planking the Matthew

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

LINING OFF THE HULL




It is very common for kits to provide planking material unsuitable for the purpose, thus causing a number of problems for the model builder. Every commercial wood has its properties some are suitable for bending while others are not. Some common problems are, providing wood not suitable for bending, dry wood and providing planking material far to thin. Thinly milled wood will reach a certain point when it looses its strength and it breaks before it bends. Taking a look at the photo, the plank is bent and twisted from horizontal to vertical within a length of 6 inches. There were no heated plank bending tools used, nor was the wood soaked in water, the bend was done dry and cold. The bending and twisting was accomplished because, first the correct type of wood is used and second, notice the thickness, its much thicker material than usually provided in double planked kits. Actually the thickness is to the correct scale of a 3inch thick bottom plank. The last point is dry wood, you will find furniture and cabinet makers all require wood dry to a low 6% moisture, some wood workers will tell you that is too dry while other say no. As wood dries it becomes brittle so a kit sitting in a warehouse for a year will dry out the thin planking to a point it becomes so brittle it snaps when you try to bend it. An example of this is to take a dry twig and break it, it will not bend but it will snap in half, now take a green twig and do the same, you will find the green twig will bend, even be difficult to break. Even if you soak the dry twig in water it still will not have the same bending properties as a green twig. Somewhere between the dry and green twigs the perfect moisture content is used in planking a model. For this project the same wood used for the waterways is used to plank the hull. The Willow has been slowly seasoned in a solar kiln and not flash dried in heated commercial kiln. The wood is seasoned to a moisture content of from 12 to 15% keeping the wood flexible and preventing it from becoming brittle. There is a concern expressed by some model builders planking with a moisture content above 6% will cause the wood planking to shrink and you will have gaps between your planks. Black Willow was selected because while seasoning it has a large shrinkage but once seasoned and it looses it high moisture content it becomes very stable. The wood also does not split or check very easy. Lastly willow has an excellent ability to take glue and finishes to a smooth surface. Wood will move ever so slightly due to humidity in the air but not enough to notice, and it will not leave ugly gaps between your planking.

Before we actually get into the job of planking there are a couple issues to cover concerning caulking and fasteners. These you should decide on before you start the job.

The Matthew is painted and any planking spikes may have been counter sunk and filled over. The black arrows are pointing to the barely visible heads of spikes. What can be seen are the caulk lines between the planks.



Model builders will go the extra steps and show caulking on the decks but not on the hull, it’s up to you, the builder, if you want to show caulking or not on the hull




On this model the edges of the planks were darkened to simulate caulking, making every plank stand out. There are a few ways to create the caulking. One method is to darken the edges with a marking pen, which you would have to test to be sure the pen does not bleed into the wood and give you a fuzzy line. Another method is to use a soft lead pencil and darken the edges. With the use of a pencil the caulk lines will not be perfectly even and will tend to fade in and out. This does give a realistic appearance. By standing the planks on edge and gluing them to a sheet of black paper then cutting them apart will give you a perfectly even caulk seam. To produce a subtle appearance simply space the planks ever so slightly apart and allow the glue to ooze up between the planks.



In the first photo the planks are set apart allowing several methods for showing the caulking. One is to leave the gap and allow it to fill in with whatever finish you intend on using, wipe the seams with a mixture of colored glue, or fill the seams with graphite paste mixture. This method is a little difficult to maintain an even gap between the planking because as the planks are glued to the hull they require clamping which may cause the planks to shift.



In the second photo the planking is set tight against each other. As you decide how to handle the caulking remember your at ¼ scale and at that size the caulking is so small it would be a very faint line.



Caulking comes down to art vs. realism, you can exaggerate the caulking slightly so the viewer can see the individual planking and show off the craftsmanship of placing every plank. Also to demonstrate how the hull is built using planking and caulking to make the hull watertight. Or push the planking tight and leave only a hint of caulking.



Finally the length of the planks used is something to consider. By planking the hull in one long strip makes bending and twisting of the plank easier. A quick and simple example of this is to hold a piece of planking with you hands about 3 inches apart, then twist and bend. Now hold a plank in your hands 12 inches apart and twist and bend. Its much easier to bend a long plank because the stress is spread over the length of the plank. Seventy foot planks were a little difficult to obtain in real life and even if the were handling them would be a big problem. The longest planks used were thirty foot with an average of 18 to 22 feet and down to just a few feet. One way to show the butt ends of planking is to cut a shallow seam into the plank. You can’t go to deep or the plank will snap at the cut. In the last photo is a fake butt cut into the plank and to the right is an actual butt joint. To the average viewer the difference may not be noticed. To anyone who has built a model ship and planked a hull can tell the difference between the two. The cut butts have to be done after the hull is given its final sanding or you will sand away the line.




Now we come to a debated issue that has been with ship modeling for many years, the treenail or wooden pegs used in ship building. On one side of the issue are those who feel using oversized and or contrasting treenails detracts from the model giving it the appearance of chicken pox. While on the other side there are those who like the look and feel it lend an element of authenticity to the construction of the model.
In most cases like the Matthew the hulls were painted and the fasteners didn’t show. Where hulls were not painted the fasteners were counter sunk and covered with either a wooden plug or a putty. On the realism side of the issue the fasteners were small and when reduced to ¼ scale they would disappear or be nothing more than a pin prick.
This is another issue where art vs. realism and it comes down to the model builders and what they want to show or demonstrate in their portrayal of a model of a wooden ship.
Leaving the final decision up to the builder all that can be done is to present the facts and the real thing and how to show the fasteners on a model, allowing the builder to choose.




