74-gun ship by Gaetan Bordeleau - 1:24

[bartley]

OK Carl, Dual Pixel.  I understand that one of the most important things about these is the accuracy of focussing by what they call phase detection.  All to complex for me I am afraid! But you are right about the need to minimise the amount of software manipuletion.

 

John

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

To build a model ship has  in a way, similar procedures used  in the industry: one of these is: INSPECTION. 

 

The first step is done by eye but when the ye is not able anymore to discern the imperfections, we need to magnify the details to better understand where  further work will be required for a better result. The easiest way to concentrate on the model ship exclusively is to take photos. A camera is ruthless, she does not forgive mistakes and shows them. Sometime it is even difficult to accept the thuth in front of us.

 

Actually I am sanding the arch of the model ship. When I do not see any more details to ''sand'', I take few photos which will easily reveal where the corrections are needed. Fortunately, a day will come where no more modifications will be require. I can still see some spots which need to refine the curves. That will be the next step.

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Gaetan Bordeleau

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Part 2  Searching the perfect knife

 

When a  new model ship builder begins, one of the first tool we buy is an Exacto which is the standard. Peoples  get accustom to this tool and a great % prefer to work with the Exacto.

 

Is there another step for the search of a better knife? Yes, it is possible to find a same style knife with a better handle and also with a better blade. To classify the blades, Exacto has a standard knife blade and the next step would be a razor blade. Swann Morton provides a good answer in both categories of the knife, the blade and the handle. The blade is much sharper, this means that less work and pressure are required to cut, so the advantage is that this tool can be control much more easily. This search of the knife is a multi layered adventure. Now that we get the blade, Swan Morton went another step ahead with the handle. Working hours with a small metal blade becomes painful for the hand. Handle 5A is covered with  soft acrylic giving a greater comfortability to hold the tool.

 

Is there a third step in that spiral? Is it possible to get a better handle and a better blade? Is there aspects which can be modify for a better version? The answer is yes to all these questions.

These small medical blades are razor sharp. They are ideal for small works. But they have a major weakness; this tool is not made to resist in torsion and for this reason, the blade is very easy to break. The easy way to fix this problem is to add a strong spline to that blade. Of course that blade will be made in one part, we will not solder the spline to the Swan Morton blade. Now for the choice of the steel, how about a multi layered steel, as in the famous Japanese Katana saber: Damascus steel. The shape of the sharp edge will be straight , not in a curve way.

 

Few words about the handle. I did demonstrate by building a 74 guns at 3 different scales that the bigger the piece that you hold, the more control you will have  and a greater quality part will be resulting.  The same principle applies here. So this means if we increase the size of the handle,  this will result in much more control of the blade.

 

With the parameters to guide us, let's find a knife with a comfortable handle in the hand with a good quality steel with razor sharp edges.

 

The following part is not part 3 but part 1, sorry, I wrote it before.

 

After few days of trials, I am very please with the results, the blade is as razor sharp as the scalpel blade and with more control. Finally, one last aspect. This knife is heavier than the scalpel and this additional weight is beneficial for the control of the tool.

 

last photo: blade profile

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

photos with 2 table lamps

[cog]

how are they positioned?

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Hi Carl,

 

How are they positioned? It is difficult to answer in few words, but in 2 words; it depends, of the effect you want. In fact experimentation will guide you where to install the light without too much shadows. I think that it is more important to know that you need  3 things for this kind of photos:

 

1- you cannot do this during the day unless you ca have darkness in the room; usually after  the sun sleeps is a good time.

2-  all lights in the room off,  except at least 1 but it can be more. I like to use a small lamp with a goose neck;  JANSJÖ from IKEA: $10 but it can be what you have at home. I like the gooseneck because I can easily  position  the lamp to light the subject to be photograph.

3- a camera with a manual mode. Automatic camera with integrated flash will not work because the scene being dark, the camera will want to use his flash.

