Bob Cleek

In my experience, once a yellow metal develops a patina, i.e. oxidizes, the oxidation on the exterior, i.e. the patina, becomes a sealer itself and further oxidation apparently ceases or at least slows way down. In other words, the patina is the sealer. There's no need to seal the patina at all. Now, perhaps some of the chemists and metalurgists in this forum can explain this phenomenon, or expose it as pure bunk, but I've handled a lot of patinated copper and bronze over the years and if it's a patina you want, the best was to get one and keep it is to just leave the piece alone. Surely exposure to salt air, for example, can accelerate the oxidation and keeping it indoors will avoid the green verdigris affect, yielding a "brown penny" look instead, but it all oxidizes the same. Nobody's painted a clear sealer on the Statue of Liberty as far as I know and she's doing just fine.
 
Brass horn players will probably disagree with me, but I wouldn't advise lacquering or otherwise coating polished yellow metal at all. For one thing, bare brass or bronze, lightly polished regularly, will take on a beautiful character owing to those few areas which aren't accessible to the polishing cloth. Hinges, screw slots, and deep corners all develop their own contrasting character to yield a "well used and well cared for" look. The "perfect" bright lacquered finishes that are often applied by manufacturers quickly degrade to a blotchy visual horror because of microscopic scratches and other porosity occurring in the coatings applied. I expect most mariners are familiar with a shiny brass clock or barometer case that after a few years looks like it has "the pox." Because of the coating, it is near impossible to polish these spots away. There's nothing for it but to strip off the coating entirely. This is also often an extremely difficult and time consuming process. Some lacquers wipe off easily with a liberal application of lacquer remover, but others cling to the surface like it was life itself.
 
Every lamp, barometer, ship's clock and other brass or bronze item I own is, or eventually will be, stripped of their factory clear coatings and reduced to their natural bare state and then lovingly (but perhaps too infrequently) hand polished. The satisfaction of polishing a nice piece of brass to a mirror gloss is hard to beat.
 
The moral of the story being that if you coat patina, that coating isn't likely to be accomplishing anything in the short term and probably will cause a whole lot of work for your or some subsequent owner in the years to come.
 
If it's a weathered copper bottom you are seeking, you may also wish to consider applying scale-thickness paper "plates" and painting these with an airbrush and standard model weathering products rather than trying to achieve that look on a model hull with real copper plates. Most of the commercially available "real copper" plates produced for ship modeling are eggregiously out of scale in the first place. Patina itself has its own scale as well. Study your model's bottom and determine what a weathered coppered bottom of your model's scale actually looks like when viewed from scale model viewing distances. When it comes to depicting coppered bottoms, subtlety is the name of the game.
 

 
See: 
 

Believe it or not, I still on occasion find my collection of LEROY templates and lettering instruments useful. The ASCII-standard letters are utilitarian and boring, but some of the old odd-ball fonts produce some amazing work. While I'm often a laser printer font cut-and-paster, there's still nothing like an India inked old style font from the turn of the last century to give a drawing a real period feel.  

A lot of the Indian tools and tool parts are, or were, produced as piecework in home shops. You can find them in some number on eBay. That said, he Chinese can't hold a candle to the Indians when it comes to knock-offs. As with anything else, you get what you pay for. The Indians do seem to honestly state whether a piece is for decoration, not use, and that a copy of the real deal is just that and not what it's supposed to look like. 
 
While you are in the neighborhood, don't overlook Pakistan's large surgical instrument industry. The Pakistani tweezers, foreceps, hemostats and so on aren't the highest quality for medical purposes, most of it apparently destined for Third World clinics, but most all of it is of a quality more than suitable for modeler's purposes. Like the Indian stuff, a lot of it is on eBay.

A lot of the Indian tools and tool parts are, or were, produced as piecework in home shops. You can find them in some number on eBay. That said, he Chinese can't hold a candle to the Indians when it comes to knock-offs. As with anything else, you get what you pay for. The Indians do seem to honestly state whether a piece is for decoration, not use, and that a copy of the real deal is just that and not what it's supposed to look like. 
 
While you are in the neighborhood, don't overlook Pakistan's large surgical instrument industry. The Pakistani tweezers, foreceps, hemostats and so on aren't the highest quality for medical purposes, most of it apparently destined for Third World clinics, but most all of it is of a quality more than suitable for modeler's purposes. Like the Indian stuff, a lot of it is on eBay.

The first step is to seal the cut ends.  What you use is not critical.  Hot paraffin, shellac,  old varnish,  old paint - oil based is probably better.  Thick - the object is to make it difficult for the water to get out at open ends of the tubes that are wood.  Different rates water migration produce stress = splitting and checking
 
Length:  that depends on you - close to the longest that you use on your bench - a tad more to account for loss from seasoning.
De-bark:  now if you have the patience.   It allows the water easier egress.  It removes the eggs and larvae of wood borers. 
A draw knife or spoke shave makes a quick job of it if the branch is secured from moving.
The old rule is one year per inch of thickness to reach water concentration equilibrium. 
I would aim at ~2" thickness and 2 foot length for my system.
Seal the ends NOW.
 
Wood can do ugly things as it dries,  splits and checks ate the worse-  bow and twist is not helpful -
Protect for the elements - no rain or snow - direct sun = uneven drying
good air flow around all sides = sticker the rick
Serious downward pressure - weights on top of the rick may reduce twist and bow
 
 

Probably varies from manufacturer to manufacturer like most countries.