The only example we have for the time period of the Mathew for fastening planking to the hull is the Mary Rose. This ship used wooden trunnels which ran all the way through the outer planking through the frame and ceiling planking. The outer ends were counter sunk and plugged with a resin or tar. Butt ends of the hull planking of the Mary Rose used iron spikes. Over time iron spikes replaced the wood treenails all together. In the above photo is a close up of a shipwreck of about 1840 here we see the use of iron spikes, the green arrows show the same methods employed back when the Mary rose was built. The iron spikes were counter sunk and the red arrow shows the remains of a putty used to cover the spike. In the photo it looks as if the spikes are above the surface of the planking. Actually the wood plank is worn down as you can see by the area around the spike shown by the blue arrow. This shipwreck has sistered frames and the spike pattern shows two spikes in each half of the frame producing a pattern of four spikes per frame. The Matthew was not sister framed so the pattern most likely would be two fasteners per frame. To add treenails or not is the question each model shipwright will have to decide for themselves. Lets examine the choices, a planking spike measured 5/8 diameter and a wood treenail measured one inch. At ¼ scale a planking spike would be about .012 and a wood treenail .020. The ¼ scale plastic figure is showing different sizes of fasteners. The top large fasteners are the size of the little brass nails available from hobby supply dealers. These measure .025 to .030 if you drive the nail into the plank and snip off the heads. A true to scale iron spike would look like the examples in the center while the bottom examples are showing a wooden treenail at about 1 ¼ diameter.

The traditional method for adding treenails is the use bamboo or hardwood pulled through a draw plate. Alternatives would be to use the bristles from paint brushes, whisk brooms, push brooms, wall paper brushes or anything with bristles. Another materials are copper, brass or silver wire or plastic rods available in many sizes.






If you were in a shipyard and the foreman yells to you get a crew and line off the hull the photos show what you would be doing. Using 1/8 wide electrical tape the hull is divided into belts or sections for planking. By lining off the hull it insures a smooth run of the planking. Start by measuring the hull in midship into the number of planks it will take to cover the hull. It takes seven planks from the sheer to the cap rail then a belt of three
planks and three belts of four planks and finally the bottom planks. First line off the sheer and the bottom plank belts. Next start the center belts at midship and allow them to run as natural as possible, the tape strips will want to run up the sternpost and stem so at the ends divide the remaining space evenly between the three center belts.







When the hull is lined off take a knife and notch along the tape to mark their locations.



Each strip of tape on the model represents a wale on the hull.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

THE GARBOARD



The garboard plank is the first plank to install on the hull. It is a special shaped plank with the ends called hoods. Looking at the photo you can see the plank is narrow in the center and tapers outward to the ends, which is exactly opposite of the side planking, which are wider in the middle and taper to about half their width at the ends.

In the photos below are the hood ends of the garboard. The yellow arrow is the garboard and the orange and red arrows point to the ends of the bottom planks. Notice the planks at the top of the photo are much narrower than the three bottom planks.







Making a pattern of the garboard starts with a 3/8 wide strip of cardboard, it is then clamped at the sternpost.
When the strip takes its natural bend it will tend to move away from the keel



If you were to clamp the end at the sternpost and keel then force the pattern along the keel, a kink in the plank will accrue.





If you were to pace the strip against the keel, the ends of the pattern will sweep upward leaving a gap between the plank and the keel.






The objective is to get the garboard to naturally lay flat against the bulkheads and along the keel to the stem and sternpost. The only way this can be done is to cut the garboard to shape. The easiest way is trial and error, or trim till it fits method.


In order to shape the garboard start in the center of the plank and cut off a tapered sliver about an inch from the stem and again from center to the sternpost. Your cutting more off from the center of the plank than at the ends. It may take a little touch up at the ends to get a nice fit in the rabbit. When the garboard is cut to the correct shape it will lay flat without any kinks or forcing the plank. You can see in the photos the kink is now gone and the garboard plank lays smooth and flat. Once you have a garboard plank that fits use it as a pattern for the other side of the hull. You may have to go back and trim the bottoms of the bulkheads if the garboard does not slip into the rabbit with a nice tight fit. The garboard is easy to glue in place because the rabbit will hold it. The only clamping will be at the ends.





In ship building there is a term “spiling” what it means is cutting a plank to shape. Hull planking is not just a matter of tapering the ends of a plank. Each and every plank has its own unique shape. Some planks will flare at the ends then narrow and widen then narrow again.

Spiling is a methods of taking measurements from a batten which is first laid on the hull so it forms a smooth run. When the batten is set, measurements are then taken along its length. These measurements are transferred to a plank and a line is drawn from one measurement to the next forming the bottom of the plank.




On the model the spiling is done in reverse. Rather than cutting the next plank to fit the one below it, the plank on the hull is shaped to fit the run of the next plank. Planks set end to end on the hull from stem to stern is called a strake and the flow of a strake is the run. You want a smooth flowing run of planking. A nice natural run is the first concern and the planks are cut and shaped to accommodate the run, if a plank has to be forced in place it is not shaped correctly. By using a strip of any flexible material lay the strip on the plank. This strip is laid even with the edge of the plank between the two clamps in the center of the hull, then allow the strip to follow its natural curve to the stern and bow. Always use a sharp blade and lightly cut along the strip. A number of light passes are much better than trying to cut through the plank in one or two passes. By starting in the center it is necessary to shape the plank at the bow as well as the stern.



