Young America 1853 by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 243 – Main Topgallant Futtock Shrouds

 

In Part 231, a method for making the served eye splices for futtock shrouds was described.  For these shrouds, a different method – I believe a better one – was used.  The first picture shows two steps in the sequence used, in this case on the hooked upper ends of the shrouds.

 

 

I omitted thimbles on these smaller eyes.  A length of the 5" rope was first served.  In the splice on the left, the rope was threaded through the hook and clamped (not shown) to form the eye.   The eye was then clinched tightly with serving thread – an overhand knot and a clove hitch – leaving a long length of thread.  On the right, the short end has been clipped off and the serving unraveled back to the clinch as shown, to expose the bare rope.  In the next picture the rope end has been untwisted and the strands cut on a taper.

 

 

Glue was then applied to the bare and served rope over the length of the splice and the length of thread used to serve over the spliced area. I am using darkened wood glue on all these standing rigging knots and joints.  CA would produce a stronger joint, but I am trying to avoid its use.  The darkened Titebond has more than adequate strength with this joint design.  A finished splice is shown below.

 

 

By removing the serving over the short end, the joint is strengthened over the previous method where the serving was left on.  Tapering the strands improves the shape of the splice.  The method is also much faster because it eliminates glue-drying steps.

 

In the next picture one of the shrouds is being lashed to its eyebolt.

 

 

The lower eye, after measuring the shroud length, was formed as above but without the hook.  Handling during all these steps takes a toll on the metal blackening, so this will be touched up with LOS before finish is applied to the mast.  The next picture shows all four futtock shrouds installed.

 

 

As usual, the loose ends will be sliced off after the glue dries.  In the last picture the topmast has been set with a spot of glue on the aft face of the lower square, held in place with a wedge against the forward rim until the glue dries.

 

 

A permanent spacer will replace this wedge later.  Next, the topmast shrouds.

 

Ed

[davyboy]

Hi Ed,I just want to say how much I am enjoying following this build. Absolutely wonderful workmanship. I noticed in your close-up pic the futtock shroud hooks appear to be opened out somewhat. I had this problem using copper for hooks,I found that giving the hook a bit of a squeeze with a pair of smooth jawed pliers work hardened the copper somewhat. They then had less tendency to straighten. I can't remember where or when I read this but it worked for me even on 0.5 mm copper wire.

 

Regards,

 

Dave 

[EdT]

Thank you, Dave.  Yes, I leave the hooks slightly open so they are easy to slip into the deadeye straps, then give them a bit of a crimp with pliers after the shrouds are permanently fitted.  These are 26 gauge (.016", .4mm) wire.  I have had no problem with them opening up under tension.  The lower shroud hooks are 24 gauge (.02", .5mm).

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 244 – Main Topmast Shrouds

 

The first picture shows the served and parceled forward topmast shroud pairs placed over the masthead to allow the parceling glue to set.

 

 

The parceling is white tissue glued with plain PVA white glue.  Although this dries quite rubbery, letting it dry around the mast makes the eventual shaping and seizing easier.  In the next picture all six shrouds have been "tarred" with acrylic artist's paint, seized and pressed down into position.

 

 

The aft shrouds have a single eye, it was probably spliced, but I used a simpler/stronger seizing since these will be totally covered by stays and backstays.  Some excess seizing thread has yet to be sliced off.  The next picture shows the two backstay pairs served, parceled and placed over the masthead.

 

 

The backstays will be permanently fitted after the shrouds are installed.  That process is shown in the next few pictures.  In the first picture the upper deadeyes have been wired to a sheet of wood as was done previously to help in seizing them at a uniform height.

 

 

The first steps in making the throat seizing on the served forward shrouds is shown above.  The seizing thread was tied off to the standing leg then passed through the opening above the deadeye with the curved needle as shown – from left to right.  In the next picture, the thread was taken behind the standing leg and back through itself to form a single hitch as shown below.

 

 

This was then pulled tight and two more hitches added to produce the throat seizing.  In the next picture a frapping turn is being threaded to tighten the seizing.

