caulking

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

So many times i read of model builders using black caulking when in fact maybe it was not black it was white.

There was a complete lack of oakum and pitch for caulking all seams and making the ships water-tight, so lead caulking was used with great success. The green timber should have been seasoned for about one year.

proof of lead being used
(When the Niagara was raised the lead caulking was still firmly in place.) Lead caulking of the green timber undoubtedly produced a water-tight hull superior to oakum and pitch

 

[Roger Pellett]

It is unfortunate that we know so little about how these vessels that defended Lake Erie were actually built.

I wonder what form of lead was used for this caulking. When I was a naval officer part of my training was to spend a month at a shipyard, in my case Electric Boat, to better understand submarine construction. Seams in lead shielding were caulked with “lead wool.” This was just like steel wool except that it was made from lead. It was fitted into the seams between pieces of lead plate and then pounded tight by hand with a caulking tool.

I have no idea how lead wool was made nor if it was available in 1812.

Roger

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

i wonder the same thing, my thought was hot lead was poured into the deck seems but on second thought i do not think that would work. So maybe a soft lead rope was pounded between the planks?
was the Niagara a one off lead caulked ship or how common was lead caulking used?

 

[AndyA]

So many times i read of model builders using black caulking when in fact maybe it was not black it was white.

There was a complete lack of oakum and pitch for caulking all seams and making the ships water-tight, so lead caulking was used with great success. The green timber should have been seasoned for about one year.

proof of lead being used
(When the Niagara was raised the lead caulking was still firmly in place.) Lead caulking of the green timber undoubtedly produced a water-tight hull superior to oakum and pitch

Interesting. But where and when was there a shortage of oakum? Hard to imagine since oakum was made of old hemp lines that were no longer usable and pitch or tar. These ingredients are usually available. Also, like other choices for colors on a model ship, oakum isn't black. Caulking may appear darker than the decking or planking but that doesn't mean it's black. Fair winds!

 

[JerryTodd]

The problem is modem "tar" is made from petroleum products and tends towards black, when "back then" it was pine tar or some derivative, like "Stockholm Tar" which all lean into yellowish-red colors.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Interesting. But where and when was there a shortage of oakum? Hard to imagine since oakum was made of old hemp lines that were no longer usable and pitch or tar. These ingredients are usually available. Also, like other choices for colors on a model ship, oakum isn't black. Caulking may appear darker than the decking or planking but that doesn't mean it's black. Fair winds!

this was in the wilds of the Great Lakes region back around 1800 and the early colonial period in north America before shipbuilding became an established industry.

The problem is modem "tar" is made from petroleum products and tends towards black, when "back then" it was pine tar or some derivative, like "Stockholm Tar" which all lean into yellowish-red colors.

so perhaps caulking was not black it might have been either white or yellow so all those models with black caulking is wrong in a historical perspective.

 

[Roger Pellett]

When the Lake Erie fleet was built Erie, Pa was in the middle of nowhere. Bringing supplies from the East Coast required bringing materials up the Hudson River waterway and down to Oswego, New York. The Erie Canal was about ten years in the future. From Oswego they needed to be shipped across Lake Ontario, portaged around Niagara Falls and hauled across Lake Erie to the Erie, Pa shipyard. And of course both lakes were contested.

Pittsburgh, Pa is relatively close to Erie, Pa and materials could be sent up the Allegheny River across a short portage and then downstream to the shipyard. Pittsburgh also had a growing metal working industry. The guns for arming the fleet were cast in Pittsburgh.

There was, therefore, an incentive to source things locally and lead might have been more available when the ships were caulked.

Roger

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Stockholm Tar, also known as authentic pine tar, is a natural wood preservative that is typically light in color. It is often described as having a light walnut appearance, which is a result of its natural properties This tar has been used for centuries in various applications, including shipbuilding and caulking

So black caulking lines between deck planks should be an amber color not black. Maybe the word "tar" was misleading, and model builders thought of black road tar and not pine resin tar which is light yellow colored.

you can still find lead wool caulking sold on line to this day

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Musket balls were made using a shot tower, a tower designed to produce small-diameter shot balls by free fall of molten lead. The process involved the following steps:
Molten Lead: Lead was heated until molten and then dropped through a copper sieve into a water basin.
Formation of Balls: The liquid lead forms tiny spherical balls by surface tension as it falls.
Collection: The partially cooled balls are caught at the floor of the tower in a water-filled basin.
Processing: The balls are checked for roundness and sorted by size, with larger sizes produced by using a larger sieve

could lead caulking rope be made in a similar way by pouring a fine stream of lead into water
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=3196...dGJhbGxzLXRoZS1zcGFya3Mtc2hvdC10b3dlci8&ntb=1

 

[AllanKP69]

Pittsburgh, Pa is relatively close to Erie, Pa and materials could be sent up the Allegheny River across a short portage and then downstream to the shipyard. Pittsburgh also had a growing metal working industry. The guns for arming the fleet were cast in Pittsburgh.

Makes sense as the Fort Pitt Foundry was established there in two stages. The initial foundry was established in 1804 in what is now the center of downtown Pittsburgh and moved to the Strip District in 1825. Thanks for mentioning this Roger...... finding these locations brings back memories, having grown up about 6 miles south of there. The foundries were long gone, but I do wish I knew more of the history back then.
Allan

 

[Roger Pellett]

Allan, I have a long history with Pittsburgh although I never really lived there.

First of all , I lived there, actually Dravosburg, while attending the Reactor engineering school at Bettis Atomic Power Lab. I believe that your father taught there.

Upon leaving the navy I went to work for Dravo Corporation but in Marietta, Ohio not Pittsburgh. Their Pipe Fabrication Division had booked several nuclear jobs so were interested in my navy experience. I worked there for 20 years and traveled often to Pittsburgh for management meetings and such. Sadly I was a witness to the demise of what was once a great company.

During my later years at Dravo my mother moved to Oakmont to live near my sister after my father died. My sister, recently widowed, still lives there but across the river in Fox Chapel. She has friends there and enjoys membership in the Sylvan Canoe Club so says that she’s not moving.

Roger