then you probably will not use it enough to warrant the expense. Or, if you have to ask, then you probably do not need it. 
The ironic aspect is that it is pretty much the only accessory that is not in the "must have" category.  The sliding table is too exquisite to bye pass, although self fabrication of a more simple version is easy enough.  The oversize top is a specialist's part.  I do wish there was a digital electronic depth of cut gauge; old eyes having the need.   Also, super handy would be a version of the sliding table with a short enough right side that it would allow the fence to remain in place.

Call it what you will, but the two types of mainsails were very much contemporaneous for hundreds of years before Turner designed Galilee. A jib-headed sail has an essentially triangular shape and a "pointy" head with a single halyard. A gaff-headed sail has four corners with two halyards, a throat halyard which hoists the throat of the gaff boom and a peak halyard which hoists the end of the gaff boom. Galilee definitely has "a single attachment fitting." It's the bridle or saddle running on the short bridle at the head of the sail with the fall of the mail halyard attached. The "stick" which holds the two ends of the bridle apart when under tension, isn't a "yard," which crosses a mast, nor a "boom," which has sheets that control a sail. If named for its function, it is clearly a "spreader" or a "batten." I would called it a "head batten," in the same way it's modern equivalent is called a "head board." Galilee has but one main halyard. Her sail is triangular shaped. It's indisputably a "jib-headed" mainsail.
 
The purpose of the spreader and bridle is the same as the purpose of the main halyard crane: to provide a fair lead of tension from the halyard crane to the mainsail without the halyard fall (bottom) block being pulled toward the mast and chaffing, thereby interfering with the operation of the main halyard tackle. The bridle spread by the "stick" on Galilee's main is the contemporary equivalent of of a "headboard" on a modern jib-headed mainsail.
 
The "stick" between the bridle ends is under a compression load created by the weight of the mainsail (and perhaps the main boom, depending upon whether it were fastened to the mast with a gooseneck or boom jaws.) That load is not particularly related in any way to the loads generated by the wind on the sail. Those wind loads are transferred to the sheets and create a compression load on the main boom far greater than the load created by the weight of the sail and boom, which contribute nothing to the load on the main boom. A properly designed main boom would not likely break under the load of any wind on the mainsail. (As the wind blows against a sail, the vessel heels, thereby proportionately reducing the pressure on the rig by reducing the amount of area directly exposed to the wind as the angle of heel increases.) However, an uncontrolled jibe would create a shock load when the boom fetched up against the mainsheet on the opposite tack which could cause a fracture as pictured above. To prevent such damage, many contemporary vessels of Galilee's size employed a patent "shock absorbing" mainsheet horse which I believe Galilee had, but which, apparently, was not up to the task in the instance pictured.
 
 
Gaff-rigged main showing use of halyard crane with tackle attached to the gaff boom throat, causing throat halyard to run free of the mast.
 
 

 
Gaff boom bridle saddle on bridle with halyard fall block attached:
 

 
Modern mainsail headboard:
 

Sometimes unusual arrangements get called whatever the master wants to call them. On the Thomas W. Lawson, the only seven-masted schooner ever built, they never could make up their minds what the names of the seven sails were. Somewhere on the internet there's a chart of all the names they were called at different times under different masters. (Nautical trivia quiz answer: fore, main, mizzen, spanker, jigger, driver, and pusher.)
 
I'd call that sail a jib-headed mainsail.  The head isn't cut far enough down the leech to make it a leg-o-mutton, I'd think. It's an interesting sail. Note that the leech is cut away from the mast at the head and there's a short yard at the head that's on a bridle to the block on the crane, which prevents the fouling of the halyard block against the mast. 
 
Above the jib-headed main, was flown a main topsail with its clew led to the end of the main boom, a once-common sail now rarely encountered.  Danged If I know if it had a particular name besides a main topsail. Turner employed main topsails clewed to the boom in many of his brigantines. A picture or two is worth a thousand words:
 

 
A contemporary painting of Matson's Turner-built Lurline flying a boom-clewed main topsail.
 

 
Photo of Lurline with main topsail brailed aloft as shown in the photo in the original post.
 

 

 

 
Photos of Matthew W. Turner, a recently-built sail-training vessel designed to meet current USCG passenger regulations, but designed based on Turner-built brigantines and flying her main topsail.
 
Interestingly, it appears vessels with this arrangement flew their ensigns from the mainmast truck.

"And I am comfortable  keeping my fingers closer to the blade than I would with the Byrne saw without fearing an injury."
 
Getting comfortable keeping one's fingers closer to the blade... without fearing an injury" is often the cause of "missing some pieces."  
 

As for the small numbered bits, I find I break them regularly if I'm not careful. I also find that buying replacements one at a time at a hobby store, if you are lucky enough to still have one in your neighborhood, is inconvenient and costs a lot more than buying in bulk. It seems certain sizes get used more than others and, consequently, need to be replaced more often than others. I discovered that every so often outfits like Micro-Mark or Model Expo will have sales with a percentage discount on everything in their catalog. I decided to "bite the bullet" and buy tubes of ten or twelve bits in the sizes I break frequently when they are on sale and keep them always in stock in my shop. It's a huge savings over buying them one at a time, if you can find them, and my work  progress isn't halted for want of a bit anymore. I use a Rogers circular bit holder for my "working bits," of course.

