US Brig Oneida 1809 by rlb - The Lumberyard - 1:48 scale - POF - Lake Ontario Warship

[src]

Ron, always a treat to drop in and see something new, and well done. 

I was going to ask the same question as Robert, thanks for explaining. I have enough challenges with the Enterprise to last me another year, but I am really tempted to add another..... is there a cure to this kind of masochism?

Sam

[shipmodel]

Ron -

 

You do all that great work without a table saw?  My hat is definitely off to you.  I could not function without my Preac.

 

Dan

[rlb]

Sam,

Thanks.  It seems there is no cure, one can only surrender to the dark side.

 

Dan--someday I'd like to buy one.  For the time being I get some satisfaction realizing I can make do without it.  The one thing so far, that I'm not sure I can do without a table saw, or proper milling machine, is hatch gratings.  Mine are not quite to scale.  Underhill has a "hand" method that I will probably try if I can't live with my gratings as they are.  If that fails, well then, I'll have to get a saw!

 

Ron

[rlb]

A couple of shots of the plug on deck--just to see how the boat will fit in--

 

 

 

 

In between sessions of shaping the plug, I worked on the hawse holes' inner bolster or chock.

 

I cut away a portion of the waterway, because I wasn't confident that the bolster pieces would fit well on top of the waterway, and under the hawse holes--

 

 

 

Here are the two rough pieces in place--

 

 

 

They are complicated to shape.  They are angled at the deck, a compound angle at the stem, a curve has to be sanded into them (I opted not to try and steam bend them), and the hollows have to align with the hawse holes.

 

Here the starboard piece is about halfway through shaping--

 

 

And here both are done--

 

 

 

I was not happy to see the gap at the stem.  It surprised me because the rough pieces fit well.  The gap developed as I sanded the bulwark curve into the bolster pieces, and as they "sat back" into the bulwark curve, it was just enough to cause that gap--I never touched the stem angle, or the aft ends.  The gap will be hidden by the bowsprit, but I may put a little sawdust paste in there anyway. 

 

Ron

Edited April 14, 2014 by rlb

[j21896]

Thanks for that explanation Ron.  Man, that boat looks great on deck!

 

Robert

[Remcohe]

I do plan on planking over the plug first, without frames.  Then taking the shell off, and inserting the frames afterwards.  The purpose of notching the plug for the frames would be so that I can use the plug for bending and "setting" the frames, before transferring them to the planked shell.

 

 

 

That will work just fine is my experience. There is also a risk involved if you install the frames on the plug, Davids tutorial also showed this. You're in for a fun side project!

 

Remco

Edited December 15, 2013 by Remco

[rlb]

Thanks, Remco.   I remember your cutter--beautiful! 

 

I also remember thinking, wow that's a lot of work for just a ship's boat--and here I am attempting it!

 

Ron

[michael mott]

Ron, your work on the plug is very fine work indeed, as it the rest of the model. I am with Dan on that you accomplish all this fine modelwork without a table saw is a testament to your skill.  Frankly I would be like a fish out of water without my tablesaw.

 

I will be following along now and eagerly await your next installment on the cutter.

 

Michael

[rlb]

Building the cutter backbone

 

All models begin with one piece--

 

 

 

That stem piece took four tries, and I still had a pretty ragged looking rabbet.   The keel piece took three tries before I accepted the less than perfect rabbet.   Here are the seven pieces of the cutter backbone--

 

 

 

Once I had those, I could start to cut the notches into the plug for the stem and stern.   Here you can see work beginning on the plug, and the backbone dry fit together--

 

 

 

I glued the stem and the apron together, and used it to test the carving out of the plug--

 

 

 

After gluing the sternson knee pieces to the keel, I could test fit the stern notch, and see how well the keel fit.  The keel matched my hull drawing, but you can see there was some more work to do on the plug to close the gap between the keel and stem--

 

 

 

I worked on the notches, and fine tuned the plug shape at the bow and stern, until the keel fit together on the plug--

 

 

 

I could now glue the transom and sternpost to the keel--

 

 

 

Fitting the completed backbone into the plug and evaluating the result--

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I noticed was that the stem apron needed a bearding line cut into it.  The lighter crescent of wood in this shot shows where I chiseled a bevel in the apron--

 

 

 

And the resulting transition from the plug, across the apron into the rabbet--

 

 

 

Look ma no hands!!   The backbone balances--

 

 

 

This shot give a little better idea of the scale.  The cutter is not tiny, but it's not that big either--

 

 

Now I have to decide if I want to plank this in Swiss Pear, which I have on hand (though I have to thin it down from about 5/64ths [i had mistakenly typed 5/16th originally] to 1/32 or less.), or order some boxwood or holly, which I could get in the necessary thickness, but it means a long wait.   I'm leaning toward the pear, and make the gunwale and washboard black, for some contrast, along with some nice boxwood oars.  Have to think about this. 

