Scribe-fitting Difficult Profiles

[BobSmalser]

Duplicating a curved profile using ticking sticks.

Ever have to scribe fit a kitchen cabinet to fit a wavy and out-of-plumb wall?  How about fitting a bulkhead or partition-wall panel into the inside hull of a yacht or ship?  Can you scribe fit a curve as high as 7 feet and as deep as 3 feet?  And in a space where nothing is square, little is plumb and level changes constantly with payload and wind?  Welcome to the world of interior ship joinery sans lasers and computers, and file away another handy but simple, old-time skill for when you may need it.

I took a half hour and got out some scaled-down panels, sticks and battens to answer a question on how to build bunkbeds into the inside curve of a yacht hull, and figured since I had the photos this may be useful to others.  Now there are plenty of  yachts sufficiently slab-sided for simple scribe fitting to work.  But not this one.  This one is a 180-ton ocean-going tug being converted to a family liveaboard.  The space in question is around 7 feet high with a bulge in the outside wall around three feet deep.  Time to get out some ticking sticks.

First some old-time jargon.  Woodworkers

[kydocfrog]

So that's how it works!!! What a clear, simple demo.

DocA

[ken connors]

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!

[Ken_Potts]

  Thanks Bob,

  It's good to see you're still filling heads with useful knowledge.

  I've used a similar technique but somehow I was hung up on assuring a 90 degree angle between the ticking stick and the board.  The method you've shown is a lot easier, much more flexible and, well, better.

  I'll never use a square again.  Okay, maybe that's not strictly true 

[Garry]

I used this technique a lot when I built the interior for the hull-and-deck kit that became Rosebud. There is nothing quite like that first look through the companionway at the interior just after a fiberglass deck is set in place on an empty hull - like looking at the inside of an egg. Since I was building in my own interior design, it took a lot of time and head-scratching to figure out where to start tabbing in the bulkheads.

http://www.pbase.com/sailrosita/rosebud

[Tom Lathrop]

Yep Bob,  that is how it's done.  Can't imagine why some otherwise knowledgeable people still go to scribing with a compass or a rolling washer or any of the other methods.  The tic stick works especially well when there are stringers or other disruptions in the path.  There are times when the registration mark on the stick can not be seen well.  I cut notches in the stick so the end mark can be made even when you can't see well.

Garry, your work on Rosebud looks great.

[Greg Luckett]

Yep Bob,  that is how it's done.  Can't imagine why some otherwise knowledgeable people still go to scribing with a compass or a rolling washer or any of the other methods.  The tic stick works especially well when there are stringers or other disruptions in the path.  There are times when the registration mark on the stick can not be seen well.  I cut notches in the stick so the end mark can be made even when you can't see well.

Garry, your work on Rosebud looks great.

Gee, Tom, I never heard of the washer trick before this.  I will give that one a try too.

Bob, thank you for the excellent explaination of using the tick stick method.

Greg.

[Pontoon Master]

      Not bad, allot of measuring and marking. I used a feather board, some call it a finger board. I don't have a pic of it.  Basically push the contraption up to the hull or what ever, keeping it plum. Then tighten the clamp to hold the fingers tight, then transfer to the wood. Comes in handy when going from the floor to the deck, for a bulkhead.

[Tom Lathrop]

Greg,

The trouble with the washer trick is that it will give your a pattern that is not quite accurate.  That is because the hole in the washer travels a smaller radius arc than the true curve.  you also have to have the pattern or rough cut piece pretty close to the final shape for it to work in the first place.  It also wont work around stringers or other difficult changes from a smooth surface.  Same objections are mostly true for the compass marking method.

[BobSmalser]

Can't imagine why some otherwise knowledgeable people still go to scribing with a compass or a rolling washer or any of the other methods.  .

A recent craze seems to be erecting a template, then scribe-fitting individual pieces of doorskin to the curve and gluing them to the template with hot-melt glue.  Gluing your ticking sticks to your template, as it were.  Even at only 7 bucks a sheet for doorskin, that would get old, quick around my place, as the waste isn't even safe to burn for heating.

Goes to show you what we've lost between the WWII generation of timber shipwrights and some of the self-taught fellas hanging out shingles today.

I did this little photo series in a hurry to answer a simple question, now FWW magazine saw it and wants it for a feature.  What I can't understand is how something this basic and contained in several boatbuilding books hasn't had any visibility.

[Hirilonde]

A recent craze seems to be erecting a template' date=' then scribe-fitting individual pieces of doorskin to the curve and gluing them to the template with hot-melt glue.  Gluing your ticking sticks to your template, as it were.  Even at only 7 bucks a sheet for doorskin, that would get old, quick around my place, as the waste isn't even safe to burn for heating.[/quote']

I don't know about this being a recent craze, 'cause I have been doing something similar for years.  And for complicated patterns I find it the most accurate method.  I don't erect a template first, I simply create a pattern  with the pieces in place.  Add to this that when a piece is going into tight quarters, or if it is quite large, one can determine if the piece will actually get there from here or whether it is a blivit before making it.  I'll gladly waste the $7 worth of doorskin, which makes numerous patterns and proves whether the finished piece will actually fit into the boat before cutting the expensive okume, teak veneer, cabin sole or other very expensive plywood.

[Greg Luckett]

I love these sorts of discussions and learn so much here on this forum.  This is what makes this forum great!  

[BobSmalser]

[quote author=Hirilond