Trenails

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Jan 30, 2012
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Wooden pegs were driven in to hold the planks on wooden ships. The internal planking trenail was 1" in diameter. Some older ship might have gone up to 2 inches but I have never seen any documentation for a vessel concerning the size of its trenails. Only a general reference indicating the sizes used. The method of placing the trenails was determined by the width of the deck plank and is covered in Donald Dressel's book "Planking Techniques for Model Ship builders". They were driven in flush with the planking. These would be almost invisible on most models. At 1:75 scale, this would be the size of a number 76 drill bit. If you feel you would like these, the easiest method would be to use an ultra-fine brown pen using a light touch.
 
Re: Treenails

<t>I have heard that tooth picks make great tree nails but are they to big ? When I built a Ships Wheel I used plugs to hide the screws it worked great !</t>
 
Re: Treenails

<t>To get anything small enough, you need a draw plate that goes down to size 80 to make trenails. Skewer stick are bamboo. You draw them through the plate starting at the near size of the material and gradually reduce them.</t>
 
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