 

 

Ron

Edited April 14, 2014 by rlb

[michael mott]

 

(though I have to thin it down from about 5/16ths to 1/32 or less.),

Ron that is a large amount of thinning! I am curious as to your method for this, which saw you will use.

 

Michael

[russ]

Beautiful work on the backbone. Making that rabbet must have caused a few anxious moments.

 

Russ

[rlb]

Thanks, Russ.   In hindsight I wish I had tried a razor blade scraper for the rabbet, though I have had trouble with those as well, especially across grain or on a sharp curve. 

 

MIchael, thanks for your earlier post, and regarding thinning the wood: Good catch, I meant 5/64 rather than 5/16.   Even I wouldn't try that by hand!   I've done a bunch of thinning from the 5/64" x 1/4" and 5/64" x 1/2"  stock I have, just scrubbing it on sandpaper.  Time consuming, but it works.

 

Ron

Edited December 15, 2013 by rlb

[Martin W]

Fine work, Ron.  Your builds show up the beauty of the wood very nicely, and that is accentuated by your craftsmanship. 

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

 

Oh, and by the way, my copy of Chapelle's History of American Sailing Ships is from Bonanza Books and is dated 1935.  It has 400 pages.  It's not listed as a First Edition, so certainly there were others before.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Martin W

[Small Stuff]

Oh yes you're right, Ron: >>my woodworking skills have developed from none to "making good progress".<<

[rlb]

Thanks, Martin and Stan!

 

Ron

[Elmer Cornish]

Im speechless Ron!  beautifull work on the long boat!  Looks like the lumberyard took payment. I figure my Oneida should arrive soon, I cant wait!  honest Ron, im gona bug ya for tips .  you can be my sensei! while I train in Oneida style .

[themadchemist]

Congrats Elmer, Rons work has also made me consider the LumberYards Oneida kit.

 

Having watched Ron's methods of extreme hand work, I have a sneaking feeling his first lesson will be like the karate kids mentor with a twist...

Sand on, Sand off

 

I've never seen any builder use so little and achieve so much. Ron proves with patience and sanding anything is achievable.

[rlb]

Thanks, Elmer!  You should be getting a nice holiday present!   I hope you enjoy it and I'll help you if I can.   Keith is right, in my dojo you must become one with the sandpaper.

 

Keith, you've got the patience and sanding part right, but you give me too much credit when you say "never seen any builder", etc.   I'm still very much an apprentice--not nearly a master--in the hand work department.  Think more of Russ, John (Jim Lad), others here as well without a doubt,  and Underhill before them.  But thank you very much for the kind words!

 

Keith's comment tempted me to post a photo of a completely tricked out workshop (like Gaetan Bordeleau's), and pretend to "fess up" to having actually built my model using fancy power tools.

 

But this really is my "shop"--

 

 

 

Most cutting and power sanding I do in the foreground room; most hand sanding, soldering, and work on the actual hull, or deck, I do on the round table where I have more room and better light--

 

 

 

I do have a good rotary tool, with the stand and x-y table, with which I've done some very basic milling, and a lot of "drum" sanding, including this setup I made yesterday, so that I can thin down some planking strips--

 

 

 

Seems very wasteful to sand away all that precious wood. But I don't need very many planks for the cutter. These are now 1/32", though they still need to be sanded smooth--

 

 

 

Ron

Edited April 14, 2014 by rlb

[michael mott]

Ron the more I see of these small sanding tools and drums and the jigs set up to prepare the wood the more I am impressed by the thought and ingenuity that goes into them. making simple tools and jigs requires a good foundational knowledge of what one is doing. I like yours I shall make one for myself. working with the wood flat seems to be better somehow than vertical.

