HIGH HOPES, WILD MEN AND THE DEVIL’S JAW - Willem Barentsz Kolderstok 1:50

[Peter Voogt]

Hi Heinrich. The combinatie of the different types off wood looks great. And that oak ………lovely! Take your time.
Regards, Peter

 

[Heinrich]

Hi Heinrich. The combinatie of the different types off wood looks great. And that oak ………lovely! Take your time.
Regards, Peter

Thank you so much, Peter. I am very happy that you like the combination, and more importantly, that you like the oak! With the planking of the oak, I have no option but to take it slowly - the oak sets the pace!

 

[Heinrich]

Hello Everyone

While I am waiting on the glue to dry (the story of my "planking life") , I thought I would share some interesting information with you on the knees used on the Willem Barentsz replica ship.

The information is courtesy of the following article: Replica schip Willem Barentsz na 26.000 uur werk eindelijk te water - MAX Vandaag

HOOGERSMILDE - Wood from the woods of the Drents-Friese provide solidity in the Willem Barentsz. An important part comes from Drenthe, namely the knee.

Designer and shipbuilder Gerald de Weerdt searches among all the wood at wood company Annehiel in Hoogersmilde for wood with the right curvature: "A knee must be one piece and have the right curvature. You can often find it in the crown of an oak tree, but it is usually thrown away." And so Annehiel's employees had to be properly instructed how to cut down the trees. "It was quite a job," says owner Hielke Jensma: "Normally we are looking for the most beautiful and straight parts, but the wood for the knees was to be different According to Jensma, it is a very special job: "The thought of the replica sailing to Nova Zembla, with beautiful Drents wood from us as part of her construction makes the effort worthwhile!"



Gerald de Weerdt (on the left) looking for wood that may be suitable for the knees to be cut from.



Sawing in progress.

De Weerdt was equally enthusiastic: "The great thing is: just like 400 years ago, De Willem Barentz is now also being built with wood from the neighborhood." He gleams with pride when he shows the ship: "Look, here you see such a knee. This ensures a solid connection between the deck and the hull of the ship."



I am not sure who the gentleman is who is holding the raw knee - it is not Gerald de Weerdt. I suspect that it may be Paul Meijeraan, but please do not quote me on that.



Funding for the knees was provided for via the contribution of crowdfunding platform 'Voor de Kunst'. The foundation had given a lot of publicity to the action, with a stall during the Fishing Days, by word of mouth and by engaging the media. The ship will have 88 knees, with the name of the crowdfunding sponsor engraved in each knee.

"There are forty-four deck beams in the ship," Paul Meijeraan (Chairman – Friends of the Willem Barentsz Foundation) explains. "That means we need 88 knee pads. You can't just saw it out of a block of wood. Then they are not strong enough. You really have to look for crooked trees and branches. The entire ship is made up of thick pieces of oak. We received a lot of wood from the State Forest, as a sponsorship, but we have to pay for the knees."



On this excellent picture that Mees Ippel sent me, you can see the name of the donor engraved on the knee.









Interestingly, the last picture is from the Koos Weestra model. Just by looking at the number of knees and the sizes of them (remember the total length of the WB was only 19.5 meters), we can form a clear idea of how strongly the ship was built.

 

[Daniel20]

Interesting to me (on the last Picture) that the interior planks the knees go up against look like old growth pine of a grade of #1. The flat decking strip and the rest of the timbers look like oak though.

 

[dockattner]

What I find interesting is the various shapes/lengths of the knees. They apparently just used the available timber to its best advantage. @Maarten has often observed that the perfection we pursue in our models just didn't exist in the real world...

 

[Heinrich]

Interesting to me (on the last Picture) that the interior planks the knees go up against look like old growth pine of a grade of #1. The flat decking strip and the rest of the timbers look like oak though.

Agreed Daniel. That does look like pine!

 

[Heinrich]

What I find interesting is the various shapes/lengths of the knees. They apparently just used the available timber to its best advantage. @Maarten has often observed that the perfection we pursue in our models just didn't exist in the real world...

Exactly, Paul! Have a look at the picture of the cabin's cabin.


Just look at the gaps between the planks as indicated by the yellow arrows. And this is just one example of plenty more that I can see on the photographs. Sure, like Hans said, it still needs to be filled with hemp and tar, but even so ... Admiral Anna would have fired me a long time ago if I had those gaps in my planking!

 

[Pathfinder65]

My curiosity bone has kicked in.” Oak on Pine, Oak on Oak, Oak on ?” Expansion - Contraction, Heat - Cold, Wet - Dry. It must have been constant maintenance to keep a ship afloat.

 

[Heinrich]

My curiosity bone has kicked in.” Oak on Pine, Oak on Oak, Oak on ?” Expansion - Contraction, Heat - Cold, Wet - Dry. It must have been constant maintenance to keep a ship afloat.

Jan, note the Pine is on the model - as far as I know, pine was not used on ships. The Dutch ships were built exclusively from oak while the deck was often from "Greine wood". Oak proved too slippery for the deck. Bear in mind that the average life expectancy of a ship was fifteen years.

 

[Heinrich]

Good morning, everyone. I think I am going to retire from this business, and I take up gardening. Why gardening? Well, I don't have a garden so I cannot screw that up!

I finished laying the third plank on the Port Side yesterday.


Very happy with that.


And very happy with that too,

Then I finished the same 3 planks on the Starboard side.



And when looking at this picture, I was even happier ... until I saw this total mess.



Just look at the totally uneven and undulating line that the planks follow towards the bow. The reason? Pathetic fairing of the hull on the starboard side.



The graveyard!

 

[Nomad]

Good morning, everyone. I think I am going to retire from this business, and I take up gardening. Why gardening? Well, I don't have a garden so I cannot screw that up!

