Belaying Pins

[allanyed]

Some folks find making trennals or blocks tedious. I don't like belaying pins. If made of wood and to scale they are hard to make and weak, even using a good strong wood such as boxwood. Turning them from metal is difficult, even with a mini lather. Store bought are invariably not to scale, or if made of metal and to scale, pretty expensive.

 

I came up with an idea some of you may like to try. This has probably been done before, but I had not seen it and so far I am not unhappy with the results for making these for my current schooner project.

 

You will need the following:

Small drill press or Dremel that can be held in a clamping device

Brass tubing

Brass rod that is the same diameter as the tube inside diameter

Jeweler files

Silver solder

Pickling solution

Oxidizing agent

 

Chuck a short piece of tubing in the press or in the Dremel type drill.

Shape the handle with the jeweler files

Cut off the handle for the tube and make another and another.......

Cut the rod so it goes the entire length into the tube and extends out the proper length

Place a tiny tab of silver solder paste into the tube

Insert the rod into the tube

Heat the piece until the solder melts

Clean in a pickling solution for 5 or 10 minutes until it is clean

Oxidize with Blacken It or other agent. I use a diluted solution (about 6 or 8 to 1) Keep it in until it turns a brownish color to simulate wood, or if your vessel has iron pins, keep it in until black.

 

Hope this helps others that are not happy with other methods.  Sorry the pics are not in the proper order

[dgbot]

Nicely done.

David B

[maso]

Very impressive. Another idea for me to "steal" for my build.

 

Dave

[Guillermo Madico]

Good idea.  Have you try to do the cutting and welding first and them turning them with the file?

[allanyed]

Guillermo

Yes I did try to preweld and then file the handle shape.  The heat needed for silver soldering softens the brass so it is too weak when chucked in the drill and bends as soon any pressure is applied. 

Allan

[dafi]

In this scale one could also try the method described by Reed: a short bit of wire and some white glue.

 

 

As I cut of the ones provided on my build, I had to do some new ones in 1:100 ...

 

 

... some wire, put in a stand, some white glue to form a drop on the top and some paint spilt over it. All exactly 4 mm long, just standing a little bit messy in the stand.

 

 

Things got stuck together - pins with rail and pins-rail-mast together with trial poop deck ...

 

 

Worked very well, if the wire is not too soft, also quite stabele to rig.

 

Daniel

Edited March 14, 2013 by dafi

[Geoff Matson]

Daniel

 

I like the way you use a scale figure to show proprotions and size on the model. What a great idea. I plan on doing most of my models in the future in 1/48 scale and will be using a scale figure to check things out.