Shenandoah 1864 by SGraham - FINISHED - Corel - Scale 1:50 - American Civil War-era Cutter

[SGraham]

Thanks Nils. I appreciate you stopping by. I agree; I love the lines on the old cutters.

 

Thanks for the kind words, Bob. I just took a look at Lettie G. Howard. Beautiful craft, and clean workmanship. Maybe I shouldn't have looked. I've got a set of plans for the Elsie (I've had them since the '80s). I also just picked up Chappelle's American Fishing Schooners. It's got some detailed sketches of Elsie's equipment. Looking at your log got me to thinking I might like to scratch build her. I have a feeling that if I do, I might be starting down a very slippery slope. Besides that, I have a couple of very nice kits awaiting my attention. But building from scratch looks like a lot of fun...

 

Steve

[SGraham]

I promise not to show a picture of every scupper I cut, but I thought someone might want to see how I'm going about it. I'm drilling a pair of holes from the inside of the bulwarks out, with a block of wood backing the drill hole to prevent tearout. Then I'm carefully moving the bit sideways to merge the two holes. Next, I work with the ground-down flat file from the outside of the bulwarks in.  The edges of the holes need some straightening out. I've got a small triangular file that I think I'll be able to do that with, but first I'm going to get everything rough cut. These six scuppers took me about twelve minutes. At this rate, I should be done with scupper cutting somewhere around Easter---2015.

 

[Bindy]

I promise not to show a picture of every scupper I cut, but I thought someone might want to see how I'm going about it..

Pick me! Pick me!

 

Thank you very much for showing how clearly you are doing these, I am soaking up every thing you do!

 

Your ship is coming along beautifully!

[src]

Steve,

Hello from a fellow So. Cal builder! I just discovered your build last night. Your walnut looks planking great.

I too have a love affair with older tools. The furniture shop I worked at in the 90's (right down the road from you in Irwindale) had some great stuff including a tenoner from the 20's and an old cast iron foot operated 10hp mortiser.

I will be watching and following along. You and Bindy both stay away from the fires! I was in Tujunga during the Station fore of 2008 (9?) Fascinatingly Frightening!

Sam 

[SGraham]

Hi Sam. Very nice to meet you. You're the first local boatbuilder I've met. I bet that old equipment was fun to use. I drive by the brewery in Irwindale every day on my way to work. That Enterprise of yours has some real pretty scarph joints around the transom. Very impressive. Your furniture making background shows. I'll be following your build as well. Thanks for stopping in.

 

Thanks for the kind words Bindy! Your Leudo is an inspiration.

 

Steve

[src]

Steve,

Thanks for the kind words, a furniture/cabinetry back ground helps a bit I suppose. I am still stumbling through though.

Would love to see more so cal builders here.

Sam

[SGraham]

Well, I've got the 38 scuppers on the starboard side rough cut in. They're sort of like snowflakes--no two are alike.

 

I made the big mistake of reading the thread on micro chisels in the tools section. Now I've got some Dockyard dogleg micro chisels on order. Here we go, a little further down the slippery slope. When they arrive, I'll clean up the edges of the scuppers inside and out.

 

I'm waiting until tomorrow to start on the port side.

[src]

Steve,

Those are pretty nice little chisels. Thats how it starts, first one, then a bit more, pretty soon your on a corner with a sign saying will work for tools!

The scuppers look pretty consistent in the pictures.

Sam

[jct]

Wow Steve that's a lot of scuppers, does make for an interesting look though. Do you have a way to construct a template to assist with the sizing?  It's been my experience that they have a tendency to grow and grow and grow as you take a little here and a little there, after a while scuppers look like gun ports!  She is looking good though, your attention to detail shows.

J

[dgbot]

Patience, patience patience. well done

David B

[SGraham]

Thanks Sam, J, and David. Patience is the word. If the scuppers do grow into gunports, she'll be a one-deck, 60-foot-long 76-gun terror of the seas.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Well, tonight I cut all 38 of the port side scuppers. Until the micro chisels arrive, I'll call it good enough with the scupper work. Tomorrow I'm going to begin the planking process, starting with the garboard. Cover me--I'm going in.

