Edge-set deck planking

[Hakai43]

I've been reading the discussion of edge-setting hull planking, including the excellent Bristol Shipyard videos. It's apparent that some edge-setting is acceptable, as opposed to spiled planks from wider stock and associated waste.

 

I'm particularly interested in deck planking for my Endeavour model, following KH Marquardt's drawing of the lower deck at the stern, shown here. It would seem that all this curvature would be edge-set rather than spiled. (With the obvious exception of the edge waterways.) Do you agree?

Edited 21 hours ago by Hakai43
Clarification

[Gregory]

Not sure what you are calling edge setting.

 

Haven't heard the term before.

 

Your drawing looks like accepted practice.

[druxey]

Depending on the wood specie you intend to use, edge setting (bending) may be possible. Some species are more amenable to this process than others.

[Hakai43]

I'm using cherry, and don't think edge-setting these fairly narrow planks will be a problem. What I'm really wondering about was whether my example in full-size practice would have been edge set or spiled.

[Kenchington]

For full-size practice, the short answer is "neither".

 

I'm doubtful of Marquardt's drawing: Curving deck planks to match the shape of the topside is more of a yachting thing, for fancy designs with a king plank down the centreline of the deck. I'm not saying that it was never done. I'm just doubtful.

 

But if his version was to be produced in a ship, the planks could not be edge-bent in practice. Forcing such substantial pieces to bend in their wider dimension, without twisting along their length, might be possible but it would be a huge headache. Meanwhile, cutting planks from wide stock is not only massively wasteful, it also leaves a lot of cross-grain and hence unacceptable weakness in the hull of a real vessel (as distinct from a static model). That's OK in small lapstrake boats but not in shipbuilding.

 

Of course, the shipwright would spile, in the sense of measuring and laying off the curved shape required. He would then look through his pile of sawn plank for a piece with "sny" (a grown curve in the plank and its grain) that roughly matched the required shape, and would make the piece he needed from that.

 

Trevor

[druxey]

Actually, curved deck planks were not uncommon, especially in the days before powered circular saw mills. Many contemporary models show such planking (nibbed planks only came into fashion the 19th century) as well as deck plans such as are seen in Steel and Rees. A quick web search shows a Spanish example from 1794:

 

However, these planks were most likely naturally curved from the trunks or branches from which they were cut, not edge set. This was a less wasteful method of timber conversion.

Edited 16 hours ago by druxey

[Kenchington]

I did carefully avoid suggesting that decks always had straight, parallel planking! And, come to that, also dodged the regional variations in shipbuilding practices. (Boudriot shows French ships with less-regular packing than most English representations, if I remember correctly.)

 

Your image nicely shows the poop planked with tapered pieces, which in a real ship could have used the natural taper in tree trunks. The fo'c's'le planking has some curved planks but hardly like the Marquardt  drawing -- which I continue to find unlikely (though certainly not impossible).

 

Trevor

[Hakai43]

Thanks Trevor and Druxey - exactly what I was looking for. First, I should have questioned Marquardt's drawing as "gospel", since having noticed his mistake in this drawing in showing the transom of this deck as rounded, while his stern construction details require it to be square. 
 

This being originally a commercial vessel with the lowly mission of carrying coal, I would assume that the extra effort of artfully curved planking would be low priority especially on a lower deck. Hence I'll use straight tapered planks and stealers on it. 
 

I might ask your opinion again of Marquardt's planking plan when it comes time to do the quarterdeck.

[Kenchington]

Don't be too sure of the straightness or rounding of the stern at the level of a lower deck, unless you have drawn it out. I have never checked Endeavour specifically but you need to look closely at the 3D plans to get a good feel for the shape.

 

The stern may well be almost square (maybe with just a tasteful curve) high up but it must be sharp low down near the keel, otherwise there would not be a clean flow over the rudder and the vessel could not be steered. In the old days of "square tucks", the transition from square to sharp was abrupt. By the 18th Century and "round tucks", the change was more gradual. A deck could end where the hull was square, where it was sharp or somewhere in between, depending on its height above the keel.

 

Trevor

[druxey]

At the date of Endeavour, nibbed planks would not have been used. Less extreme curved planks with a hook where needed was the style at that date. Here is an example on a modern model of Resolution.

[Hakai43]

Yes that's pretty much what I was thinking of doing. Thank you. Good to see a model of Resolution. Bow looks the same except for the "beak" (heads?). Are there more shots of this model I could find?

[Hakai43]

Trevor - the reason I think it's square is that the stern at that level is composed of transom pieces (first pic) almost flat on the inside. The shot of the Fremantle replica under construction shows the same. The third pic shows how I'm framing the lower deck so far, with the flat transom.