 

 

A little "photoshopping" was done on the seizing turns to highlight the way the turns are placed.  The frapping turn was ended with a hitch.  After this, the short leg was pulled up next to the shroud and clamped to allow the round seizings to be added.  In the next picture the forward shroud has had the two round seizings added and has been wetted with diluted dark glue to seal the knots and the serving on the short end.

 

 

The second shroud has been clamped for seizing.  The last picture shows the six shrouds with their lanyards threaded

 

 

Lots of loose ends to be sliced off in this picture – the last step after letting the glue completely dry.  Next the backstays, then the doubled topmast stay down to the shackled eyes in the deck forward of the fore mast.

 

Ed

[Maury S]

Ed, Thanks for taking the time to show such detail.  It is a giant help to those of us trying to reach a higher level  of proficiency.

Maury

[BANYAN]

Great techniques Ed.  You have accomplished quite some detail with the parcelling and serving at such a scale - the result is excellent.

 

cheers

 

Pat 

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 245 – Main Topmast Stay

 

First some backtracking.  The first picture shows a sheer stave being lashed to the fore topmast shrouds. 

I initially omitted these but reconsidered after being prompted by a comment (Thanks, Scott) and checking through some sources.  This is a 1½" diameter wood stave as opposed to the served 1" iron poles on the lower shrouds. The excess ends and the loose lashing ends will be removed later.  This picture shows the starboard topmast backstays.  The next picture shows the 10½" backstays on both sides placed over the masthead.

 Before securing these at the channels below, I decided to install the 9" main topmast stay - for two reasons.  First, it will be easier to use the backstays with their lanyards for final tensioning rather than the forward stay that loops through shackled bullseyes on the deck.  Second, I have been anticipating a difficult task in fixing this stay at the lower end and wanted to get on with it.  In the next picture, the stay is looped over the masthead and being marked at the limits of the upper serving where the two legs will be seized.

 The lower ends of both legs of this stay are also served from abaft of the foremast, down through the bullseyes, and back up to the ends of the seized legs – as will be seen below.  The next picture shows one of the long lower legs being served.

The needle through the rope marls the end of the served length and will allow the thread to be pulled through the rope at that point to fix the end.  The next picture shows the lower ends being fastened to the shackled bullseyes.

Making these ends fast in the tight space was even more difficult than I expected, mainly because I did not allow sufficient diameter in the bullseye holes to easily pass the served line.  I spent almost an hour getting the port leg through the bullseye, including refitting the bullseye into the shackle several times.  The picture shows that side seized and the stay being pulled through the starboard bullseye.  After enlarging this bullseye hole at the start, this side took about a minute.  There is a moral to this story.

 

The next picture shows the completed lower end.  There are four seizings on each lower leg and simulated leathering in the area of the rubbing battens on the mast.

 Another concern I had about this arrangement was clearance between the four large, doubled lines and their fixings in the deck, as well as clearance around the mast.  This all worked out as planned - fortunately.  The next picture shows the upper end of the stay.

 

The next picture shows the full completed stay.

 

With this stay in place, belaying on the fore fife rails may proceed without having to thread these large lines through later, meaning that work can now begin on the yards of the foremast and their many running rigging lines.

 

But first, completion of the main topmast backstays that are temporarily clamped in the picture.

 

Ed

[JerseyCity Frankie]

Astonishingly beautiful rigging work, really amazing!

[wefalck]

I really like this sailor's (or rigger's) work, with all the splicing, serving and leathering. Makes me itchy to start a project with sails again ...

[druxey]

Beautifully executed, Ed. And the tale of two bullseyes....

[Dan Vadas]

5 hours ago, EdT said:

I spent almost an hour getting the port leg through the bullseye

Ah, but the feeling when it finally goes through is wonderful .

 

  Danny

[michael mott]

Ed the more that I look at the work you are doing the more I sit in awe.