There are two methods to cut a plank to shape. One method is to cut along the edge of a guide making a shallow score in the wood. Then with light passes continue to cut until you have cut through the wood. A problem with this is the cut running off the original score. The second method is to cover the plank with electrical tape and make your cut along the guide strip then remove the sliver of tape.




This method may take a little practice but works very well once you get the hang of it. What is being done here is taking off slivers of wood until you reach the black tape. A key to success is the direction you cut, in one direction you get short cuts because you are cutting against the grain, in the opposite direction you cutting with the grain and you can slice off long slivers of wood. Either way you choose to shape your plank the final step is to run a sanding block along the edge to smooth it out. Use a small sled with the sandpaper double taped to the side, it will take just a couple passes to even out the edge.




When your finished with shaping the plank a final check is done to see if the next plank will lay flat to the bulkheads and tight to the plank on the hull.
As each plank is cut to fit watch where they end up in relation to the marks you placed on the bulkheads when you lined off the hull. The second bottom plank will end up very close to the mark. If you are too far off further up the hull you will need to take drastic measures to insure all the planks will fit.






It takes a lot of clamps to secure the plank to the hull. Some builders will use a 5 minute Epoxy or a fast setting supper glue. I have had planks spring loose when the Epoxy lets go, so I found the use of Titebond wood glue to work the best, however it does require clamping the planks until the glue sets. In the following series of photos different methods of clamping are shown. The orange tip clamp is clamped to the bulkhead and presses the plank down and inward. By using C clamps and a small scrap of wood the planks are clamped to each other. The black tipped clamp at the bow pinches the tip of the plank into the rabbit. The large spring clamps pull the plank toward the keel and tight against the garboard plank.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

It is not all the crucial to set every plank perfectly even with the previous plank. If there is a little bump in the planking it can be sanded out. The blue arrows are point to areas where the planking is slightly raised. Planking used on this hull is thick enough to enable sanding to smooth everything out.



After the first bottom plank is set in place the shaping process is repeated same as was done with the garboard and the second bottom plank is glued in place. From a view of the bow and stern the height of planking should match at the stem and sternpost.





After the bottom planking is in place the first wale is installed. The wales are higher than the planking so it is easier to finish the planking before the wale is installed. Finishing can be done by hand or with a sanding disk on the Dremel. Once again a sanding disk is made to suite the job at hand. A soft felt disk is cut out and a 180 grit sandpaper is stuck to the felt with double sided masking tape. Because there are convex and concave areas on the bottom planking a soft disk is used to prevent the edges of the disk from digging into the planking. The disk will conform nicly to the shape of the hull.




A before and after photo shows the difference between the planking as installed and after a sanding with a 180 grit sanding disk. All the bumps and glue are sanded away leaving a smooth surface. At this point you can continue with finer sandpaper or stop at the 180 grit sandpaper depending on how fine you want the finish.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

PLANKING THE HULL

A question often asked by the beginner is where do you start planking the hull, from the keel up or from the rail down? Without a doubt the hull planking begins at the keel because of the difficulty of shaping and installing the garboard and bottom planks. Once you planked up to the sheer line then you plank from the rail down to the sheer to meet the hull planking. The garboard used a 3/8 wide plank and the two bottom planks were ¼ wide. The width is needed for these three planks because of the excessive amount of shaping needed. Once the bottom planking is installed it is easier to sand the planks to their final finish. This is done because the wale sticks up above the planking and it will be difficult to sand the hull once the wales are in place.
Plank by plank instructions would be a bit long winded so in this part of the build only the general information will be covered. Once you get the idea of shaping and installing a plank you will find the rest of the planks are pretty much the same.


The Matthew has five wales the first is located along the bottom planking. These wales are 1/8 square stock and are a little tricky to install. Problem one is clamping the wales, second is they tend to want to roll so it is necessary to twist them in order for them to lay flat and finally they take a sharp bend at the bow and stern. In midship problems with clamping and the wale sitting flat is minimal, its at the bow and stern where one will encounter problems. It takes a lot of clamping pressure to hold the wales in place at the bow and stern. Pressure of the clamps will dent the wood so an alternative method is needed. Ends of the wale were first glued in place at the bow and stern to the second bulkhead. This required no clamps or force to hold them in place because Black Willow bend very well. Once the glue sets carefully bend the wales until they sit flat. No wetting or heating was used to bends the wales, they were bent dry. If you have problems with bending the wales all that is needed is to run the ends under hot water for a minute. Then bend and clamp the wales until they dry. After they dry the planks will retain the bend so you can now glue them in place.

Creative clamping is needed to install the wales as well as the rest of the planking.




At the stem a bur was used to deepen the rabbit so the end of wale will be able to seat itself. The end of the wale is notched so the bottom part will sit into the rabbit and the upper section will sit against the stem.
The final fit of the wale into the stem rabbit produce a clean tight fit.
Caution here, the notch will tend to split, to avoid the splitting wet the end of the wale and bend it at the bow, you will need to bend the wale and clamp it in place until it dries once dry glue the end of the wale at the bow. This two step process is pre bending the plank giving it a set.




