Charlie Jones

let me add something here to Barry's excellent post. MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) and Styrene are both bad stuff, with the stryene being the BAD one. If you choose to use either, PLEASE do it somewhere were you have LOTS of ventilation (NOT inside an apartment) and wear gloves. Not thin wimpy ones either. Also - a organic mist rated respirator wouldn't be a bad idea either. I can't stress enough that these chemicals aren't something to play with unprotected.

Last one- from the stern [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

and then it all turned grey First coat of primer applied. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Then the holes were bored for the keel bolts, the bolts inserted thourgh the floors and the holes in the keel plugged with dowels made from the offcuts of the heartpine keel timber. That's a 16 inch long auger and a 16 inch extension- sometimes ya gotta have a long reach [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

then the keel is epoxied to the deadwood- again - in the clamps [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

Deadwood being epoxied to hull- In the clamps [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

First one is of the deadwood being final planed to fit hull. There's a long curve on the hull side and it needs to be straight on the keel side. The dead wood is built up from several pieces front and rear and is two longer sections scarfed together to get the length needed. [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

LOL- I build wooden boats and have three plastic and one tin boat sitting out in my side yard (not to mention the three boats that live under the house) The 21 foot sloop we sail mostly is a fiberglass boat and we're looking at a larger one right now. They're all boats- and there's nothing, absolutely nothing better than........... Congrats on your purchase- now come visit at the TSBB. There's many small boat sailors there. Be prepared- it's a busy busy place. http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/trailersailor/index.cgi

Sadly, it's pretty much the same all over Mike. We're in battles here to keep houses from being built ( gated community and resort) on one of the last open sections of beach on Galveston Island (in direct violation of the Texas Open Beaches act, I might add).. Several places further south have now got houses sitting on public beach and dunes- they're talking of "moving the line" so they won't have to be condemmed. At least we've got Matagorda Island. It's now a state park and federal wildlife management area. Part of the area where the Whooping Cranes winter. THAT"LL stop encroaching civilization thanks goodness. No cars on the island except for park service vehicles. Strictly primitive camping on beach and bay side. Seems like every where money talks and the rest of us get screwed. One day people will learn (MAYBE) that money isn't every thing- we DO need those wild areas, if for nothing else than to protect the interior parts. Probably won't happen in my lifetime

Good to hear from you Mike. Those pics are terrible. We're so fortunate to have not had the flooding during Claudette. That made your nasty lady SO much worse. On the Salvation Army- They were in here by the next morning serving breakfasts, and stayed putting out 3 meals a day until the power was back on and people quit needing them. Laura and I ate with them once when we were just exhausted from clean up. The Red Cross put out on the TV that they were down helping, but strangely we NEVER saw a truck from them until 4 days later after an officer at our fire station called them a liar for saying they were doing things they weren't- the next day they showed up. They had been claiming to have brought cots and blankets, but none ever arrived. Salvation Army gets OUR donations from here on in for sure.

Here's links to several websites with instructions and info on making oars. http://www.instantboats.com/oarmaking.htm http://marina.fortunecity.com/breakwater/274/2001/0215/index.htm#ROWING%202001B http://www.bateau.com/free/simple_oars.html

couple of points here. First - there is no Bondo in my shop. Never has been, never will be. When I'm working with Polyester resins (yes I repair glass boats sometimes) I use the same fillers as needed that I use with epoxy- i.e. Silica (cabosil) Secondly, don't fill or fair with cabosil as an additive, unless you are really into hard sanding There are much better things to use to fair with. Cabosil makes an extremely hard surface and unless you sand really soon after the stuff cures, you'll work really hard. I use cabosil sparingly in filling and filleting mixes to smooth the mix. Wood flour or microspheres (or WEST's low density stuff) do the job as well and are much easier to sand afterwards. Reserve the heavy cabosil mixes for where you really need a strong filler.

Yeah- a solid one should take a lot less time I guess. I was playing with birds mouth when I did that. From my notes I find that it took me 3 working hours to build the bowsprit, from the time I picked up the wood to cut it to length to the time I had it rounded and sanded smooth. I don't think that included boring the holes in the ends with a forstner bit and glueing in the dowel plugs and spacer where the sprit is bolted to the boat. Eight siding would be a traditional look also by the way. I'm planning to further explore the Birds-mouth technique when I have some extra time. There are many possibilities there, including oar and paddle shafts, etc. It's even relatively easy to do a double taper.

round should do just fine- this one is a hollow birds mouth glue up [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]

agree on the Interthane. I've used Brightsides on four boats now and I'm sorry I met the stuff. Unless I sprayed it, it didn't cover well and I've found it to be very easy to scratch and mar. I don't understand why it's so popular. I have Pettit's Easypoxy on my dinghy and it's a pretty good paint, but not as durable as the Interthane.

Now that's fascinating Off topic or not, thanks for the pics.