 

 Today,  I used 2 different cameras both at 200 ISO, maximum  aperture (F as small as possible) and  adjusted the time so that I can see the subject. If, by example you would like to have another area visible, you can another lamp for that area. 

 

Surprisingly, it is not very hard to get good results, just try it and you will be surprise of the results.

[Castos]

Hi Gaetan

 

Thanks for allowing me to follow your log and getting a lesson in scratch building.

 

I know it is a bit late, concerning the projection of an image onto an object, but I came across this paper on Projection Mapping. The link is https://static1.squarespace.com/static/559921a3e4b02c1d7480f8f4/t/585c685c725e2507d8a69939/1482451040611/Kindl.pdf

 

I hope that it can assist us all in future builds.

 

Regards

 

Andre

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Hi Andre,

 

Everybody can follow logs they like, if you like mine, I am honored, thank you

 

You open a new perspective  to the projection of an image. I guess that it is even already possible.

If a "projector' can create a 3D image in 3 plans(Even if I have a 3D projector, the problem is that that the projection is just in 2 plans) : width,  height and the missing link:  depth,

then everything would be perfect! I could see exactly where I have to glue a part...

 

And yes, your vision is perfectly right, one day it will assist us.

 

 Scratch building was for a long period  building only with your own hands an some simple tools. Then the 'motor" arrived (water, steam, gas... electricity). Today, we all use electric tools and we are stillo doing scratch building.  Actually, dazzling development of data processing open new doors for the model ship makers: 5 axes robots, 3D printing, Autocad plans...

 

Everyday  new tools arrive on the market, and we adapt our technics with new tools, and we are still doing model ship building.

Tools evolve but the name remains the same: scratch building.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Last night, just before supper, I did  a link between desk arm supports and  a chair.  I had both extremities, just needed the link.

 

I like to build with brass nails, temporary links between 2 wood parts. This allows to see if connection angles are good before gluing everything.

 

 

 

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Installation of the terrace floor. Only a table is missing for the party.

[Jorge Diaz O]

Hermoso.hermoso,hermoso...De mis favoritos señor.

[druxey]

Nice work, Gaetan. After this number of models I suspect you can do the work in your sleep.

[cog]

25 minutes ago, druxey said:

Nice work, Gaetan. After this number of models I suspect you can do the work in your sleep.

Can you ...

 

Party??? I wonder, was at that time tongue and groove used for such floors? Lovely job, by the way.

[SJSoane]

Just catching up. It looks lovely, Gaetan. Exquisite craftsmanship, as usual.

 

Mark

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

22 hours ago, druxey said:

Nice work, Gaetan. After this number of models I suspect you can do the work in your sleep.

 

Partially true; sometimes, the work is done in the head when going to sleep. I do not work many hours daily,  but on a regular base .

 

 

Thank you, everyone, for your likes.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

USING A FLASH OR NOT?

 

Last week, a man, in an exhibition, was saying that he was always using a flash in manual mode, never in TTL (true the lens).  Many years ago, it was true. Todays flash are much more performing.

 

Here is another common belief : a studio flash is much more performing than  a flash on a camera. With the development of the electronic technology; you can buy a flash  which fits on the camera hot shoe and it can perform in TTL as good as in manual. This week, I got a new on camera flash and I am very please by his performance.

 

On the last 2 photos, untouched, show the result of this morning test : The first one : with a flash in TTL mode, 100% automatic. The last one : no flash, neon lighting. The color are not as much appealing!  

[herask]

Gaetan, the second photo can easily replace the one on the cover of Ancre's 74-gun ship publication. found my new desktop image...

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Wall construction

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

[cog]

interesting setup, Gaetan. You made the intricate swivel arm youself?

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Yes Carl, in fact I did it for the microscope. I took the idea from a Microscope arm support like in the photo.

This is my actual set up. I did try about 10 setup before with many camera tripods but I wanted to simplify so everything fits on the table.

In macrophotography, stability is a must. In the future, I would like to get a studio camera stand, something like this old model from Cambo.

