Dark wood putty, rather than Tree Nails

[CLovehitch]

Has anyone used dark wood putty rather than tree nails for the decks?

Just a thought.

Thanks,

Nick

[Bob Cleek]

I'm sure someone has, but why would they want to? That would require drilling the holes, applying the putty, and then sanding the area and cleaning up. If one were so inclined, I'd suggest they use refinisher's crayons for the purpose. They "wipe on and wipe off," leaving the hole filled with a colored wax. No sanding necessary. See: https://www.amazon.com/Furniture-Repair-Crayon-Restore-Scratch/dp/B08FLZXKBZ/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=furniture+crayons&qid=1680053733&sr=8-7

 

If one wishes to indicate where the fasteners were placed in a deck or elsewhere, a technical pen can be used to draw dots of the desired diameter with indelible ink. ( India ink was used to good effect on many builders' models produced around the turn of the last century for indicating doors and windows and other details of deck furniture. Seal the raw wood with thin shellac before doing so to prevent the ink from soaking into the wood and spreading.)

 

If one is interested in an accurate portrayal rather than a "modeling convention," at scale viewing distances, trunnels are invisible and in most instances are basically the same color as the planking, not a dark contrasting color. (However, locust was commonly used for trunnels on the US Eastern Seaboard and it can be slightly darker that many planking species, but not so much that one would notice it, particularly on a weathered deck.) I really don't know why so many want to depict them, but they do. If it's done, though, the fasteners must be placed accurately where they would have been placed on the prototype. The biggest eyesore in this respect are highly visible deck and planking fasteners which are not accurately placed, especially where only one fastener is showing in a plank end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jaager]

3 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

especially where only one fastener is showing in a plank end.

An especially obnoxious convention is two dark trunnels at each plank end and only the ends and the ends being placed at the same beam for every other strake.

 

Using trunnels at all only makes sense if they are used as real mechanical fasteners.  Then, the Bamboo end grain stands out even when that is unwanted.

I think pulling enough Bamboo slivers for a deck or worse hull planking  thru a #70 - #72 final size kills brain cells or at least gives them lactic acid poisoning.

[allanyed]

4 hours ago, Jaager said:

Using trunnels at all only makes sense if they are used as real mechanical fasteners.  Then, the Bamboo end grain stands out even when that is unwanted.

I think pulling enough Bamboo slivers for a deck or worse hull planking  thru a #70 - #72 final size kills brain cells or at least gives them lactic acid poisoning

Hi Dean

I hope we can agree to disagree on the first part.  The below photo is my model of the Inflexible that was treenailed with bamboo.  There is contrast, but for me at least, I think it is relatively subtle.  The drill size in this case was #72 if I remember correctly.  

As to the second sentence, you may have solved my long standing question as to why my brain is not working so well anymore. 😁

Allan

[druxey]

Brilliant diagnosis, Dean and Allan! So that's why I mentate more slowly than thirty years ago. Thousands upon thousands of treenails....

[Jaager]

3 hours ago, allanyed said:

I hope we can agree to disagree on the first part.

Yes indeed.  It is not so much a disagreement as me using the wrong phrase.   I think 'not invisible' is more appropriate than 'stands out'.

There are many species of Bamboo, and some have darker end grain.  Some cooperate with a draw plate peeling and some fight you all the way.

The vision in my mind is of the photos of a contemporary model at NMM that has obvious and over scale hull planking trunnels.  I have outwitted myself in where I filed my copies, so I can't name it, because I can't find them.  I think it was the model of HMS Centurion that Siggi is using as a reference for his HMS Tiger.   I have a feeling that something other than Bamboo was used in the 17th and 18th centuries in English ship model shops.  Chinese food, woks, and fondue was probably not that big a thing back then.

 

Your Inflexible is about as ideal as it gets.   For the diameter to match scale, I am guessing 1:48?  

I picked 1:60 across the board, thinking that one half the size of museum scale would be something that I can live with.  Going 1:120 would have been more practical, but I am not wired to build at miniature scale.

 

[allanyed]

Yes, 1:48.    The bamboo I use is always large skewers.  The color has, fortunately, not varied much if at all .   It splits and draws very nicely.  For size I think most agree with you that undersized is preferable to over sized.

 Allan