Yup. I have always loved the look of pearwood under oil. We'll see if it takes on a natural patina or if I need to do more with it...Love it! The oil shows the beauty of the wood
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Yup. I have always loved the look of pearwood under oil. We'll see if it takes on a natural patina or if I need to do more with it...Love it! The oil shows the beauty of the wood
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I thought, "Yes, Paul is switching to Evergreen."
But as part of developing your proof-of-concept, you clearly demonstrate that your approach works. A beautiful alignment of the beams, each with its own dimensions.
Regards, Peter
I actually used Evergreen on the Kingfisher ship's stove. As you know it offers many creative solutions to complex problems. In this case a simple solution to a simple problem...It took some puzzling out how to hold each end to the disc sander to create the opposite bevel. Once I had that sorted it was just a matter of increasing or decreasing the angles as the hull shape changed. Oh, and trying to remain patient when the fit got worse instead of better...I know exactly how difficult it is to produce the tight fit up of those multiangled end sections. Great results Paul.
Being patient is not my strong suit at all. My joinery at the same type of location as yours is poor at best but I knew that the decking and waterway would be covering it up.It took some puzzling out how to hold each end to the disc sander to create the opposite bevel. Once I had that sorted it was just a matter of increasing or decreasing the angles as the hull shape changed. Oh, and trying to remain patient when the fit got worse instead of better....
I thought your joinery was fine! No decking on this open-ended stern section so I'll be shooting at a pretty refined target. I'm certain to miss at times but the overall experience should be acceptable. Time will tell.Being patient is not my strong suit at all. My joinery at the same type of location as yours is poor at best but I knew that the decking and waterway would be covering it up.
Thanks for this, Herman. A very nice compliment coming from you.The "Old timer's finish" looks great. The precision with which you've custom-made the deck beams is very admirable. I think it takes a model builder to appreciate the value of that.

Ammonia carefully wiped onto raw cherry will immediately enrich the patina, as it will on oak. I don't know if it will work on pear. but you might try it on a scrap.Yup. I have always loved the look of pearwood under oil. We'll see if it takes on a natural patina or if I need to do more with it...
Thanks, Peter. Every day I learn something...Ammonia carefully wiped onto raw cherry will immediately enrich the patina, as it will on oak. I don't know if it will work on pear. but you might try it on a scrap.

Brilliant work, getting the crossbeams match the inside curvature if the hull. Remarkable craftsmanship.Hello Friends,
I'll wrap up my holiday break with a report on the progress that has been made on the next stage of construction: the deck beams. The SP has seven 'decks' if you count the small (tiered) platform in the hold.
The light beams of this lowest platform are the easier to fabricate in the sense that they have no round-up (no camber). Above this lowest platform is a larger platform (I think it is for the bread room), but the beams of this larger structure are cambered (which will be true for all of the formal decks above it).
Getting cambered beams to match is something that can be challenging. For the Kingfisher I used a combination of disc sander and my small mill. But the way I was using the mill was a bit dangerous - and the beams on the Kingfisher were quite a bit smaller (dimensionally) than what I will be building for the SP. I doubted if my small mill could handle the work without making multiple repeated passes on each beam.
Anyway, doubting my ability to safely complete that task, here is my primitive solution for this stern section model:
I cut beam templates from Evergreen sheet stock:
View attachment 568374
I then used the appropriate template, traced it to a dimensionally accurate billet of pear wood, and then roughly cut beams using my scroll saw. I then used an oscillating spindle sander to bring the concave surface to its pencil line, and a disc sander to bring the convex surface to its pencil line.
In order to get these beams to be identical I then created a custom sanding jig cut from a scrap of pine:
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View attachment 568375
This allowed me to refine/smooth the convex and concave surfaces of the beams:
View attachment 568376
I have now installed the lower (tiered) platform as well as the beams for the bread room:
View attachment 568379
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The joinery was no joke because of the curvature of the lower hull and the narrowing stern:
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I believe this approach has passed the proof-of-concept stage and I'll now be repeating this process as I build the five remaining decks. These, of course, will be much more involved as they include all of the expected carlings, ledges, knees, etc., etc.
Thanks for stopping by!
A very kind post, Johan! Thank you for encouraging me!Brilliant work, getting the crossbeams match the inside curvature if the hull. Remarkable craftsmanship.

