I did not get as much done this summer as I thought I would but it's time for another progress report for the record. In the last post the deck cabins were just being started. They aren't finished but they are screwed down to the deck and they each have a removable roof. I don't now why but they do. The deck is now colored with Min Wax stain, a gray blue color that I had to send away for. I wanted a light gray/ bluish transparent color and this fell short of the desired shade by a tiny bit. Knowing my tendency to keep trying to get better with paint and making a real mess of the job, I chose to stop right there and leave it alone. I don't think I like it a whole lot but there it is. Your thoughts? Next came the channels. I could not find anything on the measurements of this timber so I did an educated guess and arrived at the conclusion that the channels were 22 feet long at my scale. I'll have to do one once I get the masts stepped and see what it looks like. The jib boom is finished and looks fine to me. I bought one of those tools that lets you run a stepped down size of dowel starting with the largest diameter part and turning down the rest at smaller and smaller diameters. You mount the dowel into a drill motor chuck and then run the dowel into this block with several diameter cutting holes and presto chango, you have a dowel ready for sanding at the diameters you want. Made the whole jib all in one piece which I hope will be much stronger than several smaller pieces glued together. I may redo the top mast of the three primary masts over again for the same reason now that I have one of these blocks to turn the dowels in. Look much nicer too.
I even built and installed the railing around the weather deck, painted it and then stained the top rail ( monkey rail). I was surprised that I only had to build the rails two times and then installed them. The stern rail took some remodeling to get it level and straight but it came out ok. actually looks like it belongs there. That taff rail gave me a fit. Then came the mast coats. Made them for all the masts and then fitted a block that goes all around the jib and the bowsprit. It's called the "cap" of all things. After that I carved an Eagle head for the figure head and was surprised again at how well it came out. Not as good a some I've seen like the Staghound figurehead which is amazing but it looks like an eagle at least. Have to try the rear Eagle now. By the way, what takes finger prints off copper that won't discolor the metal? Anybody?
That's about it up to now. Here are a few pictures:It looks like I didn't get very good pics of my rogress tis summer. I'll take some more tomorrow and post them. Pete. That's the little tool for reducing wood dowels. pretty handy I'd say. Only $28 with thefreight. It's smaller than it looks.
I even built and installed the railing around the weather deck, painted it and then stained the top rail ( monkey rail). I was surprised that I only had to build the rails two times and then installed them. The stern rail took some remodeling to get it level and straight but it came out ok. actually looks like it belongs there. That taff rail gave me a fit. Then came the mast coats. Made them for all the masts and then fitted a block that goes all around the jib and the bowsprit. It's called the "cap" of all things. After that I carved an Eagle head for the figure head and was surprised again at how well it came out. Not as good a some I've seen like the Staghound figurehead which is amazing but it looks like an eagle at least. Have to try the rear Eagle now. By the way, what takes finger prints off copper that won't discolor the metal? Anybody?
That's about it up to now. Here are a few pictures:It looks like I didn't get very good pics of my rogress tis summer. I'll take some more tomorrow and post them. Pete. That's the little tool for reducing wood dowels. pretty handy I'd say. Only $28 with thefreight. It's smaller than it looks.
