Charles W Morgan Whaleboat by Salty Sea Dog - Artesania Latina - Scale 1:25 - POF - first wooden boat build - SMALL

[russ]

Buck:

This usually works well for me.

 

Russ

 

 I need to sit down with a little white dog in my lap and think peaceful thoughts about mountain streams. 

[augie]

Here, I just go over to a mountain stream

[themadchemist]

I know what you mean Buck and Russ, but this is the crap I have to put up with.

 

This is Rueben. He's our Vizla/bassett mix from the humane society, all 75 pounds of him. When he lays on your lap, You know it. He thinks the pool is his.

 

Maggie our Terrier mix is a better lap size. Here's a pic of our paradise, the Hammock.

 

[themadchemist]

Oh yea, the wood.

thanks for the link.  I love that cocobolo that looks like your talking about, kinda like if ebony and mahogany got together and had offspring. That piece is beautiful, I was looking at a 1 1/2" sqaure by 3" piece of some red mallee burl that had heart and sap through the piece, man it was beautiful.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=31861&rrt=1

Wood is something our world of plastics have forgotten. I purchased a sample pkg of veneer from Lee Valley, it gets here tomorrow and I feel like a kid on christmas eve. 20 sq ft of mixed grab bag 5.5" to 7.5" x 12" pieces, so like 40 pieces. Hope it has some birds eye and burl. I was looking at there hide glue. Do you have any experience with that? but then I'd need a veneer hammer....

 

Maybe if I sold a kidney I could get that Byrnes, but I'd need the tilt table and all those other options. I've actually been looking as Garwards saw built.

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/82-montanes-by-garward-occre/page-33 I love the direct drive it has. Oh to have access to a machine shop. Turning threads on metal has that same effect that the gosimer lace off a japanese plane does, it hypnotizes.

 

@ Augie

We love to go to current river in MO, its a beautiful area to camp, canoe and tube down the river. There's just something about moving water that draws me...... 

[themadchemist]

Just looking at that Auction on ebay. Is the auction for choice or all 5 pieces. Its worded "This auction is for a Cocobolo rosewood fret/finger board blank." to me "a'' means one. It also has 5 available... That far left piece is my favorite. Amazing the graining colouration from side to side the first pic (top) has that orange/blonde streakyness which I'm not as fond of.

 

and the "Get ye behind me crazy thoughts! :D" come on go crazy, we're all dying to see it.

[Salty Sea Dog]

Keith- I think the eBay auction is for up to 5 fingerboards that he has available with each one selling for $24. You could send the seller a message and ask if you could buy the one on the left. I'm sure that would be no problem.

 

That looks like the life there with a nice hammock and the dogs! I was enjoying the indoor version of that tonight, although the dogs need a bath!

 

 

Augie- I grew up in Colorado Springs and met my wife while camping in the mountains by a stream!

 

[Salty Sea Dog]

8c) French polishing finish coats continued:

 

Hello again! Since the last post I used pumice to go for the matte finish look but decided what the heck, I'll do the full French polish and show some of the steps needed to do that. In order to get into the nooks and crannies along the keel better, a smaller pad was needed. This was made with a piece of muslin and chopped up sweat socks. The photos were taken doing a dry run so I wouldn't get shellac on the camera, but during the 'wet' run, shellac and alcohol were added before folding it up. On a new pad, I like to soak the socks with equal amounts of shellac and alcohol to sort of 'prime the pump'. Excess shellac can be blotted off on a sheet of clean paper atop newspaper or just quickly spread it over a large area of the project. Baby oil is used to keep the pad from sticking. For a pointy narrow pad to fit into corners, the muslin is folded in triangles and then folded inwards like a paper airplane. The 'tail' is twisted which puffs up the pad a bit and makes a smooth wrinkle-free contact patch (the tail was untwisting itself when I let go to take the picture). All the loose threads in the pictures were picked off the cloth and the edges were cleaned up a little before actually using this pad.
 

 

 

 

 

Pads can be stored in airtight jars with a drizzle of alcohol and can be reused for quite a long time. When the face of the pad begins to get rough, replace it. Next to the jar is what's known as a pounce bag. It is a cloth 'bag' containing fine 4F pumice. The muslin weave only lets very fine pumice through. If you need to fill pores (or in my case a small gap at a plank seam -see the last photo in part 8b, post#48 ), the ponce bag can be tapped against the area and padded over with circular motions to work the pumice into the gaps. The pumice is invisible in the shellac.
 

 

So here's the boat after 1 more padding session. This shiny look is starting to grow on me!
 

[themadchemist]

Hey Buck, Nice work.

 

I'm assuming that dry run picture where your working the keel is the matte finish? Even Matte it has a nice lustre.

By the way, was this (matte) done with 2f or 4f and was it with alcohol or oil or both. Just curious. Enquiring mind want to know.

[jarero]

Buck,

 

That last picture looks amazing!  Is it wet or dry in that picture?  I need to look into this french polishing you speak of.

[JPett]

Ahoy Buck

 

I am experimenting with the French polish method you describe here with excellent results. I had no clean socks  and used a paper towel, which seemed to work. I also found that I could polish with just the alcohol and baby oil on a piece of linen. I used this to find areas that need additional sanding as it dries rather quickly

 

I am having a problem with my shellac on the deck of my build. I am getting what I would describe as blisters. The wood has been laser cut including some of the fine details (lines representing planks) I have eight coats on the deck and am still filling these holes. I sand after each coat followed by a polish only to see I need another coat. They are slowly getting filled but I wonder if there is better method. I did not have this problem on the hull.