Clear nail polish thinned with acetone works, as well, and the bottles come with a handy built-in brush. Getting the acetone into the bottle can be a pain, though. I use a hypodermic syringe to fill the bottles through their narrow openings. Nail polish will dry glossy, but if you thin it enough, there's no gloss when it soaks into the line.. It's handy for its quick-drying characteristics and the built-in brush.

And then there's white (clear) shellac. A touch with a loaded paintbrush wicks quickly into the knot or line and dries very fast. It's invisible when dry. Line can be shaped as desired while it is drying. It cleans up easily with denatured alcohol and, most importantly, can be reversed after drying by applying alcohol again to the shellac, which will then dissolve, as before. Oh, and did i mention, it's the cheapest of all options and also serves as a great wood sealer and finish.
 
Your mileage may vary, of course.

As for the small numbered bits, I find I break them regularly if I'm not careful. I also find that buying replacements one at a time at a hobby store, if you are lucky enough to still have one in your neighborhood, is inconvenient and costs a lot more than buying in bulk. It seems certain sizes get used more than others and, consequently, need to be replaced more often than others. I discovered that every so often outfits like Micro-Mark or Model Expo will have sales with a percentage discount on everything in their catalog. I decided to "bite the bullet" and buy tubes of ten or twelve bits in the sizes I break frequently when they are on sale and keep them always in stock in my shop. It's a huge savings over buying them one at a time, if you can find them, and my work  progress isn't halted for want of a bit anymore. I use a Rogers circular bit holder for my "working bits," of course.

"And I am comfortable  keeping my fingers closer to the blade than I would with the Byrne saw without fearing an injury."
 
Getting comfortable keeping one's fingers closer to the blade... without fearing an injury" is often the cause of "missing some pieces."  
 

As for the small numbered bits, I find I break them regularly if I'm not careful. I also find that buying replacements one at a time at a hobby store, if you are lucky enough to still have one in your neighborhood, is inconvenient and costs a lot more than buying in bulk. It seems certain sizes get used more than others and, consequently, need to be replaced more often than others. I discovered that every so often outfits like Micro-Mark or Model Expo will have sales with a percentage discount on everything in their catalog. I decided to "bite the bullet" and buy tubes of ten or twelve bits in the sizes I break frequently when they are on sale and keep them always in stock in my shop. It's a huge savings over buying them one at a time, if you can find them, and my work  progress isn't halted for want of a bit anymore. I use a Rogers circular bit holder for my "working bits," of course.

Yes, a very light stain rubbed across the plank seams will end up in the seams and show darker. If you want light colored decks, seal the decks with a clear sealer, then apply the stain and rub it all off the sealed deck, leaving the stain in the deck seams. When it comes to deck seams, the thinner they are, the better. At scale viewing distance, there isn't much to them.

And then there's white (clear) shellac. A touch with a loaded paintbrush wicks quickly into the knot or line and dries very fast. It's invisible when dry. Line can be shaped as desired while it is drying. It cleans up easily with denatured alcohol and, most importantly, can be reversed after drying by applying alcohol again to the shellac, which will then dissolve, as before. Oh, and did i mention, it's the cheapest of all options and also serves as a great wood sealer and finish.
 
Your mileage may vary, of course.

"And I am comfortable  keeping my fingers closer to the blade than I would with the Byrne saw without fearing an injury."
 
Getting comfortable keeping one's fingers closer to the blade... without fearing an injury" is often the cause of "missing some pieces."  
 

"And I am comfortable  keeping my fingers closer to the blade than I would with the Byrne saw without fearing an injury."
 
Getting comfortable keeping one's fingers closer to the blade... without fearing an injury" is often the cause of "missing some pieces."  
 

"And I am comfortable  keeping my fingers closer to the blade than I would with the Byrne saw without fearing an injury."
 
Getting comfortable keeping one's fingers closer to the blade... without fearing an injury" is often the cause of "missing some pieces."  
 

As for the small numbered bits, I find I break them regularly if I'm not careful. I also find that buying replacements one at a time at a hobby store, if you are lucky enough to still have one in your neighborhood, is inconvenient and costs a lot more than buying in bulk. It seems certain sizes get used more than others and, consequently, need to be replaced more often than others. I discovered that every so often outfits like Micro-Mark or Model Expo will have sales with a percentage discount on everything in their catalog. I decided to "bite the bullet" and buy tubes of ten or twelve bits in the sizes I break frequently when they are on sale and keep them always in stock in my shop. It's a huge savings over buying them one at a time, if you can find them, and my work  progress isn't halted for want of a bit anymore. I use a Rogers circular bit holder for my "working bits," of course.

"And I am comfortable  keeping my fingers closer to the blade than I would with the Byrne saw without fearing an injury."
 
Getting comfortable keeping one's fingers closer to the blade... without fearing an injury" is often the cause of "missing some pieces."