Jump to content

Woolding Hoops


Recommended Posts

I am looking for a source of approx. 0.4 mm thickness swiss pear (or similar flexibility timber) to create 1 mm. wide strips to form the hoops that were placed either side of a mast woolding. Just maybe there are other timbers that I could use but my knowledge of flexibility is meagre ?  I do not have a thickness sander or similar exotic machinery so I need to purchase said thickness. Would really appreciate some advice on how I can create these hoops but especially where can I source this timber given that Crown has now closed its doors. 

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good Morning All;

 

The best method I ever used for making mast hoops was with an ordinary hand plane.

 

This was to set the blade to a slightly coarse cut, and then carefully plane a long shaving off the edge of a plank of pine (no knots being present) The shaving will have a natural tendency to curl. Weight it down flat and coat the inner side with glue, then roll it around a suitable sized dowel, with a rubber band around the outside, and leave to dry.

 

Once dry, this will give a perfect tube, from which hoops of the desired height can be cut with ease. This works for woldings and hoops for sails sliding up and down the masts.

 

This was a tip I saw long ago in (I think it was) Underhill's 'Leon' book. But it works wonderfully well, and is quick.

 

The plane needs to be sharp, of course.

 

All the best,

 

Mark 

Edited by Mark P

Previously built models (long ago, aged 18-25ish) POB construction. 32 gun frigate, scratch-built sailing model, Underhill plans.

2 masted topsail schooner, Underhill plans.

 

Started at around that time, but unfinished: 74 gun ship 'Bellona' NMM plans. POB 

 

On the drawing board: POF model of Royal Caroline 1749, part-planked with interior details. My own plans, based on Admiralty draughts and archival research.

 

Always on the go: Research into Royal Navy sailing warship design, construction and use, from Tudor times to 1790. 

 

Member of NRG, SNR, NRS, SMS

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Mark P said:

Good Morning All;

 

The best method I ever used for making mast hoops was with an ordinary hand plane.

 

This was to set the blade to a slightly coarse cut, and then carefully plane a long shaving off the edge of a plank of pine (no knots being present) The shaving will have a natural tendency to curl. Weight it down flat and coat the inner side with glue, then roll it around a suitable sized dowel, with a rubber band around the outside, and leave to dry.

 

Once dry, this will give a perfect tube, from which hoops of the desired height can be cut with ease. This works for woldings and hoops for sails sliding up and down the masts.

 

This was a tip I saw long ago in (I think it was) Underhill's 'Leon' book. But it works wonderfully well, and is quick.

 

The plane needs to be sharp, of course.

 

All the best,

 

Mark 

That's the only way to fly when it comes to mast hoops. I wrap a sheet of paper, and then a sheet of "Saran wrap" (plastic kitchen wrap) around a dowel of suitable diameter to make a mandrel. The plastic wrap keeps the glued shavings from sticking to the mandrel. When the laminated shavings wrapped around the mandrel are dry, I mount the mandrel on my Unimat lathe and sand the laminated shaving rings to a uniform thickness and then part them to the desired width on the lathe. When done, I slide the wrapped paper off the mandrel and slide the individual rings off the paper sleeve. Voila! Perfectly uniform laminated wooden mast hoops.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made the mast hoops for my Cheerful by glueing turns of brown wrapping paper around a suitable diam dowel. When dry just pulled it off and cut off slices as required and gave them a couple of coats of matt laquer,job done and no messing about with wood shavings. I did of course wrap the dowel with some plastic first to prevent sticking.

 

Dave :dancetl6:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for that previous comment Dave - sounds so easy.

 

Now, I have been doing some thinking about all that has been said and the thing that concerns me - and I may be overthinking this part - is that these hoops are going onto tapered masts. It follows that the higher up the mast, the smaller is the ring diameter and surely that has to be taken into account ? There will be a series of rings required all with decreasing diameters. Have people tried any of the methods described above and then just cut the rings to shorten their diameters as required ???

 

A while ago I saw some images on the MSW (and now I can't find them) showing a long narrow and continuous strip of timber/ wood wrapped around a rod and allowed to dry. The resulting spiral would be easily cut to the correct circumference for each hoop which brings me back to my initial comment in this post.