The C clamps with a little scrap of wood will hold the wale tight and flat to the bulkheads. While the larger spring clamps pull the wale tight against the bottom planking.




With half of the wale from the bow to midship secure to the hull bend the second half from the stern to the end of the first wale section. Mark and cut the wale sections to butt.



it takes a lot of clamping to bend and twist a plank or in this case a wale in place on the hull

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

With the bottom planking finished and the first wales on the hull recheck the location of the next wale and mark it. The first lining off of the hull was a general location for each wale. As each belt of planking is installed there will be variances so slight adjustments might have to be made as you work your way up the hull. You can see the dark markings on the center bulkhead for the location of each wale.

The next section of planking will require five strakes of planks. Planking this section differs in method from the bottom planks. Because the bottom planks required such extensive shaping, the spiling was done by cutting the planks after they were on the hull. In this section of planking the planks are tapered first then glued on the hull.



Measuring off the belt of planking will give you a better idea of how the planks will taper. At midship five full width planks are used and at the bow the distance is half that at midship, at the stern the planks taper then right at the sternpost the planks will take a slight flare. At the bow the tapers begin at about bulkhead number 6, the first plank up from the bottom will have the longest taper and progressively get shorter as the planking works it way up the hull. The yellow lines show the lengths of each taper. Each belt of planking is done the same way, after the next wale is put on to the hull a check it made as to how close you are working to the projected location of the next wale up. The first belt of planking used five strakes of planking the next two belts use 4 strakes each and the final belt used three strakes.
You can not cut the same length tapper on all the planks because if all the tappers end at the same place on the hull it will create a bump in the run of the planking thus the need for different lengths for the tappers in a belt of planking.
The blue line at the bottom of the image which is actually at the top of the hull is the projected location of the belt of planking and the plankinking hit the mark dead on so it is good to go with the next belt and no need for adjusting.



Cutting the taper in a plank is done by using a piece of plate glass and clamping the plank under a piece of steel banding strap. The straps use for banding have a spring to it so when it’s clamped it will bow slightly and hold the plank quite securely. Use a new, sharp knife blade and run it down the edge of the strap. After you have made the taper cut run a block of sandpaper where the taper runs off the plank. This is to blend the taper into the full width of the plank.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

At the turn of the bilge the hull is taking a tight curve and the planks will not want to sit against one another very close. By using a sharp blade a fine shaving is done to the edge of the plank to bevel it. Before a plank is glued to the hull you can run a razor blade along the edge giving it a slight bevel.





Another problem is the planking will not want to sit flat against the curving edge of the bulkhead. This creates stepping of the planks from one to the next. There will be some stepping of the planks unless you hollow out the back of the plank to form a concave surface. This is one way to solve the problem but a bit extreme.


The thickness of the planking is a little oversize to compansate for any illregularties such as stepping. Once the planking is glued to the hull a sanding will eliminate the stepping problem. You do however want to minamize the stepping as much as possible or you will be sanding the planking paper thin. A creative way to solve the stepping is to use C clamps and clamp on to the plank. By using rubber bands pull the C clamp down and towards the hull until the plank sits flat on the edge of the bulkhead. What you are doing is actually twisting the plank.
On double planked hulls the planking is so thin it will break before it twists, the result using thin planks is a gap appears between planks.




Aside from using spring clamps and C clamps to hold the hull planking while the glue sets there is nothing more useful than a good old block and rubber band. By adjusting the pressure point of the rubber band on the block you can use the block to push the planks against each other or apply pressure straight down so the plank fits tight to the edge of the bulkhead. Placing a block up on end you can pin point pressure to a location on the plank or use longer blocks to hold long sections of a plank in place.
note: you are going to need thick strong rubber bands

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Before laying planking for the third belt, line off the hull for the location of the next wale or for any other hull the top of the 3rd belt. Belt three of planking presents a unique problem as the belt takes a drastic taper at the bow and almost no taper at the stern. The main focus of the planking jobs it to maintain a smooth run of the planks from bow to stern. a proper planked hull will have each run of planking from the stem to the stern post, runs of planking do not stop short. Planks at the stem will want to naturally run upwards, however there is a limit to how far up the stem the planks can go, the hull planking has to stop at the deck line, that is the upper most limit to the hull planking above that is the bulkward planking. The planking has to be cut to fit as apposed to allowing it to creep upward at the stem.

By planking a hull in "belts" you do not carry any problems up from the keel as log as each belt is done proper and stays within the marked belt.



At midship four strakes of planking will fill the third belt. If all four planks were run to the bow each plank would taper to almost a point. Planks which are too narrow at the end of the taper are a problem to fasten to the hull.



the upper red mark is where belt 3 planks will hit if they are not tappered but it is the lower red mark that we want to hit.



at the stern post belt 3 is close to the same width as midship so there is no worry about planks getting to narrow like at the bow.



One way to solve the planking for the third belt is to use wider planks. Divide the distance you need to cover at midship by three and cut you planks to that dimension. Each wider plank will have more of a taper but the ends of three planks will fit at the stem as apposed to four.
There is a limit to the width of a plank that can be used. In the photo it shows wide planks will not conform to the shape of the hull as apposed to a narrower plank. Wide planks also cause stepping from plank to plank.



