Seizing Blocks

[Glenn-UK]

I visited The National Museum of the Royal Navy Hartlepool to have a look around HMS Trincomalee which is a Royal Navy Leda Class sailing frigate built shortly before the end of the Napoleonic wars. It is well worth a visit.

 

Part of the reason for the visit was to look at the rigging to see if I could improve my methods in readiness for my next project which will be the HMS Indefatigable. I am fully aware that the Indy is a different class of ship to the Trincomalee. Also the Trincomalee, being a museum exhibit, has undergone a lot of restoration work. .

 

I took plenty of photo's of various aspects of the rigging (and belaying) and it quickly became apparent that there were plenty of things I could do which would yield better results. With that in mind, and knowing it will be a couple of weeks before the Indy kit is released, I thought I would experiment to see what I could do better. When looking at the following photo I noted that the rope used to seize around the block had been served. I also noted that just have much more the rope was seized compared with what I would normally do.

I decided that using a served rope around a block was not something I was going to replicate. I did however try extend the amount of thread seized  and I also ensured the seizing extended past the cut ends of the thread. In the two pictures below I used 0.25mm natural thread which was seized using unwaxed Semperfli Spyder thread. I used grey spyder thread at one end and black spyder thread at the other. I think the grey looks better with the natural thread. I am going to order and try some differ spyder thread colours as there is a nice looking brown spyder thread which I think will be a mch better option. In the following two photos the seizing consisted of alternate half hitch knots 16 on the bottom and 16 on the top. I probably could have added a few more to extend the seizing even further which is something I will experiment with over the next couple of weeks.

I have also attached some more photos of blocks which I will try to replicate over the next few days.

 

In the next photo the bottom block required a thimble adding to the bottom of the block.

 

In this photo the bottom block is secured to the hull via an eyebolt arrangement,

Edited February 15, 2023 by glennard2523

[AJohnson]

Looks like you had a great day Glenn, very envious, its been years since I last was up there.  

[Glenn-UK]

1 hour ago, AJohnson said:

Looks like you had a great day Glenn, very envious, its been years since I last was up there.  

Hello Andrew

It only a 70 mile drive from where I live so I should go more often as it was a few years ago since my last visit. I found it very informative. I would like to go back to Portsmouth to look around HMS Victory.

[barkeater]

Thanks for posting the pictures. I'm a little further from Portsmouth. 😁

Richard

[Glenn-UK]

Following on from my earlier post I have now attempted to replicate another Trincomalee block. This time the block I am replicating is a very simple one, as shown in the following photo.

The next photo is my replicated effort. I have detailed all the steps I followed to achieve this in this post.

I started with holding a 5mm single block in my quad hands and I then wrapped a length 0.5mm black thread around the block.

For the seizing I used black Semperfli Spyder 18/0 Black Fly Tying Thread. I started with half hitch which is positioned on the underside.

I then placed another half hitch, but this time it was place on the upper side, as can be seen in the next photo.

I then repeated this process until I added 15 half hitches on the bottom and 15 half hitches on the top.

Next seizing is pushed right up to the block and the short free end is trimmed.

I then continued to add more top and bottom half-hitch knots (20 in total on top and 20 on the bottom). A touch of ca gel is applied to the seizing and the excess thread is trimmed. I have ordered some Floo Gloo which is fly tying cement which I am going to try.

To complete the process I added a small length of black thread through the block hole and then held it in position with the quads hands for the final photo which is reasonable copy of the Trincomalee block.

 

 

[Glenn-UK]

19 minutes ago, barkeater said:

Thanks for posting the pictures. I'm a little further from Portsmouth. 😁

Richard

Hello Richard. The Trincomalee is located in Hartlepool and I live in Scarborough which is only 70 miles away. Portsmouth is the other of the country about 300 miles. My wife and I will plan to take a short holiday later this year as there are few places we would like to visit.

[mtaylor]

Looks like a good method.  I do have one question.. it looks like the rope going under the sheeve rather than over the top of it. Maybe I'm wrong?

[allanyed]

12 hours ago, mtaylor said:

it looks like the rope going under the sheeve rather than over the top of it.

Noticed the same thing Mark and the running line is tarred.  I figured it was just a test set up.  Good point though.

Glenn, beautiful work and thanks for posting the photos.

I wonder though about the second photo in post #1.  I always thought there would be an eye, with or without a thimble, rather than the  line being forced under the strop around the block.  (Right side of the photo)

Allan

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by allanyed

[popeye2sea]

Mark and Allan, both points are correct. The line goes around the sheave , not under. And there would be an eye or other attachment point in the strop of the block.  You do not want to have to re-strop the block every time you remove it from a line in order to re-purpose it somewhere else.

 

Regards,

Henry

[Glenn-UK]

Continuing my quest to replicate some of the block rigging I noticed following a visit to HMS Trincomalee the next block I tried to replicate is a fairly common type of arrangement. Typically rigging from a mast or yard is brought down to deck level via a two block configuration. A double block is seized to the yard / mast rigging line and is then linked to a single block which is then hooked or secured to an eyebolt on the deck or side of hull.

I used 0.25mm natural thread for the mast / yard rigging line and 0.1mm natural thread for the inter-block rigging. I used black Semperfli Spyder 18/0 Black Fly Tying thread for the seizing. I have ordered some different threads and colours to try. I am more inclined toward a brown or beige thread for the seizing at the moment. I am reasonably happy with the replicated block arrangement, as shown in the next two photos. It needs to be a bit tidier around the base of the single block.

The next area I wanted to look at was the seizing of a deadeye to a shroud line. As can be seen in the next two photo's the seizing is quite elaborate.

 

@DelF provided an excellent example / tutorial of this type of seizing in his Speedy build log post.

 

Another example of this arrangement is shown on the following web site: San Diego Ship Modelers Guild.

I used a length of 0.75mm black thread for the simulated shroud line which was seized to a 5mm deadeye. I then attempted to replicate the shroud seizing, using 0.1 mm natural thread. On my first attempt I was not totally happy with how they looked. I also think I need to use a slightly thinner thread so I have ordered some fine Gutterman sewing thread which I will try when it arrives in a few days time.

On my second attempt I was much happier with how the seizing looked and I also seized the top of the free shroud end, using grey fly tying thread. However I didn't get the spacing between the two seizing's right as I added downward loops instead of upward loops on the second seizing. I think I now have a workable method for replicating the seizing's.

 

Each seizing currently comprises 5 loops but I may need to add one or two more when using thinner thread. It does take more time and effort to implement but I think the end result is much more pleasing to the eye. I will try a few more times once the Gutterman fine thread arrives to try and perfect the method and spacing. Of course this could become a nightmare to implement when I try to replicate this method on an actual model.