Very nice model but I doubt I could find one like this!!!

 

[vossiewulf]

On 10/18/2018 at 3:44 AM, Gaetan Bordeleau said:

Part 2  Searching the perfect knife

 

After few days of trials, I am very please with the results, the blade is as razor sharp as the scalpel blade and with more control. Finally, one last aspect. This knife is heavier than the scalpel and this additional weight is beneficial for the control of the tool.

You know I seem to remember an argument some time back where you insisted nothing was as sharp as a scalpel  I'm glad you've seen the light (and the metallurgy). The only downside to Japanese knives is they push the hardness to Rc63-64 and therefore the edges can be brittle, don't try many twisting cuts with your new knife. 

 

And I agree with you about the weight, that's why I add the brass weights to my knives, to move the balance point to just ahead of center and to give them more mass for control.

 

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

 

 

[vossiewulf]

I should have known you have given this considerable thought

 

First of all Japanese steel will be referred to as white steel or blue steel. This has nothing to do with the color of the steel but rather the color of the wrappings of the bars as they leave the steel foundry, traditionally pure unalloyed steel (Fe + C) has white wrappings, while alloyed steel (some combination of Fe + C + chrome + molybdenum + vanadium) comes in blue wrappings.

 

Many argue that nothing can be made as sharp as white steel, however it's also the most fragile and also loses its edge quickly since the alloys are all designed to add resistance to loss of the edge (particularly vanadium) plus heat and stress resistance. In general a blue steel blade will hold an edge longer than white steel and will take more stress (twisting cuts) without the edge fracturing as compared to white steel.

 

With western steel we have primarily O-1 and A-2 steels, both are alloys with the first being quenched in oil, and the second being left to cool in ambient air (hence the O and A respectively). O-1 is easy to sharpen but doesn't hold an edge very well, whereas A-2 holds an edge better but is difficult and time-consuming to sharpen. In  better quality steel there is also a cryogenic process that helps sort the molecules properly, leading to greater edge toughness.

 

Also for the first time in a while there's a newcomer, powdered sintered steels. These get around limitations in standard alloying practices by never completely melting the steel, instead the powdered ingredients in the desired ratios are mixed and placed in a form and a hydraulic die press basically squashes them into a solid steel bar in one quick shot. This is important because high vanadium in steel leads to much longer edge life, but in traditional alloying the amount of vanadium that could be added was very limited since vanadium will quickly grow into much too large crystals. With powdered steel, you can put in much more vanadium since the sintering process doesn't allow it time to grow large crystals.

 

As such, the most sophisticated (and best IMO) steel available to woodworkers right now is the PM-V11 steel that Lee Valley uses for many of its tools. It holds an edge for insanely long periods (I have jack and smoothing planes with PM-V11 irons) but is at least as easy to sharpen as O-1 steel. Unfortunately they haven't made any knives yet with it, just plane irons and chisels. 

 

A couple of suggestions. One is Shapton Glass Stones. They're ceramic waterstones and 1) remain almost perfectly flat and 2) remove steel faster than anything I've ever used, and I've used all sorts of waterstones (including natural stones) and diamond and other ceramics- none of them come close to how fast Shapton stones remove steel. This means much less sharpening time and much more working time. I use 220 for shaping bevels, 1000/4000/8000 for sharpening and a strop.

 

Another is to try a knife or two from Ron Hock. He's the best of the western blade makers (IMO) and makes excellent plane irons and knives. He stops at Rc62 to provide somewhat better edge strength under stress, and he also cryogenically treats all his steel.

 

You're also right that you basically need blades with an edges parallel to the knife handle (straight blade), beveled at an angle (skew blade) and perpendicular to the handle (chisel). All are needed for good woodworking. For the chisels, I recommend the Lee Valley PM-V11 bench chisels, and you should also look at Japanese dovetail chisels and also shoji chisels (used for making the mortise cuts in Japanese shoji screens) since you are constantly working into tight spaces.

