a drafting tool or paper weight

[garyshipwright]

Hi good folks. Have a friend who is trying to figure out what this Blue tool is in the picture and what it's called. I have seen it used but for the life of me can't figure out what's it called. Maybe I have seen it in one of my books some place. Look forward to finding out what it is and thank you in advance. Gary

[BETAQDAVE]

It's actually a drafting tool. Several of these hold a flexible spline in place and used for drawing curves.

[druxey]

Usually a number of them hold a flexible curve or batten in place on the drawing board. Sometimes they were referred to as 'whales', I believe.

[Jack12477]

They look like these. From collection of Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston NY

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Jack12477

[garyshipwright]

Thank you folk. I seen them before just can't remember were and they are called a whale. Very interesting. Gary

[Harvey Golden]

I have always heard them referred to as "ducks" or more formally Spline Weights.  Calls to mind the expression about getting all your 'ducks in a row,' but I suspect it's coincidental.

-Harvey  

[Bob Cleek]

16 minutes ago, Harvey Golden said:

I have always heard them referred to as "ducks" or more formally Spline Weights.  Calls to mind the expression about getting all your 'ducks in a row,' but I suspect it's coincidental.

-Harvey  

Not coincidental at all. "Getting  your ducks in a row" is a direct reference to fairing a line with a batten and ducks.

[Harvey Golden]

45 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

Not coincidental at all. "Getting  your ducks in a row" is a direct reference to fairing a line with a batten and ducks.

Ah-- thank you!  I had always thought it was a hunting reference.  I suppose it works for both.

[alross2]

I have 18-20 (that's about 80 pounds!) of these and haven't used them in several years.  They were a great tool when I drew ink on mylar, but now I'm using CorelDraw and haven't touched a drafting pen in about four years.  Probably should get rid of them.

[Peanut6]

I have to agree with Harvey, they are most commonly referred to as "Ducks".  I know they come in two styles, the one shown above with the hook, and the other has a tab in place of the hook.  The "advantage" of the hook is that the "batten" usually used with this style has a groove down the length so that the hook and run/ride inside the groove.  Thus enabling you to keep all the ducks on one side, in a row so to speak, because you could "push" or "pull" the batten into place.  The tabbed version can only secure the batten in one direction, so depending on the curve you're creating you may have ducks on both sides.  They are heavy enough that you could just rest the duck on top of the batten to hold it in place.  Back when I was on the board, we had a handful in the department but we used them to hold down the ends of roll size drawings because the battens seemed to disappear over time.  No great loss as the department had the most complete set of ships curves I've ever seen.  There were dozens upon dozens stored in a slotted, felt lined wooden case.  The department head kept them under lock and key and could only be used by those who had proved themselves capable of properly using them.  Oh, those were the days.

[Bob Cleek]

7 hours ago, alross2 said:

I have 18-20 (that's about 80 pounds!) of these and haven't used them in several years.  They were a great tool when I drew ink on mylar, but now I'm using CorelDraw and haven't touched a drafting pen in about four years.  Probably should get rid of them.

I've been told there are still things that ducks and battens do that can't be done on a screen, particularly on large drawings. I bet you'll find a use for them within a week of getting rid of them. Isn't that always the way it goes?  

[Guest]

Hi All,

This was me asking Gary the question.  Thank you for the answers.  I indeed did find them listed and indeed are called whales. Some boating classes make their own as a project.  There were several sold here too.  But... these are way to pricy for me, and I cannot pour lead anymore.. So,  I am using glass weights for my drawings and to weight parts or clamp them there are many designs here.  I am tooling up as I plan to do an Underhill style fishing boat here as I have had the drawings many moons.   Thanks for a ll the comments and help.  I should have just posted to the forums.

 

Have a good morning

Guy

[Pete Jaquith]

As shown in the 1st picture they are great weights for ship modeling.  I cast mine at Webb Institute in 1961.

 

Shipbuilder,

Pete

[jud]

Google flexible curve. The one I have had for 25 years is a STAEDTLER. Have not used it since I started using CAD, but it worked well for those pesky Highway Spirals I once had to draw and later stake out on the ground. Did on occasion need to use drafting paperweights to keep it stationary on large curves. Those weights were shot or sand filled round shaped leather pads we used for keeping plans flat, still available, also easy to make but an old boot in a plastic bag, bulky, but would do the job.

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by jud

[glbarlow]

There was a whale named duck, who really liked to……. Oops, wrong forum😂

[Roger Pellett]

Here’s mine.  I cast them in a homemade sand mold in 1965.  I still use them as I do not use CAD.  Splines are ripped from straight grained spruce left over from wood canvas canoe restoration projects.

 

Roger

Edited September 30, 2022 by Roger Pellett

[Harvey Golden]

I have a set of K&E Spline Weights, but have never used them for drafting. I don't use computers for creating lines either, but I have have found plastic adjustable curves (shown below) to be perfect for inking curved lines.  Only downside is having to hold them in place while inking-- not such a hinderance, though. Roger's photo above captures the value of the weights: setting a curve and being able to stand back and assess it. 

[Roger Pellett]

Another lines drawing trick that I have found useful is to draw lines at twice the anticipated model scale.  Lines for a 1:48 scale model would be drawn at 1:24.  After tracing the drawing in ink on Mylar I then have half size contact prints made by an architectural printing company.  This makes closely spaced lines easier to draw and any inaccuracies are cut in half.

 

Roger