 

Michael

[rlb]

Thanks, Michael.   When I see the tooling, cutting and milling setups, that you and others use, I am impressed.  Often I don't have the patience to spend the time thinking about, and putting together these kinds of jigs, I often just muddle along by hand with sandpaper and files, and I'm sure, spend more time than I need to that way.  But once in a while a better way will occur to me.

 

Ron

[rlb]

Planking the cutter

 

I finally was able to spend some time working on the cutter, and it is slow progress indeed.  With clinker planking, there are more steps in the process, and less room for error, because the whole thing can't be sanded smooth afterwards.

 

First I bend a strip of planking--

 

 

 

Then work with flat sandpaper as well as a sanding block and files to adjust the shape of the plank--

 

 

Many dry fit tests.  This plank is fitting okay, but still has some fine tuning needed at the stem.   I have drawn the approximate lay of each planking strake on one side of the plug--

 

 

When the piece gets filed and sanded to acceptable shape (I am incapable of perfection!), it's glued to the keel--

 

 

 

Repeat for three more planks, and the garboard, port and starboard, is complete--

 

 

 

 

In the fitting of the next strake, the garboard strakes are cut back in places, filed, and adjusted to help the fitting of the next strake-

 

 

 

I'm very curious to see how this will turn out!

 

 

Ron

Edited April 14, 2014 by rlb

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up, Ron - that's looking very nice indeed.

 

John

[Remcohe]

Looks great Ron. I hope your planks are wide enough to accommodate some pretty wacky shapes you need to cut. 

 

Remco

[pete48]

Hello Ron, This has been one of the most impressive build logs that I have seen , I feel like I could build the boat from your log, Hats Off Well done

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[rlb]

Thanks, everyone.

 

Yes, Remco.  I have yet to find out, but I'm mindful that I may need to switch to some wider stock to cut some of the planks.   The few I have done so far have just fit within the pieces that I am able to sand down with my mini "thickness sander".   The wider stock (1/2" wide x 5/64" thick) I may have to thin down by hand.

 

This cutter is much narrower than the one shown in David's tutorial, so the amount of sideways curvature in the planks should be less than those on that cutter.   We shall see.  If I need to cut planks in wider than my 1/2" stock, I'll really be "sunk".

 

Ron       

Edited December 22, 2013 by rlb

[shipmodel]

Hi Ron -

 

As Remco says, you have to start with some pretty wide stock to get the proper spiled shape for the final planks.   And with clinker planking you don't have the freedom to make adjustments the way you do with carvel hulls.

 

I found it incredibly useful when I was building the hull of the Thames River Skiff to cut each plank shape out of cardstock before committing to wood.  I generated a lot of scraps, but learned where the difficulties were going to be and what wierd shapes I needed to get a fair hull with even and consistent reveals from plank to plank.

 

Best holiday wishes to you and yours.

 

Dan

[themadchemist]

I'm really looking forward to seeing the clinker planking. It's on my list of goals to one day be able to achieve satisfactorily. One would think it would be easier as planks tend to clinker anyway unless spiled correctly, but sanding can remedy uneven carvel planking, but not so on clinker planking.

 

Keep up the excellent work.

[rlb]

Keith,

I can now say from experience, clinker planking is not easier.

 

 

Dan,

Thank you for the advice.  So far, the shapes are not too wacky or weird.  I do start by laying a piece of card at the next plank location, and they have looked simple enough--not too much curvature--so I've just gone ahead and directly shaped the wood piece. 

 

 

It is slow going.   Shaping and fitting the planks takes a while.  Keeping the glue mess to a minimum is also much more important here than with carvel planking.  I've been striving to keep the exterior free of errant patches of glue.  The interior is not as clean, and will need some clean-up work; fortunately most of it will be covered over by various details.

 

Three strakes out of eight done.  This third strake is the only one that will contain three planks, and the middle plank here ended up being a problem.  It isn't quite "full" enough after gluing (it sits a little too flat on the plug), but I think I can compensate for this on the next planking.  Here's the current status--

 

 

 

 

And that's it until after Christmas.   I wish everyone happy holidays, wherever you are.  I'll be checking in, but no new modeling for a few days.

 

 

Ron

Edited April 14, 2014 by rlb

[Sailor1234567890]

When building clinker planked models, how are they fastened? rivets as in real size or glue? Another way?

[michael mott]

Very nice Ron.

 

Michael