In the last picture there is what appears to be an open double hook that looks a bit delicate, is this just a temporary one or does it actually look that way?

 

Michael

[EdT]

Thanks, everyone for the comments and likes.

 

I know about that hook, Micheal.  Sometimes photos show what you otherwise don't see.  Its on my list to be corrected.  These hooks are 26 gauge wire, but stand up pretty well to the tension on the lines - although they can be over-stressed and perhaps this one was.  Thanks for your eagle-eye.  Not a lot gets overlooked in these close-up photos - but that can be helpful.

 

Ed

[archjofo]

Hello Ed,

the overall view of the model with the masts is very impressive.

[EdT]

Thank you, Johann.  I am beginning to appreciate how tall this ship was.  There are two more masts to be added on both the fore and main masts  (and 3 on the mizzen).

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 246 – Main Topmast Backstays

 

The main topmast backstays are exactly like their foremast counterparts – two pairs of 10 ½" lines looped over the topmast head and secured to the channels with deadeyes by 5" lanyards.  The alligator clamp holding one of the 16" backstay deadeyes in the first picture was very useful when tying the throat seizing and in setting the deadeye height.

 

 

The throat seizing is being tied in the next picture.

 

 

The two round seizings above the throat were made with a series of clove hitches.  The easiest way that I have found to tie each hitch on these and on the ratline knots is shown below.

 

 

After tying an overhand knot one one leg of the stay the tweezers are placed through the loop in the line that is passed behind the stay. The tweezers are then used to grip the end and pull it through to form the hitch.  This process goes very fast and yields a tight seizing from the first hitch.  I am using three hitches on these. 

 

The threading up of the aft deadeye lanyard on this side is being completed in the next picture.

 

 

The first tensioning is started in the next picture.

 

 

The linen lanyards are pretty stiff, so pliers are used to grip each leg in turn, pulling up on the inboard legs and down on the outboard until all four stays have about equal tension and the forward stay is taut as well.  In the next picture the upper aft deadeye is being adjusted to make its face parallel with the stay.

 

 

This can be done by gripping all three of the outer lanyard legs and raising or lowering them until the deadeye faces are aligned. 

 

The next picture shows the four fairleads for these stays ready to be lashed on.

 

 

The lashing thread was first glued to the perimeter groove on the inboard side to make these easier to lash up.  The last picture shows the two starboard fairleads installed

 

 

The loose lashing ends will be trimmed later.  The lanyards will be wound around the stay later after a final tension adjustment in a week or so.

 

Ed

[Mahuna]

Great progress Ed.  Your posts are a great tutorial on rigging the model.  I believe the techniques you show can be used on any rig.

[BANYAN]

Ditto,  I have already gained so much from your Naiad books and this log; I look forward to my Christmas present (YA Vols 1 and 2) but, in particular, I am looking forward to the next volume on rigging.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[albert]

Great beautiful work Ed, very very nice.

[kees de mol]

beautifull rigging and verry clear instructions! Thank you

[usedtosail]

Great work as usual Ed. One question - you mention you are using clove hitches for the seizings. By what you show, it looks like those are half hitches, unless you are making each successive loop in opposite directions?

[EdT]

Thanks, again, everyone for all the comments and likes.  I realize some of the posts are becoming repetitive - a prime descriptor for rigging work - but I hope to have some new work to show soon.

 

Tom, I am no expert on knots, so your comment propelled me back to the experts, starting with Darcy Lever and coming forward to S.B. Luce and Biddlecomb.  Everything after Lever seems to be a copy of his descriptions - in which he and his successors describe a clove hitch as two half hitches.  Since I am making these seizings with three (and sometimes more) half hitches, the term clove hitch is technically incorrect.  I should probably describe these as three (or more) half hitches.  In all cases the rope is taken around in the same direction.   In any case this method of making seizings is a modeling convenience at this scale  that simulates actual seizing methods where a number of turns are taken then secured with perpendicular frapping turns between the larger ropes.