I finished laying the third plank on the Port Side yesterday.

View attachment 319324
Very happy with that.

View attachment 319325
And very happy with that too,

Then I finished the same 3 planks on the Starboard side.

View attachment 319326

And when looking at this picture, I was even happier ... until I saw this total mess.

View attachment 319332

Just look at the totally uneven and undulating line that the planks follow towards the bow. The reason? Pathetic fairing of the hull on the starboard side.

View attachment 319333

The graveyard!

View attachment 319334

Re-do coin? I'm sure you'll get it sorted soon Heinrich. I am coming to accept that re-do's are a pivotal aspect of ship building. Everything happens for a reason kind of thing. By re-doing a task you are invariably equipped with more knowledge - and caution perhaps - the second time around. Looking forward to those three starboard planks looking better than their port side counterparts, who are probably having a bit of a giggle at the moment

 

[Pathfinder65]

Heinrich, I would consider this to be just another lesson in the build saga. I'm positive the "Re-DO" will look exceptional.

 

[Richie]

Good morning, everyone. I think I am going to retire from this business, and I take up gardening. Why gardening? Well, I don't have a garden so I cannot screw that up!

I finished laying the third plank on the Port Side yesterday.

View attachment 319324
Very happy with that.

View attachment 319325
And very happy with that too,

Then I finished the same 3 planks on the Starboard side.

View attachment 319326

And when looking at this picture, I was even happier ... until I saw this total mess.

View attachment 319332

Just look at the totally uneven and undulating line that the planks follow towards the bow. The reason? Pathetic fairing of the hull on the starboard side.

View attachment 319333

The graveyard!

View attachment 319334

A familiar sight, planks ripped of because of not being happy with them, I am sure you will find that happy place where it will be looking fantastic.

 

[GrantTyler]

Good morning Heinrich. I disappear for 24 hours and I need 20min reading to catch up your log .I think everyone has said it- first class work on your wales and the oak looks stunning. Better to redo than live with disappointment. You set high standards Heinrich and it reflects in your WB. Cheers Grant

 

[Heinrich]

Re-do coin? I'm sure you'll get it sorted soon Heinrich. I am coming to accept that re-do's are a pivotal aspect of ship building. Everything happens for a reason kind of thing. By re-doing a task you are invariably equipped with more knowledge - and caution perhaps - the second time around. Looking forward to those three starboard planks looking better than their port side counterparts, who are probably having a bit of a giggle at the moment

Hello Mark. I am so angry with myself, because this time there really is no excuse. I even reminded myself after I did the boxing of the hull, that I had to RE-CHECK the fairing above the wales. When the hull is only partially boxed as is the case affect the angles on the upper part the bulkheads. This I simply neglected. I was very lucky on the Port Side and assumed the starboard side would be ok too. And we all know "Assumption is the mother of all ..."

 

[Heinrich]

View attachment 319340

Heinrich, I would consider this to be just another lesson in the build saga. I'm positive the "Re-DO" will look exceptional.

Jan that is what is so frustrating this time. I knew exactly what I needed to do - and then didn't do it. Now I am paying the price.

 

[Heinrich]

A familiar sight, planks ripped of because of not being happy with them, I am sure you will find that happy place where it will be looking fantastic.

You are right Richie. It almost seems mandatory on the WB for me to first strip a section of completed planking. Last time it was three planks below the wales, now it is three above the wales. Funny thing - both on the starboard side.

 

[Heinrich]

Good morning Heinrich. I disappear for 24 hours and I need 20min reading to catch up your log .I think everyone has said it- first class work on your wales and the oak looks stunning. Better to redo than live with disappointment. You set high standards Heinrich and it reflects in your WB. Cheers Grant

Thank you for the kind words Grant. Yes, I do try to set high standards, and that is why such an omission on my part is just unforgiveable. I caught up on some much needed sleep this morning, and am giving myself a little break today.

 

[Daniel20]

Good morning, everyone. I think I am going to retire from this business, and I take up gardening. Why gardening? Well, I don't have a garden so I cannot screw that up!

I finished laying the third plank on the Port Side yesterday.

View attachment 319324
Very happy with that.

View attachment 319325
And very happy with that too,

Then I finished the same 3 planks on the Starboard side.

View attachment 319326

And when looking at this picture, I was even happier ... until I saw this total mess.

View attachment 319332

Just look at the totally uneven and undulating line that the planks follow towards the bow. The reason? Pathetic fairing of the hull on the starboard side.

View attachment 319333

The graveyard!

View attachment 319334

Hello Heinrich, in my book I call 'finding that planking error' a good catch. I would not have known to source the problem to improper fairing, so you have provided yet another learning opportunity at least for me. I understand the concept of fairing a hull support structure, I just find it difficult to actually do it because I only have my eyes and no other way to check its accuracy aside from laying a long plank down the whole side. Then having to replicate a mirror image for the opposite side seems impossible. Thanks for sharing this episode.

 

[Heinrich]

Hello Heinrich, in my book I call 'finding that planking error' a good catch. I would not have known to source the problem to improper fairing, so you have provided yet another learning opportunity at least for me. I understand the concept of fairing a hull support structure, I just find it difficult to actually do it because I only have my eyes and no other way to check its accuracy aside from laying a long plank down the whole side. Then having to replicate a mirror image for the opposite side seems impossible. Thanks for sharing this episode.

You are so right Daniel. For some or other reason I "read" the port side easier, but this time I was happy with my fairing. However, once the filler blocks had gone, the angles of the bulkhead frames on the starboard side changed - by a very small margin, buy just enough to cause chaos. And I reminded myself beforehand to check the fairing above the wales after sanding the blocks - but then didn't do it. So, I can only be angry with myself.