A common method used by shipwrights is to replace the two narrow planks with a stealer. Run the first two strakes of planking above the wale forward to a point where the taper begins. These two strakes of planking will both stop at the same bulkhead. Now take the space at the bow and divide it in thirds. The width of the stealer will not want to sit flat to the bulkheads so a little coaxing with C clamps and rubber bands may be necessary. The use of stealers are always kept as low as possible on the hull, preferably below or as close to the waterline as you can get. By the time planking reaches the sides of the hull each strake of planking should have a smooth run from bow to stern.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Looking at the stern the main concern is the location and bending of the third wale. On the Matthew the third wale ended below the top of the sternpost.



On the model the wale ended about the same location as on the real Matthew




On the drawings the third wale is shown ending at the intersection of the sternpost and the stern transom timber. The two different locations for the end of the third wale gives the model builder a little latitude as to where the wale ends up.



A problem is the bending of the wale, the third wale takes a sharp bend, then a twist and finally a sweep upward. So far all the planking was done cold and dry, however to bend this wale we need to resort to steam bending.

Note in the photo the stern block inserted earlier in the build acts as a backing for the planks and wale. Without the stern block it would have been very difficult to maintain a nice curve of the planks and wale. Some minor reshaping was done to the stern block and last couple bulkheads as the planking was done to allow a better bending of the planks.




By using a heated plank bender the end of the wale was soaked in water and the hot plank bender was then used to bend the wale. Sounds simple enough. The Willow up to this point took bending quite well without the use of steam so by just adding a little heat and water bending should be a breeze.

Not so, five out of five tries and the wale broke. I tried taking the process slow and easy soaking the wale, then only a slight pressure of bending soaking again and again only a little bending at a time. The results were the same, breakage. The longer you leave the end of the wale soaking in water the easier it is to bend, but the longer the wood soaks the softer it becomes which will result in a tendency to crush. I tried several more times until the lights up stairs went on and I realizes all the heat and steam was being applied to the inside of the bend between the heated plank bender and the wale. The outer edge of the wale was sitting in a puddle of water on a cold block of steel. I took the steel block and heated it up on the kitchen stove and soaked the end of the wale again.

Eureka ! success at last. Sandwiching the damp wale between the heated bender and warm block I got steam on both sides of the wale and it took the extreme bend without breakage. The final step for the third belt of planking is adding the wale.




Another way to secure a plank or in this case the wale to the hull while the glue sets is to use push pins. Plywood is to hard to push the pins in so a little tapping with a small hammer works the best. Then you need pliers to pull them back out.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

THE FOURTH BELT OF PLANKING​

The blue arrow is showing the fourth belt of planking at the stern where the planks are taking a drastic taper where they meet the stern post.




With the third belt of planking completed up to the wale we start planning the fourth belt beginning at the stern.




When the hull was lined off four planks were figured at the center. If the planking so far has ended to far up the stem now is the time to correct to match the sheer. A wider plank is used above the wale, this is done to take up more space midship and flatten out the sheer just a little. Lining off the planks at the stern plank number 3 ends at the top of the sternpost so planks one and two fill in the shaded blue area.


Here you can see the lining of the four planks and the W is the location of the wale. The short arrow is where the first plank of the next belt will end.



The hull was built up to the last bulkhead and stern blocks were left off. Now it is apparent why the stern was not built when the bulkheads were being set up. They would have been in the way, making clamping of the planking very difficult. All the planks in belt four had to be steam bent and clamped in place to set. Even though the Willow worked very well for bending the extreme bending at the stern required the planks to be soaked in water for about 30 minutes and then bent with a hot plank bending tool on a hot surface. Don’t give up it took several tries because the plank insisted on breaking, but finally it does bend.



The bend of the planks at the stern take an extreme bend, sometimes it takes two tries to make such a bend. First soak the wood and bend it as far as possible then let it dry, repear the process a second time and you will get more of a bend.



Bending must have been difficult in the building of the Matthew because close inspection of the wale it looks like they were laminated.




Planks were extended beyond the transom timber because the soaking makes the wood soft and the clamps will indent the ends of the plank. You can clearly see the ends of the planks were crushed from the pressure of clamping. Selecting the right wood for hull planking makes a big difference. Some woods like Cedars like Alaskan Yellow Cedar or Basswood may make nice looking planking but the wood will dent and crush under the pressure of clamping.



These planks take an uneven taper so it is better to glue the plank in place and trim the taper on the hull. Start by using a thin batton and lay it along the upper edge of the last plank, do not force the batton let it take a natural flow, drawing the taper and use a sharp blade and slice the plank.




Looking at the hull upside down you can see the stepping in the planking like at the bow. Up at the bow you could use a clamp and twist the plank to reduce the stepping, not so at the stern the planks bending around the stern take a sudden sweeping upward cause a drastic step from plank to plank. Sanding will take care of the steps but it is best to try and keep them at a minimum.