 

Ed

[usedtosail]

Thanks Ed. Yes, I guess a clove hitch is really two half hitches. I just never thought of it like that because when I use them for ratlines it seems more complicated for some reason. I used to do seizings with half hitches but now I use more of a wrapping with a loop at the top that I take the end through. I like this type because it will slide before being fixed, which in some cases is not always a good thing, but in others is very useful. Keep up the great work and especially the books, which are some of my favorite reads.

[EdT]

To be honest, Tom, I have a hard time visualizing it until actually doing it.  Thanks again for your comment.

 

Ed

[SJSoane]

Ed,

 

I have such a lot to catch up on with this build. You continue to educate us all, with your endlessly refining techniques, and thoughtful historical reconstruction.

 

Mark

[rwiederrich]

Ed...I have neglected my own Glory of the Seas and Great Republic builds in lieu of some major home remodeling, but watching you work so methodically and accurately on the YA encourages me to no end and in some small way gives me the endorphin high I get from engaging my own builds.  Awesome and amazing work on the YA.

 

Just beautiful.

 

Rob(Thanks)

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 247 – Lower Fore Yard 1

 

One of the nice things about this stage of the project is that many directions may be taken in the construction.  I could, and will, be ploughing on with the shrouds, stays, and ratlines on all three lower and top masts, but for my own sanity and for the interest of those following this log, other work is on the agenda.

 

One of these directions is the square yards for the masts now installed.  Apart from being different work, this will open up other areas, like the standing and running rigging for these yards.  But before yards can be fitted, they must be made.  A lot of work is involved.  The spars themselves are straightforward, but making the array of yard fittings – trusses, cheek blocks, cloverleaf sheet blocks, studdingsail ironwork, etc. - will be a major task, some of these parts will be "mass produced" and some fabricated one yard at a time.  Making and fitting out the 18 square yards is the largest of the remaining tasks to complete the model.

 

The lower fore yard was the first to be made.  In the first picture, the yard is shown with its structural ironwork – the bands that hold this "made" yard together – plus some bands that had to be fitted first, like the sling band, the truss bands and the fairlead bands that go between structural bands.

 

 

This yard and the main yard are "made" from two pieces joined by a long scarph.  The fore yard was 82' long and 22' in diameter at the center.  The main yard was slightly larger.  This size yard would most likely have been an assembly of two trees, perhaps more.  Both these yards will be made yards on the model.  The next picture shows two scarphed pieces before assembly.

 

 

These pieces were made wide enough to be used for both the fore and main yards.  After gluing up and squaring, they will be slit to form the squares for the two yards.  The next picture shows the scarf been milled in a plank wide enough to produce the two pieces shown above.

 

 

 

The angle of the scarph is only about 2.5 degrees.  The Sherline tilting table was used.  In the picture most of the surface has been milled.  To complete the work the clamp will be relocated to an already milled location.  The next picture shows the final milling step.

 

 

A 3/8" diameter end mill was used.  With the tilting table this is a simple milling task - once the correct lip depth has been set at both ends of the joint.  In the next picture the milled plank has been slit in two and is being glued together with dark glue.

 

 

In the next picture the glued-up piece is being planed to level and square one side.

 

 

This piece was then passed through the thickness sander to level both sides and reduce it to the size of the larger main yard.

 

 

This will then be slit and one piece further reduced to the size of the slightly smaller fore yard, which will then be shaped.

 

Ed

[mojofilter]

Hi Ed - looks to be a 4-fluke carbide end mill?  Regular metal cutting?  What RPM?  Doesn't appear you have any tear-out issues.  Remind me what kind of wood this is?

Thanks,

 

- Tim

Edited November 4, 2017 by mojofilter

[EdT]

Hi Tim,

 

Cutter is 4-fluke but I most likely HSS, I'd have to check, but HSS is fine for wood.  Speed is up at or near the top of the Sherline range - 2500 to 3000?  Wood is Castello.  

 

Ed

[druxey]

I don't recall seeing an actual scarphed 'made' yard modelled before, Ed. Nice detail!