 

Thanks for posting. It has been very helpful.

 

 

Edited April 4, 2013 by JPett

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi Keith - That was the matte look in the dry run photos. I had actually done that using a soft damp paper towel (Viva brand!), 2F pumice and a light touch. It's sort of like wet sanding. A bit more luster could be acheived by following up with 4F pumice. No alcohol was used or consumed!  .....yet

 

Just popped back over from your Swift thread. The Gilmour house boat would be a very cool build!

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi Jared - The boat is "dry" in the picture but not fully cured. Shellac dries very quickly but takes a few days to harden enough not to scratch easily.

 

Hi JPett - It sounds as if your deck is a more porous wood than the hull. The pumice pounce bag can really help filling pores. I'm sending you a pm.  

[john46]

Buck, just read your log with great pleasure and must say that you made a wonderful built with such nice details. The modifications you made are really added value to the built. Perfect job.

 

Regards,

John

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi John! Thank you for stopping by and the kind words -they are much appreciated. Loved the picture of your dogs!

[Salty Sea Dog]

9) A little more progress:

 

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last update. I had been out of town for 1 week and it seemed to take 2 weeks to get caught back up with work and chores. I did get a little French polishing in and am about done with it, but I keep noticing little areas that need further touch-up. It has a pretty even coverage of finish now and a decent depth to the shine. I would not recommend French polishing on a hull with multiple whales and rubbing strakes because it is hard to get into the grooves. Something like a smooth hulled racing yacht would be a good candidate as long as it's not RC and will see water (water can cloud up the finish if left in contact too long).

 

 

I also made a roller for between the chocks. This was a result of hexnut's link to the 1:1 build back on pg 2 -thanks hexnut! The roller was made from the ball end of a guitar string with a thinned down toothpick for an axle. The harpoons are coming along now too and just need to have the lines and wrappings attached.

 

 

 

Best wishes til next time!

 

 

 

[themadchemist]

Is that marble you shot that picture on? the shot from above looks like its in water. I like the use of repurposed geetar parts. Looks good

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi Keith. In the pic that was shot from above (bottom pic), the greenish background is my Formica workbench countertop. It is a green marbled color. In the top pic, the boat is sitting on a Blue Pearl granite tile which looks like water too. I posted another pic of that in the General forum in the 'rock base' thread. Here's another one:

 

[john46]

Really nice Buck. Suppose you can now play guitar as well on the whale boat  . If i need among particals I will recall to visit not only the hobby store but pay attention to the music store as well.

 

Regards,

John

[augie]

Beautiful and unique.  I'm looking forward to the future!

[JPett]

Ahoy Buck

 

She looks great Your craftsmanship and attention to detail really make the difference.

 

PS: Your build has been very helpful to me, Thank you for taking the time to share it.

 

 

 

.

[bgarden]

Buck I cannot believe the beauty and depth in your finishes. Catching your posts from time to time is a pleasure. For me finishes are something that I have yet to gain the skill for but would love to learn. Thank you for posting your how-to's, they are great to file in the back of my mind for future projects.

 

Brian

[Salty Sea Dog]

Hi guys! Thanks for the really nice comments. JPett and Brian- I'm glad my posts on finishing offered some help. If you need more info about any of it, please feel free to ask. Brian, your red paintwork on the Niagara looks flawless! I might be asking you for help when I need to paint wood.

[bgarden]

If you want to know my secret to a flawless paint job, it is this, take any picture of your boat in dim light  .

 

Brian

[trippwj]

Buck - I can only echo what the others have said.  What a beauty!!!!

Edited May 1, 2013 by trippwj

[NAZGÛL]

Buck, you have great skills and the details your boat turned out fantastic. I cant wait to see you start the Wasa when the time comes! Thanks for the informative posts, they are very helpfull for us that are new to wood.

 

 

/Matti

[JPett]

 I cant wait to see you start the Wasa when the time comes!

 

/Matti

 

Ahoy Buck

 

Please reserve me a seat for this show, sounds like a good one

[augie]

Did somebody say Wasa??????  I must have missed that!

[Salty Sea Dog]

Thanks for the nice comments you guys! The Billings Wasa kit is a ways off for me still. I have a mental image of how I want it to look, but I know that I don't have the skill yet to pull it off. I think I'm getting closer for the woodwork, but I am hopeless with thread work. My next build will have rigging to help me aquire the skills that will be needed. 

 

Speaking of thread work...I'm struggling with tying the harpoon lines. The kit came with the light colored heavier line shown, and I'm using dark sewing thread for the wrappings (whippings?). I'm sure there must be a better and less time consuming way to go about this. Maybe Augie (who judging by his excellent rigging was a spider in a prior life) or anyone with experience can suggest the best way to go about this. Right now I am making a loop and tacking it down with diluted white glue at the wood/metal junction and letting it dry. Then I'm tacking down the dark thread with the excess running towards the point and letting it dry. Then I'm wrapping the dark thread, tacking it down and letting it dry and so on down the shaft where it will end in another loop. I think it's looking ok, but it's taking a long time. Is this how it should be done? Help!!

 

[augie]

Buck....I'm stuck here.  I can't visualize what you're trying to do.  Are you making 2 or 3 seperate lashings of black running back toward the handle?

 

If I look at the lower harpoon I see youve laid out the light color.  Then on the upper one you have a whipping of black that is, say, 6" wide full scale.  Are you trying to make more back up toward the end of the handle?

[NAZGÛL]

Buck, is there a pic of what you are replicating?

 

/Matti