Making big pieces of wood smaller and smoother, and then bigger again.
Odds and Ends
Mondays are for odds and ends, and preparations, and trying to do things that will make our lives easier later on. This week, that means taking a look at this 200 year old model ship that the museum picked up from the Seamen’s Church Institute in Philadelphia. It’s big and cool and old and really…
Laminate
Laminating is the 20th century version of scarfing – making a bunch of smaller pieces of wood into one bigger one that is the size or shape we need. In this case, the stem is laminated from a number of smaller, thinner strips of sapele that will be hugely easier to work with than trying…
Raw materials
A trip to Delaware County Supply yields most of the wood (white oak and sapele) we’ll need to for early stages of construction. Out of a few hundred pieces we examine, only a couple dozen make the cut for inclusion (which makes me wonder about what the rest is going to be used for). Back…
What makes boats expensive?
We get a first glimpse of this today when the first two attempts to make the head ledges – front and aft ends of the centerboard case – turn out to be failures. Third time finally gets it right, and get started on making some supports for the sides of the case
Boatbuilding Step 2 (and 1)
Take some really big pieces of wood and turn them into slightly smaller, smoother pieces of wood. In this case, it’s mahogany and is going to be the sides of the Corinthian’s centerboard case. The last photo is the lofted lines on the floor; basically, a full-size 3-view drawing of what the boat will look…
Day 20: Virginia & Kentucky
Starting today about 30 miles south of the Virginia/Kentucky border, I was alarmed- nay, surprised- to find frost on many cloth surfaces this morning.