Edited December 16, 2018 by vossiewulf

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

[vossiewulf]

You're welcome Gaetan, anything I can contribute to your work is worthwhile.

 

With your perfect knife, what you're talking about is a standard detail knife but much bigger, because you're building much bigger, and I understand that's hard to find because most people don't need giant detail knives

 

Your best choice is to draw what you want, including a tang locating 3/16" holes for the brass reinforcing pins, and send that drawing to Ron Hock and ask for a quote. I'd be very surprised if it came back more than $60, as he's made several custom blades for me and it's never cost me more than that.

 

Then all you need is a piece of wood (lathe pen blanks are usually good) for a handle, you rip that in half, mortise each side half the blade's depth, and then assemble it with epoxy. As noted all you need extra is some 3/16" brass rod to go in the reinforcing holes. 

 

I then usually do a CA glue finish on the whole knife because 1) it's indestructible, 2) it's very pretty, 3) I actually feel like my best grip is on CA glue rather than wood, my hand never slips on the knife.

[vossiewulf]

I forgot to answer, it depends on what you're calling Damascus steel. The traditional historical Damascus steel would be close to white steel, they didn't know anything about alloying small amounts of chrome and molybdenum, etc. into their steel. Also the idea they used, of folding bars together that had differing amounts of carbon, wasn't unusual- the Japanese not only did that also but controlled it very finely to produce particular patterns on the sides of the blades. The Saxons were the "people of the seax" and they also pattern-welded their knives.

 

The problem is that despite being pretty, pattern-welding steel doesn't make it better, in fact it's inferior to modern solid steels. The reason being that those patterns are made by folding bars together that have significantly different carbon content and therefore hardness. The reason they did this is they just weren't very good at controlling the carbon content of their source bars, and some would come out with too little and some too much- the solution was to fold them together into very fine layers, this minimizes the differences and allows the low-carbon steel to provide flexibility, while the high-carbon steel provided a good edge. Today's modern knives are basically made solid out of high-carbon steel so they're a bit less flexible than Damascus steel but have no soft/hard layers.

 

The original Damascus steel makers were more concerned with making swords, which have to be very flexible, but if you make them entirely out of flexible low-carbon steel, you don't get a good edge. By layering their steel they were able to produce swords that were flexible and wouldn't break in combat, but had edges that could be made much sharper than standard swords. As such they developed a reputation for sharpness, but that's a very different kind of sharpness than that required by a small knife.

 

Today "Damascus steel" can mean almost anything. Many Japanese makers use very dramatic Damascus patterns on their knives, but those patterns are just in the soft steel on either side of a solid cutting edge - it's purely aesthetic, it has nothing to do with the cutting edge. And even if you could get someone to make a real Damascus knife for you, it still wouldn't be better than a knife blade you can order from Mr. Hock at much less cost.

[vossiewulf]

To return to another point of yours, how thin the blade is definitely matters, but it also matters in how often it needs to be sharpened and how strong that edge is. If you're making straight cuts and don't mind sharpening often, I long since had reached the same conclusion as you where the sharpest blade is achieved when each side of the blade is a whole bevel. I've been sharpening my detail/chip carving knives that way for a long time now, and I carved 90% of the chip carving below with a Hock detail knife sharpened that way.

 

The disadvantages are weakness under any twisting load, they have to be sharpened often, and sharpening takes much longer because you're hitting so much metal. Most of the knives I use for ship work aren't sharpened that way, they still have a big bevel but not the whole side of the blade. For me the only time the performance vs. drawbacks is positive is when I'm chip carving where you need well more than scalpel sharpness.

 

 

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Thank you so much Vossiewulf to share your knowledge.

 

You have reoriented me about steel. I thought that Damascus steel was the best, but I now understand that high carbon is one of the key.

I draw a very simple shape for the next  Standard Detail Knife and I will send it to Hocktools.

 

 

[vossiewulf]

You're welcome Gaetan, glad to help. Let us know how your new perfect knife works out