Nails on copper and treenails for planking seem to have the same problems.   Too large (or large enough to handle with drill bits, pounce wheels, etc.) and they look way out of scale.  To my eye, on anything 1:64 or smaller, treenails and plating nails look out of place.
 
I would go with what you feel is best, Phil. 

I believe that the green band is seen only 'twixt wind and water' and would be scoured bright at the bow from water and debris flow. Trincomalee is static, so you don't see the scouring.

Copper plating will patina on its own, even under sealant.
 
I sealed my last coppering with Delta Ceramcoat sealer.
 
It worked really well for me.
 
The copper got a really nice patina within a couple of years by just aging naturally.

These techniques are good for copper plated hulls....but Muntz covered hulls oxidized very differently and actually tuned a metallic brown.  No green patina.
 
Note this on Cutty Sark.  

Let me add one more thing to the above "tome." "Flaming" the thread used for reefing lines to remove any "fuzz" before use is highly advised. Dark line "fuzz" contrasts strongly with the lighter sail material.

Especially when they permit basswood along with mahogany! Maybe they need to update their specifications. Maybe they have and we're just relying on some old data. Nothing ever dies on the internet!  

Given the time when that standard was created, I have little doubt they were referring to "genuine" mahogany which is also known as "Honduran mahogany.". Honduran Mahogany | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (wood-database.com) Honduran or "genuine" mahogany refers collectively to the larger Swietenia macrophylla which grows in Central and South America and is also now plantation-farmed in parts of India, the smaller Swietenia humilis which grows from southern Mexico to northern Central America, and Swietania mahagoni which is native to Florida and there listed as "threatened" and the greater Caribbean where it is listed as "near threatened" but with some very limited commercial availability from transplanted plantation stands in Palau and Fiji. [Interesting trivia fact: Swietania mahagoni or "Cuban mahogany" was cut to near extinction in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries by Spanish shipbuilders. Many capital ships of the Spanish Armada were built exclusively of West Indies mahogany. This species was favored because it was believed to be impervious to decay and "buried" shot in battle, rather than splintering, which was the greatest cause of battle casualties.  When these large ships were broken up, their timbers were recycled to produce the fine furniture of those periods. Just imagine how much of the finest mahogany ever known to man was cut to build Spain's ships!)
 
The problem is that mahogany is graded not by number ("first grade") but by letters: ("Grade A" through "Grade F.") Guide to Mahogany Grades: Understanding the Differences in Quality - Hardwood Insider (hardwood-insider.com) Mahogany is also graded as a hardwood under the "firsts and seconds" (FAS) system which doesn't bear any relationship to a "first grade" at all.
 
The mahogany grades are basically based on the visual quality of the wood. "Grade A" mahogany is the highest furniture grade. "Grade F" is the least visually attractive grade. So the question remains: What is "first grade" mahogany. It would appear to me that Grade F mahogany would be completely suitable for solid hull model construction of models that were to be painted. Nobody should care about the figuring of a piece of mahogany that is going to be painted. Who knows? The "Mil-spec" world is full of mysteries like thousand dollar hammers and toilet seats!  

I've found that using PVA glue is tedious because it takes the glue a while to dry and you have to hold the reef point in place until it does. That can be a problem when you have to hold the entire length of the reef line against the sail to get it to hold its proper shape while drying.
 
I use white (clear) shellac instead of water-based PVA glue. I thread the reef point through the sail with needle and thread long enough to allow me some thread to work with (e.g. two or three times the length of the reef line.) I remove the needle and tie an overhand, figure-eight, or surgeon's knot tight up against each side of the sail to hold the reef point line in place on each side of the sail. Then I place a strip of masking tape on the sail face with its upper edge the same distance from the line of reef points as I want the length of my reef lines to be. (The reason for this is explained below.) Remember to determine the scale length of your reefing lines. There's no precise rule that I know of, except "not too long and not too short, but definitely not the same length from row to row." Reefing lines need to be long enough to encircle the reefed portion of the sail and be tied off with a reef knot, leaving a bitter end sufficient for holding and untying the reef knot. The length of the reefing lines must be sufficient for the amount of canvas that will have to be secured by the reefing lines at each line of reef points. This depends on the size of the sail and the placement of the lines of reef points. Each line of reef points must secure all the canvas below it so if a sail were divided into three equal areas by two lines of reef points, the upper line of reefing lines would have to be approximately twice the length of the reefing lines through the lower line of reef points.  If the lines of reef points don't equally divide the sail into separate segments, the length of the reefing lines required to secure the resulting roll of canvas will have to be individually determined.  If there are sail gaskets on the head of the sail or fastened to the yard, they would correspondingly have to be approximately three times the length of the reefing lines in the first row of reef points in this example, or, in other words, sufficiently long to encircule and secure the entire furled sail.
 
