Anchor Hoy c. 1825 by Maury S - FINISHED - 1:48 - Harbor craft - POF

[Jim Lad]

She's coming along very nicely, mate!

 

John

[Maury S]

Several hours of wrapping thread around (Serving?) one of the anchor rings.

Tedious!

Maury

[druxey]

Puddening! Nice, Maurys.

[DocBlake]

Maury:  Nice job on this build!  

 

I’m wondering what the historical rationale was for serving the anchor rings?

[Maury S]

Quote

Puddening!

Druxey,  Is that what the serving is called or is it a term (like "fiddy")? 

See Dave's comment above.  Do you know why?

 

Maury

[druxey]

The ornamental serving - called puddening - was an anti-chafing measure to prevent iron rubbing directly against the anchor cable.

[Maury S]

Back to the shipyard...Metal work on the spars.  Below is the horse for the boom (main sheet tackle).  It's about 3/8" across.  Bars are 1/64" brass strips.   It will be blackened along with other brass and copper pieces.

Maury

 

[Maury S]

From the department of "How many little pieces can you lose in a day"...more metal work.  This is the piece for the end of the bowsprit.

The pieces (2) were bent and soldered, then the holes were drilled using the mill.  Centers were punched and drilled VERY slowly with a .064" bit. 

Edges trimmed and filed.

Maury

[Maury S]

Getting ready to do some serving on the shrouds.  The rope is from Syren Ship Model Co. and is the dark brown.  I asked one of my second mate's Quilting friend what was the best fuzz-free quilting thread and she responded Aurifil.  So I bought a spool of the "dark Brown" and it has a bit too much red in it.  I took off a hundred feet or so and dyed it in a very diluted RIT dark brown dye (for cotton).  That toned-down some of the red (see spool on the right for the Aurifil original).

The white and the black spools have some dyed thread (different times in the dye vat).  Not much difference there. 

Maury

[Maury S]

First two pair of shrouds are served and bound together with the dyed serving line.  Nothing set permanently yet.

The serving only goes on the area around the mast to where the pair is bound on the front five sets of shrouds.  Wear would have occurred on the aft most set where the boom would rub against the shrouds so that set will be fully served.

Maury

[Maury S]

I tried blackening some of the eye bolts and the copper strapping of the blocks with liver of sulfur and nothing happened.  Back to the testing lab.  I took another piece of copper wire, rubbed it with steel wool, bathed it in acetone and rinsed.  The LOS worked fine.  Only thing I can imagine is I did not clean the wire before making the bolts, hooks and blocks.  It probably has a coating.  Odd thing is that the strapping on the blocks was filed flat, which would have removed any coating.  This means removing the bolts, re-doing the blocks, etc.  The bow sprit has two bolts embedded that I can't remove.  Thankfully, that's the only spar that I have to re-make.

Maury

Edited January 9, 2018 by Maurys

[Roger Pellett]

If you have a small air compressor, an inexpensive “air eraser” (mini sand blaster) does a great job of preparing non-ferrous metals for blackening. It also adds some “tooth” to surfaces of metals that you plan to paint.  I got mine at Harbor Freight and it seems to be surprisingly well made.

 

Roger

[Maury S]

Replacing the bowsprit (see post above):  It's done the proper way to make spars...start with square stock, drill all necessary holes (i.e simulated sheave, etc.) while it's square.  Mark center line and define the taper on two opposite sides, plane the taper and draw ajacent taper on those sides, finish planing taper on the remaining two sides.  Use 7 - 10 - 7 fan to define edges of the octagon.  This spar is 10" square for about 4'-10",  11" octagonal for the next 5' 10", then round tapering down to about 6" for the next 20' + / -.

The two hole at the right are for the sheave.

The two holes on the top (left) are for the eyebolts (part of the gun tackle for setting the spar).

Maury

[jdbondy]

Nice build log! It's good to see such quality building going on close to where I am (Dallas)!

[Maury S]

Serving continues...My serving machine design was taken from Ed Tosti's logs a few years ago.  Last year I bought a Syren Server because of it's elegant design.  My old one is larger than Chuck's, and I made some modifications to the old one  incorporating his handle design and take-up arrangement which I much prefer.  Mine is smoother-running (lubricated plastic vs. wooden gears) and heavier so I don't have to clamp it to the work surface.  It also has the "tool tray" for needles,  threader, tweezers, clamps, etc.

 

I'll probably use the Syren version for serving blocks, etc. since it has a smaller span.

[Maury S]

The serving is put on in the opposite lay of the rope.  I started where the tail is and moved to the left with the serving coming over the top of the rope.

Reasonably good color match.

Maury

 

[druxey]

Small point (which may be unimportant to you!): If you serve in the opposite direction to the 'lay' of the rope, the result will be smoother in appearance. The example above seems to be served in the same direction. That's a serious looking machine you have there for the job, Maury!

[Maury S]

Druxey, It is important for me and the serving is laid in the opposite direction as the lay of the rope.  Hard to tell in the photo.  Thanks for the comments.

M

[Maury S]

Forestay served and seized at the top.  I think that may be the last of the serving. 

Next up is seizing the shrouds onto themselves through the bulls eyes.

Maury

Edited January 14, 2018 by Maurys

[druxey]

Sorry if I misinterpreted your photo, Maurys. I'll shut up now and slink away!

[Maury S]

Druxey,   PLEASE Don't.  Every comment you make is taken to heart.  Lots of difficulty interpreting photos.  Less than perfect focus and optical illusions abound.

 

Maury

[jdbondy]

Are you happy with the "fuzz-free" nature of the Aurifil thread? I am always looking for ideas when it comes to thread.

 

[Maury S]

While giving my eyes a rest from serving, I installed the chain plates for the running back stays.

 

The wales got a bit skuffed up.

The issue of where to set the shrouds and back stays has been around since the beginning.  The original drawings shows the shrouds outboard, but that would not be reasonable because they would bind and crush the rails.  Other sources cite reasons for them being inboard.  Secondary source (Grimwood) shows the rigging as he interpreted it but plenty of errors on his drawings.  There is very little binding for the running back stays because of the angles to the tops.

Maury

 

[Maury S]

JD,

The Aurifil thread is really good and after spending hours looking at it thru a 3X Optivisor lens, it is not completely fuzz-free.  It's still the best I've found.

Maury

[jdbondy]

I have had good luck serving my stays and shrouds with fly-tying thread. No fuzz.

 

[Maury S]

Shrouds are installed and siezed.

The aft shroud is served all the way.  The ends of the shrouds and the lashings have not been trimmed.  The upper lashings were all tied at the height of the upper rail.  In the picture they seem to vary too much but the photo was taken at an angle.  I think the fifth shroud (from the left) is a bit looser than the others and needs tightening up a bit.

Maury

[Maury S]

I clamped a stick along the shrouds and lashed the top row along that guide.

Looks much better and there is still some cleanup to do.

The ends of the shrouds were trimmed off and dabbed with a touch of anti-fraying liquid. 

Maury

[druxey]

Neatly done, Maurys. "Anti-fraying liquid"? Is this a secret formula concocted in your laboratory?

[Maury S]

Druxey,

I think I got it at a fabric shop.  cleans up with alcohol.  Not as messy as CA.  I'm not sure what it is composed of.

M

[BANYAN]

I use an anti-fray also Maurys, works well on flags and sails also.  Your shrouds look good, very neat work.

 

cheers

 

Pat