 

Steve

[@macbride]

Steve,

 

Looking great!! Love the scuppers!!! Hope I can pull them off too!

 

Andy

[Senior ole salt]

You're going great and I admire your diligence in posting your progress. 

 

S.os

[SGraham]

Thanks Andy, and thanks, S.os., for dropping in. I appreciate the words of encouragement. This boatbuilding can get downright engrossing.

 

My cherry-wood handled Dockyard dogleg micro chisels came today, a mere two days after placing my order. I thought I'd mention that I got them from MDI Woodcarvers Supply. They sell the group of four chisels for $37.75. It's the cheapest price I could find. I'm going to go try them out on some scupper anomalies.

[jct]

Nice tools, that's seems to be half the fun of model ship building...cause he who dies with the most tools WINS!!

[src]

Steve, I think you will find you'll like those chisels. Especially after a good honing, they dont hold a edge like a good set of two cherries, but for $8.00 a piece you cant complain. (At least I couldnt)

It got kinda wet and muddy in your neighborhood today, I saw the news copters hovering in that direction, is all well in your world? You didnt have to jump on your build and sail it away on Noah's mud slide did you?

Sam

[dgbot]

Dockyard chisels are the cats meow.  However they can be difficulr to keep sparp.

David B

[SGraham]

Thanks for the comments, J, Sam, and David. I intend to find out just how well those chisels hold an edge. So far, pretty nice, but I'm only taking miniscule slices off relatively soft wood.

 

Yes, it got real wet and muddy today here today. I hear they evacuated 1,000 homes in Glendora and Azusa. I haven't seen it rain like that in years. Nothing like January 1969, of course, when Mt. Baldy nearby got 50 inches in 9 days.

 

Steve

[Bindy]

Stay dry, safe and well Steve!

[SGraham]

Thanks Bindy! Somehow, the bare hills in the burn areas that hang right over the town stayed pretty much intact throughout the storm. There's a lot of mud in the streets right at the foot of the hills, but that's about it so far. God is good.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

I did an image search on trading cutters and came up with these. The paintings are by John Ward of Hull. The photo of the old hull at the bottom is of the Kate, a trading cutter launched in 1884. If you can zoom in, there are some nice details, including how the wales fair into the stem. These might be helpful for anyone building the kit.

[SGraham]

All right, I'm done with the scuppers: tall, short, long, square, trapezoidal, oval, straight, tilted, amorphous blobs, I'm done with them. They are what they are. Now it's finally time for the garboard. I'm heading out to the saw to cut a couple of basswood planks. Thanks for keeping me company during the long, tedious scupper cutting process.

Edited March 5, 2014 by SGraham

[@macbride]

You are on your way to a beautiful ship!!!!

 

Can't wait to see your hull plank design! Show me the way, man!

 

Andy

Edited March 5, 2014 by @macbride

[jct]

The scuppers look good...not a gun port among them!

[dgbot]

A lot of tedious repetative work. But the end result is worth it. Well done.

David B

[SGraham]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm off to buy some art tape tomorrow and then hope to begin lining off the hull.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Welcome again to Steve's Glacial Progress Boat Works. I decided to add the transom stanchions and plank the outside of the transom before moving to the hull planking.

 

There was a question about how to handle the area below the outside-bottom edge of the transom. I beveled it with a file so that it would lie on the same plane as the filler pieces that sit forward of the edge. This way, planking should travel across the filler pieces and attach to the bottom edge of the transom smoothly. I tried to add some pics showing the bevel.

 

Also, I learned from reading other logs on this site that the transom should be planked BEFORE planking the outsides of the bulwarks. Good thing to know. Oh well...next ship. I suppose it doesn't matter much on this one since there will be a piece of trim hiding the joint. I'm going to add treenails to the upper sides and transom when the hull is all planked up. The filler on the stanchions should be dry by now. Off to sand and paint. Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[jct]

Hey Steve,

Paint work and the transom look good

[jct]

I don't think your progress is all that bad...taken your time beats re-dos!!

J