I then take a paint brush loaded with white shellac and, holding the long end of the thread out away from the sail, and taking care not to flood the knot and send the shellac soaking into the sail material itself, I place a drop of shellac onto the knot and reef line on one side, spreading it down a bit farther than the intended length of the reef line. (i.e., the shellac should end on the masking tape itself when the reefing line is pulled down where it's supposed to end up.) The thin shellac will immediately wick into the knot but, if done carefully, should not wick into the sail itself. Hold the free excess end of the shellac-soaked reef line away from the sail and gently blow on it for a few seconds. (The dry free end of the excess reef line keeps the alcohol from getting all over your fingers which when they get sticky will make a mess of it all.) The alcohol in the shellac will quickly evaporate and the shellacked reef line will become increasingly tacky as the drying shellac thickens. Gently pulling the un-shellacked free end of the reef line downward and perpendicular to the head of the sail (or to whatever other angle you desire) and against the sail, use tweezers, a hemostat, or a similar tool to gently press and hold the sticky reef line against the sail into the final position that you want it to take. It's best to use some sort of pointed metal "positioning tool" to place and hold the sticky reef lines because such a tool will only contact the sticky shellacked reef line in a small area and can be easily be pulled free and rinsed off in a small container of alcohol and wiped clean as you go, preventing a sticky buildup of drying shellac on the tool tips. Try to resist the temptation to use a finger to push the sticky reefing line against the sail. You want the reefing line to stick to the sail, not your dirty finger and the small area of a metal tool point will pull free of the stuck reefing line leaving it attached to the sail much easier than the far greater area of adhesion that occurs when your whole finger tip has become glued to it as it dries. The "finger tip method" causes the reefing line to pull free of the sailcloth because more of it will be stuck to your finger than to the sail. The sticky shellac should cause the reefing line to stick well to the sail in short order. Blowing on the shellac speeds the evaporation of its alcohol solvent. If adhesion proves insufficient, apply a bit more shellac to the underside of the reef point line, blow on it for a few seconds until it gets tacky, and try sticking it again. Let the shellacked reef point dry, adhering firmly to the sail. When it is dry, cut the reef lines to the desired final length with a sharp pointed iris (medical) or embroidery scissors using the upper edge of the strip of masking tape you placed on the sail to mark the desired uniform scale length of your reefing lines across the face of the sail in a neat straight line. After all the reefing lines are cut to length, all the trimmed off-cuts, which will likely be shellacked to the masking tape, can easily and neatly be lifted off of the sail along with the masking tape without leaving any shellac on the sail below the ends of the trimmed reefing lines. 
 
This job can be done in any order you prefer. I've found the most efficient method for me is to tie in all the reef lines on one line of reef points on each side of the sail and then shellac, position, and cut to length all the points on one side of the sail and then turn the sail over and do the same on the other side. I install one row of reef points at a time.  Keep in mind that there is a technique involved. The reef point stopper knots are most efficiently tied into the reef lines on both sides of the sail using an overhand or surgeon's "instrument knot" tied around a needle holder or hemostat. This permits the two knots on each side of the sail at each reef point to be tied tightly against the sail without any free space between them. Search for "tying surgeon's instrument knots" or "tying sutures with instruments" on YouTube to watch tutorials on tying knots with surgical instruments. (If you haven't learned these skills, they will change your life as a ship modeler. Their training in the use of medical instruments is one of several reasons why doctors and dentists are generally such good ship modelers.) Once the length of the reefing lines is determined and you've placed your masking tape strip across the sail to mark this length and you are ready to start shellacking, remember to keep your hands out of the shellac. Otherwise, you can fall victim to the "tar baby effect" and end up with fingers to which everything sticks but which are useless for getting anything done. To this end, take the long end of the reef line in your nondominant hand and do not let go until the shellacked reef line is stuck to the sail and masking tape right where you want it. Better yet, if you have a suitable instrument such as a needle holder or hemostat, grasp the end of the long reef line at a point just below where the reef line crosses the lower end of your masking tape length marker and use that instrument to control the line instead of your fingers. In that way, you can leave the line to be held by the instrument if you must let go of the instrument. Use your dominant hand to apply shellac from a small cup or jar and to manipulate the tool you will be using to put the sticky reefing line where you want it to be. Use your dominant hand to rinse your shellac brush and positioning tool in a small cup or jar of denatured alcohol as need be.  You might want to imagine yourself a surgeon as you install your reefing lines. You want to "keep a sterile surgical field" within which to work and you want to use your instruments to do what your fingers are too large to do. Once you get in a rhythm installing reefing lines, you'll find that it's a task that can be performed rather quickly and precisely without a lot of practice.
 
The shellac will seal the knot in the reef point, secure the reefing line in the proper position on the face of the sail, and prevent the free end of the reef point from unraveling. If you are careful to work neatly, there should not be any visual evidence of the shellac on the reef point lines or the sail when you are done. The advantage of using shellac for this purpose is that it dries very fast and, should the need arise, more shellac can be added if greater adhesion is required. Sticky shellac has excellent archival qualities. While the method may seem involved, it's really a lot easier to do than it is to describe. The shellac allows the reef points to be stuck flat against the sail for the entire length of the reef line, providing a proper scale appearance. Shellac is very forgiving to work with. It cleans up very easily with denatured alcohol, which instantly dissolves it.

Especially when they permit basswood along with mahogany! Maybe they need to update their specifications. Maybe they have and we're just relying on some old data. Nothing ever dies on the internet!  

Let me add one more thing to the above "tome." "Flaming" the thread used for reefing lines to remove any "fuzz" before use is highly advised. Dark line "fuzz" contrasts strongly with the lighter sail material.

Thank you for the great little treatise Bob!
 
I will surely try the shellac in the future to see if it works as well or better than matte medium which I find also works very well.     
 