The Princess tabernacles are offset slightly so the masts fold past each other. The companionway is slightly offset to allow entry into the cabin when the masts are down. Changing the style of a cabin top is not that difficult, as long as the basic stength requirements are maintained.

EXACTLY!! We really don't "own" those old tools. We're just the next in line to be priviledged to use them. I often wonder what the previous user was like, what he built, where the tool had been. I have a couple of "transition" planes. Metal works and a wooden sole. Those are probably my favorites. One or two have initials cut into them some place. To bad they can't talk isn't it. What stories some of them could tell. Frank-- that plane is most likely a #45 or 55. Go to the link I posted- there is a guy who has a Stanley history- pics and descriptions of all the planes Stanley ever made.

here's a link to a section of the Neanderthal Woodworker- folks who use and work with hand tools. http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~alf/en/en.html There's all kinds of tutorials in there from sharpening scrapers to how to identify a plane. What kind of plane are you looking for? I pick mine up in strange places sometimes. Got a really nice Bailey #7 (22 inch jointer) from under a customers trailer- she gave it to me all rusted up. Works great after I cleaned and sharpened it. I"ve found some at tool shows and one or two at antique shops. Also haunt garage sales particularly those out away from town. Be prepared to clean them up, but the older planes seem to just be better than the new ones sold today. I've picked up a lot of chisels that way too, over the years. If you see a Keen-Kutter name, it's no good - just buy it and ship it down here- I'll dispose of it for you You can really get away with just three. A good #9 1/2 block plane, a #4 bench or smoothing plane and a # 5 foreplane. The next one I'd add would be a #60 1/2 low angle block plane. Those are really good for end grain or "troubled" wood. Anything after that is really unnecessary unless you are working wood a lot. I use the big jointer when building table leaves cause I can get a great tight joint just as easily with it as I can with the jointer and it's so much quieter. Of course, if you get to be a plane junkie like me, you'll wind up with 20 or so and still be looking I find it really hard to pass one up, particularly if it's a type I don't have.

there really is no real limit. I have used as high as 8 or 9 inches. There is a practical limit however. There is a rule of thumb for fillets. The aim is to achieve the same strength as the wood you are joining, and no more. More is a waste of material and an unnecessary increase in weight. It is normally considered enough when the fillet thickness is equal to the thickness of the ply you are joining. For example, 1/4 ply needs a fillet that is 1/4 thick at the deepest. The reason for the fillet is first to seal the join and secondly to provide a smooth transition for the tape. Remember too- a really large fillet will need a wider tape to cover it, if you are glassing over it. Some don't get glassed over, so can be heavier. Hope this helps with your question

I hope you've put tools back into that box and are using it. I really don't like seeing a collection of quite useable tools just sitting on a shelf. I have a large number of very old tools, but they are all users. I have little use for ones I can't use. One of my most cherished tools is a small smoothing plane that belonged to my stepfather. It's a Dunlop from Sears, about equivalent to a Bailey #4, but smaller. Made in Germany. Since there was little imported from Germany immediately after WW2 and I remember him having it when Mother and he got married in 1950, I suspect he acquired it before WW2 started. It's still in it's original box, but it gets used on special jobs. I never take it out for just run of the mill work.

Barry- more years ago than I really like to think (1956) I was a member of a Sea Explorer ship that was sponsored by the Houston Yacht Club. Weren't many aluminum masts around back then (few fiberglass boats either ) I was watching an old (to me at 15) man work on a mast from one of the cruisers. He had this solid round stick about 40 feet long propped up on horses and was planing it after some kind of work. I can still see him walking the length of that mast, pulling a single long curl with that plane. I've been in love with planes ever since . I've got more planes than I have sanders, by about double. I'm a sucker for 'em

We're watching and hoping right with you guys. Was on the phone with John Harris at CLC yesterday and they're filling sandbags Hope you fare at least as well as we did, and hopefully better. Be careful.

Frank- there's a furniture builder in Victoria who specializes in using old wood. He travels all over the south buying and tearing down old buildings just for the lumber. Frequently he has some really beautiful stuff, like this. Builds some gorgeous furniture too. An example- here in Port Lavaca he dismanted an old house and found the walls were studded with full 4 x 4 heart cypress, mortice and tenoned into both the floor plate and the ceiling plate!!! At one time he had some 2 x 6 fir joists from another house that were full dimensioned and TWENTY EIGHT feet long, absolutely clear. I go there to buy lumber when I need a really special piece, such as this keel. Sure is beautiful stuff to work with

Here's a shot of the heart yellow pine timber I found for the lower section of the keel. The ballast will butt against this timber. The piece of pine came from a house built somewhere around 1900. I counted 118 rings across the end of the 4x4 (FULL 4 inches ) Piecing slices together I figured the tree was somewhere around 140 years old when it was cut. That means the tree started growing somewhere about the time (or before) of the American Revolution. Note the run of grain along the length of the 8 foot chunk! A real shame we can't find wood like this todady isn't it? [attachment over 4 years old deleted by admin]