Making 1 spar from 2 - a question

[Tim Green]

Looking for advice on the Amati Pinta I'm finishing up ... regarding tying two spars together to make one larger spar ...

• do you just tie them together?
• or carve out the ends a bit, for a good fit, before tying them together?

My instructions do not say, but the plans (see below) suggest this is being done. When I look at the ends of the spars, they are drawn seemingly overlapping the midsection of the spar they mate up with, as if they were hallowed out a bit ...

 

[AndyA]

Cap'n Tim:
I have no information on how those yards were actually assembled but, based on what I know about mechanics and woodworking, I would hypothesize that the overlapping portions were dressed flat for a more secure joint. If one spar was hollowed out (concave) the other one would be convex. The drawings could be interpreted to show a notch where the end of one spar fits to the other. That seems unlikely because that would create a weak spot. I await input from someone out there who knows what they're talking about.
Fair winds!

 

[Tim Green]

Cap'n Tim:
I have no information on how those yards were actually assembled but, based on what I know about mechanics and woodworking, I would hypothesize that the overlapping portions were dressed flat for a more secure joint. If one spar was hollowed out (concave) the other one would be convex. The drawings could be interpreted to show a notch where the end of one spar fits to the other. That seems unlikely because that would create a weak spot. I await input from someone out there who knows what they're talking about.
Fair winds!

Thx AndyA. Makes sense. On my build blog, Signet and Bobby K. suggested dressing em flat to join also. I like it. It also meshes with my build skills.

 

[AllanKP69]

Making yards other than for lateen sails from two pieces tied together is sure different from what we normally see. With wood not being in short supply at that time I wonder why they would do something like that. Interesting to be sure.
Allan

 

[Tim Green]

Making yards other for lateen sails from two pieces tied together is sure different from what we normally see. With wood not being in short supply at that time I wonder why they would do something like that. Interesting to be sure.
Allan

Same here. I'd not seen it before ... not until I resumed work on my Pinta a couple weeks ago.

 

[AndyA]

Making yards other than for lateen sails from two pieces tied together is sure different from what we normally see. With wood not being in short supply at that time I wonder why they would do something like that. Interesting to be sure.
Allan

Yes, some of those lateen yards were really long and required two spars. But for other yards, remember that the appropriate wood, i.e. from trees of the right species, the right length, and the right diameter, wasn't necessarily abundant everywhere at every time. Necessity is the mother of invention. Fair winds!

 

[Signet]

Not only lateen spars were made this way. I assume that 1) Long straight wood was harder to find and 2) More wood removal would be required. The main spar on my Carrack were made that way as well. With that method, there is very little tapering to the yard, yet you get the same effect, where the center portion is much stronger. Tim has since gone ahead and made them up, as shown in a similar thread: https://shipsofscale.com/sosforums/...aravel-an-end-of-build-log.19041/#post-502377