Allan
 

If I need precision when drilling and if as often is the case, I don’t feel like setting up the milling column and sensitive drilling attachment on my Sherline Lathe, it is a simple matter to chuck a pin vise fitted with the correct wire sized drill in my FULL SIZED drill press.  This 50+ year old belt driven drill press is by far the most commonly used power tool in my shop.  Although speeds can be changed via stepped pulleys I have not bothered to change drilling speeds for as long as I can remember.
 
If I were shopping for a new drill press, which I don’t intend to do, it would be another FULL SIZED tool with at least 3/8 in chuck capacity, not a “hobby sized” tool.
 
Roger
 
 

I've found that using PVA glue is tedious because it takes the glue a while to dry and you have to hold the reef point in place until it does. That can be a problem when you have to hold the entire length of the reef line against the sail to get it to hold its proper shape while drying.
 
I use white (clear) shellac instead of water-based PVA glue. I thread the reef point through the sail with needle and thread long enough to allow me some thread to work with (e.g. two or three times the length of the reef line.) I remove the needle and tie an overhand, figure-eight, or surgeon's knot tight up against each side of the sail to hold the reef point line in place on each side of the sail. Then I place a strip of masking tape on the sail face with its upper edge the same distance from the line of reef points as I want the length of my reef lines to be. (The reason for this is explained below.) Remember to determine the scale length of your reefing lines. There's no precise rule that I know of, except "not too long and not too short, but definitely not the same length from row to row." Reefing lines need to be long enough to encircle the reefed portion of the sail and be tied off with a reef knot, leaving a bitter end sufficient for holding and untying the reef knot. The length of the reefing lines must be sufficient for the amount of canvas that will have to be secured by the reefing lines at each line of reef points. This depends on the size of the sail and the placement of the lines of reef points. Each line of reef points must secure all the canvas below it so if a sail were divided into three equal areas by two lines of reef points, the upper line of reefing lines would have to be approximately twice the length of the reefing lines through the lower line of reef points.  If the lines of reef points don't equally divide the sail into separate segments, the length of the reefing lines required to secure the resulting roll of canvas will have to be individually determined.  If there are sail gaskets on the head of the sail or fastened to the yard, they would correspondingly have to be approximately three times the length of the reefing lines in the first row of reef points in this example, or, in other words, sufficiently long to encircule and secure the entire furled sail.
 
I then take a paint brush loaded with white shellac and, holding the long end of the thread out away from the sail, and taking care not to flood the knot and send the shellac soaking into the sail material itself, I place a drop of shellac onto the knot and reef line on one side, spreading it down a bit farther than the intended length of the reef line. (i.e., the shellac should end on the masking tape itself when the reefing line is pulled down where it's supposed to end up.) The thin shellac will immediately wick into the knot but, if done carefully, should not wick into the sail itself. Hold the free excess end of the shellac-soaked reef line away from the sail and gently blow on it for a few seconds. (The dry free end of the excess reef line keeps the alcohol from getting all over your fingers which when they get sticky will make a mess of it all.) The alcohol in the shellac will quickly evaporate and the shellacked reef line will become increasingly tacky as the drying shellac thickens. Gently pulling the un-shellacked free end of the reef line downward and perpendicular to the head of the sail (or to whatever other angle you desire) and against the sail, use tweezers, a hemostat, or a similar tool to gently press and hold the sticky reef line against the sail into the final position that you want it to take. It's best to use some sort of pointed metal "positioning tool" to place and hold the sticky reef lines because such a tool will only contact the sticky shellacked reef line in a small area and can be easily be pulled free and rinsed off in a small container of alcohol and wiped clean as you go, preventing a sticky buildup of drying shellac on the tool tips. Try to resist the temptation to use a finger to push the sticky reefing line against the sail. You want the reefing line to stick to the sail, not your dirty finger and the small area of a metal tool point will pull free of the stuck reefing line leaving it attached to the sail much easier than the far greater area of adhesion that occurs when your whole finger tip has become glued to it as it dries. The "finger tip method" causes the reefing line to pull free of the sailcloth because more of it will be stuck to your finger than to the sail. The sticky shellac should cause the reefing line to stick well to the sail in short order. Blowing on the shellac speeds the evaporation of its alcohol solvent. If adhesion proves insufficient, apply a bit more shellac to the underside of the reef point line, blow on it for a few seconds until it gets tacky, and try sticking it again. Let the shellacked reef point dry, adhering firmly to the sail. When it is dry, cut the reef lines to the desired final length with a sharp pointed iris (medical) or embroidery scissors using the upper edge of the strip of masking tape you placed on the sail to mark the desired uniform scale length of your reefing lines across the face of the sail in a neat straight line. After all the reefing lines are cut to length, all the trimmed off-cuts, which will likely be shellacked to the masking tape, can easily and neatly be lifted off of the sail along with the masking tape without leaving any shellac on the sail below the ends of the trimmed reefing lines. 
 
