Busy Day!

Today began with bright, clear, sunny skies and the promise of warmer temperatures. Also of note, the peepers in the pond are alive, well and loud!

At 8:00 AM the LL Johnson Lumber delivery truck arrived with the clear, vertical grain Douglas Fir and four sheets of 9mm Meranti plywood I ordered last Friday. The DF (two 20' long 1x6s ripped to 3½" along with the cut-offs) will become Gardens' main mast. The plywood will be used to build Gardens' interior.

The mizzen boom blank (38mm square), glued up yesterday, was planed to 32mm square, marked off with the spar gauge and then planed to an octagon. It was fun to use a tool - the spar gauge - that, in my mind, wasn't going to work for me. A few years ago I tried making a spar gauge and because it didn't work for me (trying to drill precisely spaced and vertical holes with a hand drill was a challenge), I was convinced a spar gauge was beyond me. Well, building one on Sunday and successfully using it today was very satisfying. I'll continue rounding the mizzen boom tomorrow.

I created the blank for the boomkin today. It is laminated from three pieces of 1x4 pinus radiata (sold in the big-box stores as "Select" grade lumber). Two pieces, each 19mm thick, sandwich a third piece milled to 10mm. This blank will be milled to 45mm x 75mm before the tapers are cut. The boomkin will then be shaped to its finished size and shape.

Depending on tomorrow's weather, I expect to get the main yard blank glued up in the morning, continue rounding the mizzen boom and mill the boomkin blank roughly to shape.