Once again when all the planking is done it is sanded to a final finish and the next wale is set in place. None of the planks or wales were laminated. Steam bending worked quite well.
All the attention was focused at the stern in the fourth belt of planking. Planks at the bow were simply tapered as was done in the second belt of planking so there is no need to repeat the process.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

THE SHUTTER PLANKS


The final belt of planking is called the shutter planks. In some hulls this may be the last one or two strakes of planks between the lower hull planking and the upper planking. The upper planking of the hull will follow the sheer line and the bottom planks are tapered or cut to fit the shape of the hull. Looking at the run of planking it produces a nice flowing curve from bow to stern. In the case of this particular hull the lining off of the planking could have been a little flatter by the time it reached the shutter planking. The midship area has much more space to fill than at the bow which is quite small.
Then again it’s up to you as the shipwright as to how you want the run of planking to look. Personally I like the flowing sweep of the plank run.
The blue tinted area is where the transition of the hull planking and the upper planking meet. On hulls this area is usually at the main wales. When starting the laying out of planking for a hull it is always best to mark the location of the main wales. do not install the wales at this time because the exact location my vary depending on how the hull planking turns out. You may be a slightly bit low or high or the sheer may be slightly flatter.


Begin the last belt of planking by measuring off the space to be filled at the midsection. Start by placing a piece of wale at the top of the fourth belt and at the deck line. Next divide the distance between the two wales by the number of planks you intend on using, in this case three will be used to fill the last belt. The width and number of planks will vary according to each hull and the final run of the planks done by the shipwright. These planks are given a special name of “shutter planks” maybe because they have to be carefully shaped and fitted and the carpenters doing the job just shutter at the thought of have to do the job, or maybe it’s a slurred slang for “ok guys shut her up” meaning close up the hull with the final strakes of plank. Whatever the reason these planks got the name of shutter there is no doubt they are the most difficult to do. The first two planks above the wale are the most difficult to shape and bend. These two planks take a sharp bend and rest on the face of the transom timber.



The first one will need a long taper, which runs almost a third of the planks length. Once the plank is in place its upper edge will have to be trimmed slightly, starting at the stern skip the last bulkhead and trim the next four to give the plank a smooth run. The second plank fits snug under the transom timber and bends up to the transom timbers face. This plank will require a very sharp bend right at its end.


Looking at the photo you can see the sharp of the first two planks. These two planks will not bend around the square bottom edge of the transom timber so a slight rounding off of the bottom of the timber was done.



Finally the third plank to go on, butts against the forward face of the transom timber. And the top edge is about one half the distance up the timbers face leaving enough room for the wale.

Wider planks were used in this part of the hull because of the width at midship, from midship to the bow the first plank has a long taper then the next one up has a shorter tapper and the final top plank matches the sheer line.

The shutter planks were cut to fit the last belt of planking to insure they line up with the edge of the waterway. Looking at the darker colored plank in the center you can see how it is shaped to fill the space between the lower planking and the waterway, the bottom of the plank has more of a curve than the top edge. When the last wale is installed it should line up with the top of the waterway.









On a final note the planking may differ slightly from one hull to the next. The shape and amount of planks used depends on how each person lines off the hull. This part of the build provided enough information to plank this hull as well as a basic instruction on planking hulls in general. One unique feature of the Matthews hull are the wales. When the hull is first planked each plank may or may not sit perfectly even with the plank next to it. The final look of the planking job rests on the sanding and finish. Looking at the photo the red arrow is pointing to a section of a wale where the planking is sticking out to far making the wale look narrow. What caused this "bump" in the hull planking is the shape of the bulkhead.




Taking another look at the wale from a different angle the blue arrow is showing the correct height of the wale from the planking and the yellow arrow is showing where the planking is to high. This would not show up in the overall hull but where planking meets a wale or molding or at a cap rail where there is a difference in thickness you can see the difference.




An easy correction to make the wales all appear to be evenly raised above the planking is to shave down the plank. This can not be done with an Exacto blade the knife in the photo is a surgical scalpel. These blades are flexible and you are able to bend them to the contour of the hull planking and they are also very sharp. Just lay the blade flat on to the planking and cut off paper thin shavings until you get an even edge along the wale. On double planked hull this correction is not possible because the planking provided is to thin and you will end up cutting through the final planking and into the first planking.

For a finish a coat of Tung oil is used, let it dry and apply a coat of finishing wax by Minwax buff out the hull to a desired sheen. Willow will take an excellent satin smooth finish and the tan color gives the hull a rich look.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

this completes the "how to" plan, line out and plank a hull. This does not cover what happend above the last wale and the building and planking of the upper works. That area will change depending on the type of hull.

 

[RogerD]

Thanks for a truly great tutorial Dave, it is a real help to both read and see the various techniques you used. You obviously spent quite some time putting all this together and it is very much appreciated.

 

[WDO]

Well explained and demonstrated! This is a great help in understanding the planking process. Thank you!

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

A few words on using Black Willow to plank a hull. I have no idea why it is called Black Willow, the wood is not black nor is the tree.

personally i loved working with the wood you can shave off pieces paper thin, tapper and shape planks with just a knife and sandpaper. I was concerned about the fuzzy surface but it finished smooth. The claim to fame of the wood is its ability to take an extreme bend and not break.
If your just starting out planking a hull is hard enough on its own without adding a wood that is difficult to work with making Willow an ideal wood for beginners.

Drawbacks are the wood will crush from the pressure of clamping so you have to work around that. It does not produce a sharp clean edge but you really don't need that for planking.


Species: Willow Salix nigra

Willow is primarily from the lower Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. This specie is straight grained, moderately light weight and stable.
Heartwood is light, reddish brown or greyish brown, containing darker streaks.

Although the tree is technically classified as a hardwood, the wood itself is very soft and wet compared to other hardwoods like oak or maple.

One of the most valuable traits of the willow tree is its flexibility.
The willow tree is one of the few trees that is capable of bending in outrageous poses without snapping.