This job can be done in any order you prefer. I've found the most efficient method for me is to tie in all the reef lines on one line of reef points on each side of the sail and then shellac, position, and cut to length all the points on one side of the sail and then turn the sail over and do the same on the other side. I install one row of reef points at a time.  Keep in mind that there is a technique involved. The reef point stopper knots are most efficiently tied into the reef lines on both sides of the sail using an overhand or surgeon's "instrument knot" tied around a needle holder or hemostat. This permits the two knots on each side of the sail at each reef point to be tied tightly against the sail without any free space between them. Search for "tying surgeon's instrument knots" or "tying sutures with instruments" on YouTube to watch tutorials on tying knots with surgical instruments. (If you haven't learned these skills, they will change your life as a ship modeler. Their training in the use of medical instruments is one of several reasons why doctors and dentists are generally such good ship modelers.) Once the length of the reefing lines is determined and you've placed your masking tape strip across the sail to mark this length and you are ready to start shellacking, remember to keep your hands out of the shellac. Otherwise, you can fall victim to the "tar baby effect" and end up with fingers to which everything sticks but which are useless for getting anything done. To this end, take the long end of the reef line in your nondominant hand and do not let go until the shellacked reef line is stuck to the sail and masking tape right where you want it. Better yet, if you have a suitable instrument such as a needle holder or hemostat, grasp the end of the long reef line at a point just below where the reef line crosses the lower end of your masking tape length marker and use that instrument to control the line instead of your fingers. In that way, you can leave the line to be held by the instrument if you must let go of the instrument. Use your dominant hand to apply shellac from a small cup or jar and to manipulate the tool you will be using to put the sticky reefing line where you want it to be. Use your dominant hand to rinse your shellac brush and positioning tool in a small cup or jar of denatured alcohol as need be.  You might want to imagine yourself a surgeon as you install your reefing lines. You want to "keep a sterile surgical field" within which to work and you want to use your instruments to do what your fingers are too large to do. Once you get in a rhythm installing reefing lines, you'll find that it's a task that can be performed rather quickly and precisely without a lot of practice.
 
The shellac will seal the knot in the reef point, secure the reefing line in the proper position on the face of the sail, and prevent the free end of the reef point from unraveling. If you are careful to work neatly, there should not be any visual evidence of the shellac on the reef point lines or the sail when you are done. The advantage of using shellac for this purpose is that it dries very fast and, should the need arise, more shellac can be added if greater adhesion is required. Sticky shellac has excellent archival qualities. While the method may seem involved, it's really a lot easier to do than it is to describe. The shellac allows the reef points to be stuck flat against the sail for the entire length of the reef line, providing a proper scale appearance. Shellac is very forgiving to work with. It cleans up very easily with denatured alcohol, which instantly dissolves it.

I've found that using PVA glue is tedious because it takes the glue a while to dry and you have to hold the reef point in place until it does. That can be a problem when you have to hold the entire length of the reef line against the sail to get it to hold its proper shape while drying.
 
I use white (clear) shellac instead of water-based PVA glue. I thread the reef point through the sail with needle and thread long enough to allow me some thread to work with (e.g. two or three times the length of the reef line.) I remove the needle and tie an overhand, figure-eight, or surgeon's knot tight up against each side of the sail to hold the reef point line in place on each side of the sail. Then I place a strip of masking tape on the sail face with its upper edge the same distance from the line of reef points as I want the length of my reef lines to be. (The reason for this is explained below.) Remember to determine the scale length of your reefing lines. There's no precise rule that I know of, except "not too long and not too short, but definitely not the same length from row to row." Reefing lines need to be long enough to encircle the reefed portion of the sail and be tied off with a reef knot, leaving a bitter end sufficient for holding and untying the reef knot. The length of the reefing lines must be sufficient for the amount of canvas that will have to be secured by the reefing lines at each line of reef points. This depends on the size of the sail and the placement of the lines of reef points. Each line of reef points must secure all the canvas below it so if a sail were divided into three equal areas by two lines of reef points, the upper line of reefing lines would have to be approximately twice the length of the reefing lines through the lower line of reef points.  If the lines of reef points don't equally divide the sail into separate segments, the length of the reefing lines required to secure the resulting roll of canvas will have to be individually determined.  If there are sail gaskets on the head of the sail or fastened to the yard, they would correspondingly have to be approximately three times the length of the reefing lines in the first row of reef points in this example, or, in other words, sufficiently long to encircule and secure the entire furled sail.
 
I then take a paint brush loaded with white shellac and, holding the long end of the thread out away from the sail, and taking care not to flood the knot and send the shellac soaking into the sail material itself, I place a drop of shellac onto the knot and reef line on one side, spreading it down a bit farther than the intended length of the reef line. (i.e., the shellac should end on the masking tape itself when the reefing line is pulled down where it's supposed to end up.) The thin shellac will immediately wick into the knot but, if done carefully, should not wick into the sail itself. Hold the free excess end of the shellac-soaked reef line away from the sail and gently blow on it for a few seconds. (The dry free end of the excess reef line keeps the alcohol from getting all over your fingers which when they get sticky will make a mess of it all.) The alcohol in the shellac will quickly evaporate and the shellacked reef line will become increasingly tacky as the drying shellac thickens. Gently pulling the un-shellacked free end of the reef line downward and perpendicular to the head of the sail (or to whatever other angle you desire) and against the sail, use tweezers, a hemostat, or a similar tool to gently press and hold the sticky reef line against the sail into the final position that you want it to take. It's best to use some sort of pointed metal "positioning tool" to place and hold the sticky reef lines because such a tool will only contact the sticky shellacked reef line in a small area and can be easily be pulled free and rinsed off in a small container of alcohol and wiped clean as you go, preventing a sticky buildup of drying shellac on the tool tips. Try to resist the temptation to use a finger to push the sticky reefing line against the sail. You want the reefing line to stick to the sail, not your dirty finger and the small area of a metal tool point will pull free of the stuck reefing line leaving it attached to the sail much easier than the far greater area of adhesion that occurs when your whole finger tip has become glued to it as it dries. The "finger tip method" causes the reefing line to pull free of the sailcloth because more of it will be stuck to your finger than to the sail. The sticky shellac should cause the reefing line to stick well to the sail in short order. Blowing on the shellac speeds the evaporation of its alcohol solvent. If adhesion proves insufficient, apply a bit more shellac to the underside of the reef point line, blow on it for a few seconds until it gets tacky, and try sticking it again. Let the shellacked reef point dry, adhering firmly to the sail. When it is dry, cut the reef lines to the desired final length with a sharp pointed iris (medical) or embroidery scissors using the upper edge of the strip of masking tape you placed on the sail to mark the desired uniform scale length of your reefing lines across the face of the sail in a neat straight line. After all the reefing lines are cut to length, all the trimmed off-cuts, which will likely be shellacked to the masking tape, can easily and neatly be lifted off of the sail along with the masking tape without leaving any shellac on the sail below the ends of the trimmed reefing lines. 
 