 

I still think that all the above posts are great ideas and as said previously, I may be overthinking this so I hope some people out there can clarify

 

Pete

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's another unorthodox solution:  chair cane.  This comes in various sizes and is naturally light color but can be dyed or painted.  It can be tied in knots when soaked in water (literally).

The top surface is shiny but can be sanded down if desired.  It can also be sanded to  narrower size as needed. Do all work on the cane before soaking.  Then soak in plain water for 5 to 10 minutes and wrap around your mast and clamp loosely until dry. It will hold its shape when dry and can be given its final dress-up.

 

Chazz

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/16/2019 at 4:26 AM, piratepete007 said:

Now, I have been doing some thinking about all that has been said and the thing that concerns me - and I may be overthinking this part - is that these hoops are going onto tapered masts. It follows that the higher up the mast, the smaller is the ring diameter and surely that has to be taken into account ? There will be a series of rings required all with decreasing diameters. Have people tried any of the methods described above and then just cut the rings to shorten their diameters as required ???

 

 

Pete,

Everything I've seen shows the rings at the size.   When furling, everything goes down to the widest part of the past.

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chair cane is the material cane-seat chair seats and backs are woven from,  It is grows as a  a vine from which the outer skin is made into smaller strips...you've seen it many times but maybe never noticed it, If you can't find an old chair, the material is available on-line or in hobby stores,   Relatively cheap.

 

 

Chazz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Pete is talking about the timber rings that sit either side of the rope wooldings and which must necessarily fit tight to the mast, as opposed to mast hoops which must slide up and down the mast. 

 

One solution would be to try the shrink-fit tube electricians use - you can get a large pack of multiple sizes from Amazon or eBay for the price of a cup of coffee. Cut a thin slice of tube the next size up from the required diameter, slip it on the mast and gently heat with a hot air gun until it shrinks on, then paint as required. 

 

Alien material, I know, but it does the job. Also works well on square sections, such as mastheads and anchor stocks. 

 

Derek 

 

 

Cheers, Derek

 

Current build:   Duchess of Kingston

On hold:              HMS Winchelsea

 

Previous builds:  HMS SpeedyEnglish Pinnace, Royal Yacht Caroline (gallery),

                            Victory Cross-section (gallery), US Clipper Albatros, Red Dragon (years ago!)

 

On the stocks:    18th Century Longboat

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Derek - I was just sitting down to reply to most of the above comments which centred on mast hoops for gaff-rigged sails when I read your post. Apologies for my allowing this posting to be side-tracked where the comments made were all quite interesting and valuable. Yes, I started off describing the wooden hoops that were nailed to the mast either side of the rope wooldings.

 

Shrink-fit tube could be an answer and thanks for the suggestion; it sounds like an easy solution. I am also tracking down some decal strips that are used to decorate the sides of various vehicles such as caravans. The problem here is that these hoops were only 1.5 inches wide which on a model at 1:70, the width works out to be approx. 0.5 mm !!!

 

My current build, the La Renommee frigate, was built in 1744 and the drawings show iron hoops and iron bands around the mast but after checkings with Lees, I am not really sure whether the use of iron to replace the rope wooldings is accurate. Lees suggests that rope wooldings began disappearing in the early 1700's, so maybe the iron is OK. I guess it comes down to either approach.

 

Pete

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh.... now it's clear Pete.   For the iron, use black paper or if you want to get finicky, use blackened brass strips.  I'm not sure Lee's would the be goto reference for a French ship.   Maybe the La Renommee monograph might be a better choice.   

Mark
"The shipwright is slow, but the wood is patient." - me

Current Build:                                                                                             
Past Builds:
 La Belle Poule 1765 - French Frigate from ANCRE plans - ON HOLD           Triton Cross-Section   

 NRG Hallf Hull Planking Kit                                                                            HMS Sphinx 1775 - Vanguard Models - 1:64               

 

Non-Ship Model:                                                                                         On hold, maybe forever:           

CH-53 Sikorsky - 1:48 - Revell - Completed                                                   Licorne - 1755 from Hahn Plans (Scratch) Version 2.0 (Abandoned)         

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...