HSM

I guess a table saw is one of those things that you don't think about if you don't have it, but once you do you see millions of uses for it. One example, start with a thickness-sanded piece of wood, say 1/8" thick or the width of a scale deck plank (I thickness-sand with my drill-press), and the length of a scale deck-plank. The width of this block of wood doesn't matter, you will just keep cutting off planks until it gets too thin to work with. You can set the table saw to cut all the deck planks for the ship in a very short period of time. I paint both sides of the wood black to simulate caulking, then run the wood through the table saw set to maybe 1/16". This gives me planks 1/8"wide x 1/16" thick and whatever length I want the scale planks to be. They are all identical and ready to apply to the deck. You can use any wood species you like and the caulking is automatic. If you have a mast or yard and want to turn a shoulder at the end, lower the saw blade so it is just slightly above the table and spin the dowel in your fingers as the blade shaves off the perimeter, leaving a perfectly concentric end. Need to cut slots for riding-bitt parts to interlock? Set the blade height for the depth you need the slot to be, and adjust the fence until you cut the slots the width you need and you will have square, straight slots that will interlock perfectly. It takes some experimenting, but you can make a jig to cut slots in a piece of thickness-sanded wood, and then cross-cut the slotted wood to make grating strips any size or species of wood you want. Like I said, millions of uses once you start to look for them. If mine ever died it would be replaced imediately, even if I had to eat Kraft-Dinner for a month to afford it!

I am a bit of a minimalist (some would say "cheap") so don't have many power tools. Here is a list of how much my tools get used #1 = Dremel-type rotary tool, #2 = Preac modeler's table saw #3 = Drill press #4 = belt/disc sander. The drill press can be used for drum-sanding and very simple lathe functions using files/sandpaper on wood.

Good job! That's one thing that is hard to get in Canada is blackening agent. I'll check out the local stained glass place for some of that solution. Thanks for posting your findings.

I have some luthier's (stringed instrument makers) finger-planes that are awesome to use! Small I bought them at a second-hand store but I'm sure they are available on the internet. I have 3 different ones, each with a differently curved, or straight blade.