This job can be done in any order you prefer. I've found the most efficient method for me is to tie in all the reef lines on one line of reef points on each side of the sail and then shellac, position, and cut to length all the points on one side of the sail and then turn the sail over and do the same on the other side. I install one row of reef points at a time.  Keep in mind that there is a technique involved. The reef point stopper knots are most efficiently tied into the reef lines on both sides of the sail using an overhand or surgeon's "instrument knot" tied around a needle holder or hemostat. This permits the two knots on each side of the sail at each reef point to be tied tightly against the sail without any free space between them. Search for "tying surgeon's instrument knots" or "tying sutures with instruments" on YouTube to watch tutorials on tying knots with surgical instruments. (If you haven't learned these skills, they will change your life as a ship modeler. Their training in the use of medical instruments is one of several reasons why doctors and dentists are generally such good ship modelers.) Once the length of the reefing lines is determined and you've placed your masking tape strip across the sail to mark this length and you are ready to start shellacking, remember to keep your hands out of the shellac. Otherwise, you can fall victim to the "tar baby effect" and end up with fingers to which everything sticks but which are useless for getting anything done. To this end, take the long end of the reef line in your nondominant hand and do not let go until the shellacked reef line is stuck to the sail and masking tape right where you want it. Better yet, if you have a suitable instrument such as a needle holder or hemostat, grasp the end of the long reef line at a point just below where the reef line crosses the lower end of your masking tape length marker and use that instrument to control the line instead of your fingers. In that way, you can leave the line to be held by the instrument if you must let go of the instrument. Use your dominant hand to apply shellac from a small cup or jar and to manipulate the tool you will be using to put the sticky reefing line where you want it to be. Use your dominant hand to rinse your shellac brush and positioning tool in a small cup or jar of denatured alcohol as need be.  You might want to imagine yourself a surgeon as you install your reefing lines. You want to "keep a sterile surgical field" within which to work and you want to use your instruments to do what your fingers are too large to do. Once you get in a rhythm installing reefing lines, you'll find that it's a task that can be performed rather quickly and precisely without a lot of practice.
 
The shellac will seal the knot in the reef point, secure the reefing line in the proper position on the face of the sail, and prevent the free end of the reef point from unraveling. If you are careful to work neatly, there should not be any visual evidence of the shellac on the reef point lines or the sail when you are done. The advantage of using shellac for this purpose is that it dries very fast and, should the need arise, more shellac can be added if greater adhesion is required. Sticky shellac has excellent archival qualities. While the method may seem involved, it's really a lot easier to do than it is to describe. The shellac allows the reef points to be stuck flat against the sail for the entire length of the reef line, providing a proper scale appearance. Shellac is very forgiving to work with. It cleans up very easily with denatured alcohol, which instantly dissolves it.

Given the time when that standard was created, I have little doubt they were referring to "genuine" mahogany which is also known as "Honduran mahogany.". Honduran Mahogany | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (wood-database.com) Honduran or "genuine" mahogany refers collectively to the larger Swietenia macrophylla which grows in Central and South America and is also now plantation-farmed in parts of India, the smaller Swietenia humilis which grows from southern Mexico to northern Central America, and Swietania mahagoni which is native to Florida and there listed as "threatened" and the greater Caribbean where it is listed as "near threatened" but with some very limited commercial availability from transplanted plantation stands in Palau and Fiji. [Interesting trivia fact: Swietania mahagoni or "Cuban mahogany" was cut to near extinction in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries by Spanish shipbuilders. Many capital ships of the Spanish Armada were built exclusively of West Indies mahogany. This species was favored because it was believed to be impervious to decay and "buried" shot in battle, rather than splintering, which was the greatest cause of battle casualties.  When these large ships were broken up, their timbers were recycled to produce the fine furniture of those periods. Just imagine how much of the finest mahogany ever known to man was cut to build Spain's ships!)
 
The problem is that mahogany is graded not by number ("first grade") but by letters: ("Grade A" through "Grade F.") Guide to Mahogany Grades: Understanding the Differences in Quality - Hardwood Insider (hardwood-insider.com) Mahogany is also graded as a hardwood under the "firsts and seconds" (FAS) system which doesn't bear any relationship to a "first grade" at all.
 