Common Names
Black willow is the preferred common name; however, it is often simply called willow. In the South it may be referred to as swamp willow.

Characteristics and Properties
The wood of black willow may vary considerably in color, with the heartwood being pale reddish brown to grayish brown and the sapwood whitish
tan to light tan. It has no characteristic odor or taste, and although moderately soft, it does not splinter when dented. Basswood (Tilia spp.), buckeye
(Aesculus spp.), and cottonwood and aspen (Populus spp). are the only North American woods softer than black willow.
Black willow wood is very weak in crushing strength. It is moderately high in shock resistance. Its nail-holding ability is low, but due to a somewhat interlocked grain it does not split readily. Shrinkage during seasoning is moderately large, and care must be exercised during the drying process to prevent warping. It has, however, excellent ability to stay in place once properly seasoned. Black willow is classed as one of the most difficult woods to machine. It glues very well and readily accepts a number of finishes. Black willow is one of the lightestweight North American hardwoods.
Principal Uses The primary uses of black willow are factory lumber, commercial and package veneer, box lumber. Major users of willow lumber are the millwork and household furniture industries. Furniture uses include table tops, veneered pieces, core stock, frames, and other interior and exposed parts. Willow can also be used for solid paneling, interior trim, cabinetry, artificial limbs, slack cooperage, excelsior, and miscellaneous wooden items and novelties such as toys, cutting boards, picture frames, venetian blinds, wooden shoes, and polo balls. Freedom from checking and ease of working make willow a desirable wood for carving. During the early days of this country, the bark was used as a home remedy for fever ailments. In the early 1900’s

 

[dockattner]

Thank you for this terrific primer Dave!

 

[Don Case]

Dave, do you know if these characteristics are peculiar to Black Willow or if they are the same for most/all Willows? We have 13 Willow species on the Island. For what it's worth Hazel has much the same bending abilities. It's almost hard to break.

 

[Vfordyce]

Super job, Dave!

 

[PT-2]

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LINING OFF THE HULL

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It is very common for kits to provide planking material unsuitable for the purpose, thus causing a number of problems for the model builder. Every commercial wood has its properties some are suitable for bending while others are not. Some common problems are, providing wood not suitable for bending, dry wood and providing planking material far to thin. Thinly milled wood will reach a certain point when it looses its strength and it breaks before it bends. Taking a look at the photo, the plank is bent and twisted from horizontal to vertical within a length of 6 inches. There were no heated plank bending tools used, nor was the wood soaked in water, the bend was done dry and cold. The bending and twisting was accomplished because, first the correct type of wood is used and second, notice the thickness, its much thicker material than usually provided in double planked kits. Actually the thickness is to the correct scale of a 3inch thick bottom plank. The last point is dry wood, you will find furniture and cabinet makers all require wood dry to a low 6% moisture, some wood workers will tell you that is too dry while other say no. As wood dries it becomes brittle so a kit sitting in a warehouse for a year will dry out the thin planking to a point it becomes so brittle it snaps when you try to bend it. An example of this is to take a dry twig and break it, it will not bend but it will snap in half, now take a green twig and do the same, you will find the green twig will bend, even be difficult to break. Even if you soak the dry twig in water it still will not have the same bending properties as a green twig. Somewhere between the dry and green twigs the perfect moisture content is used in planking a model. For this project the same wood used for the waterways is used to plank the hull. The Willow has been slowly seasoned in a solar kiln and not flash dried in heated commercial kiln. The wood is seasoned to a moisture content of from 12 to 15% keeping the wood flexible and preventing it from becoming brittle. There is a concern expressed by some model builders planking with a moisture content above 6% will cause the wood planking to shrink and you will have gaps between your planks. Black Willow was selected because while seasoning it has a large shrinkage but once seasoned and it looses it high moisture content it becomes very stable. The wood also does not split or check very easy. Lastly willow has an excellent ability to take glue and finishes to a smooth surface. Wood will move ever so slightly due to humidity in the air but not enough to notice, and it will not leave ugly gaps between your planking.

Before we actually get into the job of planking there are a couple issues to cover concerning caulking and fasteners. These you should decide on before you start the job.

The Matthew is painted and any planking spikes may have been counter sunk and filled over. The black arrows are pointing to the barely visible heads of spikes. What can be seen are the caulk lines between the planks.

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Model builders will go the extra steps and show caulking on the decks but not on the hull, it’s up to you, the builder, if you want to show caulking or not on the hull


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On this model the edges of the planks were darkened to simulate caulking, making every plank stand out. There are a few ways to create the caulking. One method is to darken the edges with a marking pen, which you would have to test to be sure the pen does not bleed into the wood and give you a fuzzy line. Another method is to use a soft lead pencil and darken the edges. With the use of a pencil the caulk lines will not be perfectly even and will tend to fade in and out. This does give a realistic appearance. By standing the planks on edge and gluing them to a sheet of black paper then cutting them apart will give you a perfectly even caulk seam. To produce a subtle appearance simply space the planks ever so slightly apart and allow the glue to ooze up between the planks.



In the first photo the planks are set apart allowing several methods for showing the caulking. One is to leave the gap and allow it to fill in with whatever finish you intend on using, wipe the seams with a mixture of colored glue, or fill the seams with graphite paste mixture. This method is a little difficult to maintain an even gap between the planking because as the planks are glued to the hull they require clamping which may cause the planks to shift.