The mahogany grades are basically based on the visual quality of the wood. "Grade A" mahogany is the highest furniture grade. "Grade F" is the least visually attractive grade. So the question remains: What is "first grade" mahogany. It would appear to me that Grade F mahogany would be completely suitable for solid hull model construction of models that were to be painted. Nobody should care about the figuring of a piece of mahogany that is going to be painted. Who knows? The "Mil-spec" world is full of mysteries like thousand dollar hammers and toilet seats!  

I've found that using PVA glue is tedious because it takes the glue a while to dry and you have to hold the reef point in place until it does. That can be a problem when you have to hold the entire length of the reef line against the sail to get it to hold its proper shape while drying.
 
I use white (clear) shellac instead of water-based PVA glue. I thread the reef point through the sail with needle and thread long enough to allow me some thread to work with (e.g. two or three times the length of the reef line.) I remove the needle and tie an overhand, figure-eight, or surgeon's knot tight up against each side of the sail to hold the reef point line in place on each side of the sail. Then I place a strip of masking tape on the sail face with its upper edge the same distance from the line of reef points as I want the length of my reef lines to be. (The reason for this is explained below.) Remember to determine the scale length of your reefing lines. There's no precise rule that I know of, except "not too long and not too short, but definitely not the same length from row to row." Reefing lines need to be long enough to encircle the reefed portion of the sail and be tied off with a reef knot, leaving a bitter end sufficient for holding and untying the reef knot. The length of the reefing lines must be sufficient for the amount of canvas that will have to be secured by the reefing lines at each line of reef points. This depends on the size of the sail and the placement of the lines of reef points. Each line of reef points must secure all the canvas below it so if a sail were divided into three equal areas by two lines of reef points, the upper line of reefing lines would have to be approximately twice the length of the reefing lines through the lower line of reef points.  If the lines of reef points don't equally divide the sail into separate segments, the length of the reefing lines required to secure the resulting roll of canvas will have to be individually determined.  If there are sail gaskets on the head of the sail or fastened to the yard, they would correspondingly have to be approximately three times the length of the reefing lines in the first row of reef points in this example, or, in other words, sufficiently long to encircule and secure the entire furled sail.
 
I then take a paint brush loaded with white shellac and, holding the long end of the thread out away from the sail, and taking care not to flood the knot and send the shellac soaking into the sail material itself, I place a drop of shellac onto the knot and reef line on one side, spreading it down a bit farther than the intended length of the reef line. (i.e., the shellac should end on the masking tape itself when the reefing line is pulled down where it's supposed to end up.) The thin shellac will immediately wick into the knot but, if done carefully, should not wick into the sail itself. Hold the free excess end of the shellac-soaked reef line away from the sail and gently blow on it for a few seconds. (The dry free end of the excess reef line keeps the alcohol from getting all over your fingers which when they get sticky will make a mess of it all.) The alcohol in the shellac will quickly evaporate and the shellacked reef line will become increasingly tacky as the drying shellac thickens. Gently pulling the un-shellacked free end of the reef line downward and perpendicular to the head of the sail (or to whatever other angle you desire) and against the sail, use tweezers, a hemostat, or a similar tool to gently press and hold the sticky reef line against the sail into the final position that you want it to take. It's best to use some sort of pointed metal "positioning tool" to place and hold the sticky reef lines because such a tool will only contact the sticky shellacked reef line in a small area and can be easily be pulled free and rinsed off in a small container of alcohol and wiped clean as you go, preventing a sticky buildup of drying shellac on the tool tips. Try to resist the temptation to use a finger to push the sticky reefing line against the sail. You want the reefing line to stick to the sail, not your dirty finger and the small area of a metal tool point will pull free of the stuck reefing line leaving it attached to the sail much easier than the far greater area of adhesion that occurs when your whole finger tip has become glued to it as it dries. The "finger tip method" causes the reefing line to pull free of the sailcloth because more of it will be stuck to your finger than to the sail. The sticky shellac should cause the reefing line to stick well to the sail in short order. Blowing on the shellac speeds the evaporation of its alcohol solvent. If adhesion proves insufficient, apply a bit more shellac to the underside of the reef point line, blow on it for a few seconds until it gets tacky, and try sticking it again. Let the shellacked reef point dry, adhering firmly to the sail. When it is dry, cut the reef lines to the desired final length with a sharp pointed iris (medical) or embroidery scissors using the upper edge of the strip of masking tape you placed on the sail to mark the desired uniform scale length of your reefing lines across the face of the sail in a neat straight line. After all the reefing lines are cut to length, all the trimmed off-cuts, which will likely be shellacked to the masking tape, can easily and neatly be lifted off of the sail along with the masking tape without leaving any shellac on the sail below the ends of the trimmed reefing lines. 
 
This job can be done in any order you prefer. I've found the most efficient method for me is to tie in all the reef lines on one line of reef points on each side of the sail and then shellac, position, and cut to length all the points on one side of the sail and then turn the sail over and do the same on the other side. I install one row of reef points at a time.  Keep in mind that there is a technique involved. The reef point stopper knots are most efficiently tied into the reef lines on both sides of the sail using an overhand or surgeon's "instrument knot" tied around a needle holder or hemostat. This permits the two knots on each side of the sail at each reef point to be tied tightly against the sail without any free space between them. Search for "tying surgeon's instrument knots" or "tying sutures with instruments" on YouTube to watch tutorials on tying knots with surgical instruments. (If you haven't learned these skills, they will change your life as a ship modeler. Their training in the use of medical instruments is one of several reasons why doctors and dentists are generally such good ship modelers.) Once the length of the reefing lines is determined and you've placed your masking tape strip across the sail to mark this length and you are ready to start shellacking, remember to keep your hands out of the shellac. Otherwise, you can fall victim to the "tar baby effect" and end up with fingers to which everything sticks but which are useless for getting anything done. To this end, take the long end of the reef line in your nondominant hand and do not let go until the shellacked reef line is stuck to the sail and masking tape right where you want it. Better yet, if you have a suitable instrument such as a needle holder or hemostat, grasp the end of the long reef line at a point just below where the reef line crosses the lower end of your masking tape length marker and use that instrument to control the line instead of your fingers. In that way, you can leave the line to be held by the instrument if you must let go of the instrument. Use your dominant hand to apply shellac from a small cup or jar and to manipulate the tool you will be using to put the sticky reefing line where you want it to be. Use your dominant hand to rinse your shellac brush and positioning tool in a small cup or jar of denatured alcohol as need be.  You might want to imagine yourself a surgeon as you install your reefing lines. You want to "keep a sterile surgical field" within which to work and you want to use your instruments to do what your fingers are too large to do. Once you get in a rhythm installing reefing lines, you'll find that it's a task that can be performed rather quickly and precisely without a lot of practice.
 
The shellac will seal the knot in the reef point, secure the reefing line in the proper position on the face of the sail, and prevent the free end of the reef point from unraveling. If you are careful to work neatly, there should not be any visual evidence of the shellac on the reef point lines or the sail when you are done. The advantage of using shellac for this purpose is that it dries very fast and, should the need arise, more shellac can be added if greater adhesion is required. Sticky shellac has excellent archival qualities. While the method may seem involved, it's really a lot easier to do than it is to describe. The shellac allows the reef points to be stuck flat against the sail for the entire length of the reef line, providing a proper scale appearance. Shellac is very forgiving to work with. It cleans up very easily with denatured alcohol, which instantly dissolves it.

"Hulls shall be built up in lifts of clear, first-grade mahogany or basswood; doweled and glued together with water-resistant glue. The wood shall be completely free of knots, checks, and sap pockets and shall be thoroughly seasoned. Models over 12 inches beam must be hollowed for reduction of weight The hull shall be composed of the least number of parts necessary to achieve the proper shape. An excessive number of glue joints shall be avoided. On models less than 12 inches beam, hull lifts shall be cut to the full body shape: lifts shall not be cut in halves, thereby creating a glue seam along the vertical centerline of the model. The lifts shall conform accurately to lines of the vessel as shown by the plans. A stable, durable, flexible body putty may be used in moderation to fill gaps."
 
Specifications for Construction of Exhibition Models of U.S. Naval Vessels, Curator of Models, U.S. Navy
 
Nautical Research Guild - Article - Specifications for Construction of Exhibition Models of U.S. Naval Vessels (thenrg.org)
 
Perhaps so, but I expect their primary concern is plank movement and the development of paint cracking along the plank seams.

I never had that experience. It musta been my clean livin' that done it for me.  

Everybody's mileage differs, I suppose. Having built hulls using both methods, I've found shaping a "bread and butter" built hull, let alone a pre-shaped solid hull, is far easier than POF or POB. You are correct that "the natural curve of the planking" is helpful in "getting every inch of the hull shape right. So also does a suitably sized batten with sandpaper glued to it spring into a fair curve in exactly the same way planking strip wood does. Moreover, after one has done anything but a perfect planking job on frames or bulkheads, the hull must be slathered with some sort of plaster or filler putty and then sanded fair in exactly the same manner as a solid wood hull anyhow. As for scratchbuilding, one can take station or waterlines off a plan, cut them to shape, and stack them up to form the stepped shape of the hull which then requires only "knocking the steps off" to achieve a perfectly shaped hull identical to the drawn lines. Just sayin'.
 
In point of fact, the old "pre-carved" solid hull models weren't all that "rough-cut." I can't remember ever seeing one that wasn't shaped to the point where all it really required was finish sanding to smooth without any serious shaping other than sometimes carving rails or stems, etc. thinner because they were left thick so as not to be damaged in shipping. Bottom line, finish sanding the old "pre-carved" hulls really wasn't any more work that sanding a planked hull covered with filler to hide a multitude of sins.
 
Even where one is interested in "showing the planking," whether it be finished "bright" or painted, it is far easier to glue very thin "planks" made of wood shavings from a plane or pieces of paper or card stock to a solid hull than to attempt to shape the much thicker scale plank stock to form a hull "the way the real ship was built." 
 
Additionally, with the exception of fully-framed "Admiralty Board style" models and those intended to depict the subject vessel's interior, as with open boats, most all museums and major collections limit their acquisitions to solid hull ship models.
 
I do believe Mr. BlueJacket's explanation that POB and POF kits have come to predominate on the kit market is simply because they are a lot cheaper to produce, particularly with modern laser-cutting technology. The tradeoff is that they are a lot more work to construct and that's passed on the to the consumer.