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In the second photo the planking is set tight against each other. As you decide how to handle the caulking remember your at ¼ scale and at that size the caulking is so small it would be a very faint line.

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Caulking comes down to art vs. realism, you can exaggerate the caulking slightly so the viewer can see the individual planking and show off the craftsmanship of placing every plank. Also to demonstrate how the hull is built using planking and caulking to make the hull watertight. Or push the planking tight and leave only a hint of caulking.

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Finally the length of the planks used is something to consider. By planking the hull in one long strip makes bending and twisting of the plank easier. A quick and simple example of this is to hold a piece of planking with you hands about 3 inches apart, then twist and bend. Now hold a plank in your hands 12 inches apart and twist and bend. Its much easier to bend a long plank because the stress is spread over the length of the plank. Seventy foot planks were a little difficult to obtain in real life and even if the were handling them would be a big problem. The longest planks used were thirty foot with an average of 18 to 22 feet and down to just a few feet. One way to show the butt ends of planking is to cut a shallow seam into the plank. You can’t go to deep or the plank will snap at the cut. In the last photo is a fake butt cut into the plank and to the right is an actual butt joint. To the average viewer the difference may not be noticed. To anyone who has built a model ship and planked a hull can tell the difference between the two. The cut butts have to be done after the hull is given its final sanding or you will sand away the line.

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Now we come to a debated issue that has been with ship modeling for many years, the treenail or wooden pegs used in ship building. On one side of the issue are those who feel using oversized and or contrasting treenails detracts from the model giving it the appearance of chicken pox. While on the other side there are those who like the look and feel it lend an element of authenticity to the construction of the model.
In most cases like the Matthew the hulls were painted and the fasteners didn’t show. Where hulls were not painted the fasteners were counter sunk and covered with either a wooden plug or a putty. On the realism side of the issue the fasteners were small and when reduced to ¼ scale they would disappear or be nothing more than a pin prick.
This is another issue where art vs. realism and it comes down to the model builders and what they want to show or demonstrate in their portrayal of a model of a wooden ship.
Leaving the final decision up to the builder all that can be done is to present the facts and the real thing and how to show the fasteners on a model, allowing the builder to choose.

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The only example we have for the time period of the Mathew for fastening planking to the hull is the Mary Rose. This ship used wooden trunnels which ran all the way through the outer planking through the frame and ceiling planking. The outer ends were counter sunk and plugged with a resin or tar. Butt ends of the hull planking of the Mary Rose used iron spikes. Over time iron spikes replaced the wood treenails all together. In the above photo is a close up of a shipwreck of about 1840 here we see the use of iron spikes, the green arrows show the same methods employed back when the Mary rose was built. The iron spikes were counter sunk and the red arrow shows the remains of a putty used to cover the spike. In the photo it looks as if the spikes are above the surface of the planking. Actually the wood plank is worn down as you can see by the area around the spike shown by the blue arrow. This shipwreck has sistered frames and the spike pattern shows two spikes in each half of the frame producing a pattern of four spikes per frame. The Matthew was not sister framed so the pattern most likely would be two fasteners per frame. To add treenails or not is the question each model shipwright will have to decide for themselves. Lets examine the choices, a planking spike measured 5/8 diameter and a wood treenail measured one inch. At ¼ scale a planking spike would be about .012 and a wood treenail .020. The ¼ scale plastic figure is showing different sizes of fasteners. The top large fasteners are the size of the little brass nails available from hobby supply dealers. These measure .025 to .030 if you drive the nail into the plank and snip off the heads. A true to scale iron spike would look like the examples in the center while the bottom examples are showing a wooden treenail at about 1 ¼ diameter.

The traditional method for adding treenails is the use bamboo or hardwood pulled through a draw plate. Alternatives would be to use the bristles from paint brushes, whisk brooms, push brooms, wall paper brushes or anything with bristles. Another materials are copper, brass or silver wire or plastic rods available in many sizes.

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If you were in a shipyard and the foreman yells to you get a crew and line off the hull the photos show what you would be doing. Using 1/8 wide electrical tape the hull is divided into belts or sections for planking. By lining off the hull it insures a smooth run of the planking. Start by measuring the hull in midship into the number of planks it will take to cover the hull. It takes seven planks from the sheer to the cap rail then a belt of three
planks and three belts of four planks and finally the bottom planks. First line off the sheer and the bottom plank belts. Next start the center belts at midship and allow them to run as natural as possible, the tape strips will want to run up the sternpost and stem so at the ends divide the remaining space evenly between the three center belts.



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When the hull is lined off take a knife and notch along the tape to mark their locations.

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Each strip of tape on the model represents a wale on the hull.

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This is an extremely valuable posting and well stated with the photos demanding serious consideration for the model builder (myself and the options that I consider but may not yer decide). Thanks for the time for SoS.. Rich (PT-2)

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Dave, do you know if these characteristics are peculiar to Black Willow or if they are the same for most/all Willows? We have 13 Willow species on the Island. For what it's worth Hazel has much the same bending abilities. It's almost hard to break.

Willows include more than 400 trees and shrubs from the Salix genus—a group of moisture-loving plants that are native to temperate
and cold regions in the Northern Hemisphere.

most common is the black willow and weeping willow in north america and White Willow in Europe these are the large trees you see in North America and the wood has the same properties.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Super job, Dave!

thank you