Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Planking Almost Done
Getting there with the planking…
The last two planks are nearly complete. Just two more short pieces to install tomorrow and Gardens' hull will be planked!
Photos tomorrow upon completion of this (to me) milestone.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Plankng Progress (Really)
The last two days have been productive: Planks 2 and 3 have been installed!
Clearly there is much work to do to clean up the planking once it is all installed.
Today was a day of taking it easy and enjoying the unseasonably mild weather. I also took to heart comments made on the John Welsford Yahoo group concerning a neat and tidy shop making the boat work easier. I had let my workbench become so cluttered I couldn't find tools (that I had just used) yesterday. Today I cleaned and organized the workbench, including the addition of a 3-drawer tool chest. Now that the shop is neater and tidier, perhaps I'll remember to put tools away at the end of the day...
Planking will continue tomorrow. Bevels and lands for the fourth plank(s) to be cut in the morning. Cutting, fitting and gluing the planks will follow.
Clearly there is much work to do to clean up the planking once it is all installed.
Today was a day of taking it easy and enjoying the unseasonably mild weather. I also took to heart comments made on the John Welsford Yahoo group concerning a neat and tidy shop making the boat work easier. I had let my workbench become so cluttered I couldn't find tools (that I had just used) yesterday. Today I cleaned and organized the workbench, including the addition of a 3-drawer tool chest. Now that the shop is neater and tidier, perhaps I'll remember to put tools away at the end of the day...
Planking will continue tomorrow. Bevels and lands for the fourth plank(s) to be cut in the morning. Cutting, fitting and gluing the planks will follow.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Planking Continues… and About Those Gains
Planking continues and the work is going well. Hey, I may even have the planking completed by my projected target date of next Wednesday…
As for the gains… I looked at photos of completed Pathfinders for inspiration and found that some (perhaps many?) carry the lapstrakes all the way to the stem (in other words, the builders didn't cut the gains). This discovery sent me back to the instructions and drawings for guidance and, there is NOTHING in the written instructions about cutting gains or smoothing the bow. The drawings show the lapstrakes carried forward to the stem. Could this be? Have I been making life more difficult than it needs to be? I think so. A DECISION: I am not cutting the gains to smooth the bow of Gardens. I will carry the lapstrakes to the stem and cap the ends with an outer stem.
There, I feel better.
As for the gains… I looked at photos of completed Pathfinders for inspiration and found that some (perhaps many?) carry the lapstrakes all the way to the stem (in other words, the builders didn't cut the gains). This discovery sent me back to the instructions and drawings for guidance and, there is NOTHING in the written instructions about cutting gains or smoothing the bow. The drawings show the lapstrakes carried forward to the stem. Could this be? Have I been making life more difficult than it needs to be? I think so. A DECISION: I am not cutting the gains to smooth the bow of Gardens. I will carry the lapstrakes to the stem and cap the ends with an outer stem.
There, I feel better.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
New Shop Accessory
Dust collection is always a concern and consideration when working with wood. My shop is pretty rudimentary - band saw and thickness planer are on castors for flexibility - and the shop-vac rolls around as needed.
I have sort of coveted fancy dust collection systems even while realizing a fancy system is more than I need or can justify. Over the years I've seen the Dust Duputy cyclone separator (a plastic fitting to install on a 5-gal bucket which serves to make a shop-vac a two-stage vacuum) but never went ahead with getting one. Recently, on various small boat internet forums, I have seen posts for making your own cyclone separator patterned after the Dust Deputy. Frankly, this sort of DIY projects are fascinating but often impractical for me. So, early this week I searched Amazon for the Dust Deputy by Oneida. Dust Deputy by Oneida. Okay, $40 and a little finagling to fit it to the top of a 5-gal bucket. I almost ordered one…
But... I spotted this:
The Woodstock Mini 2-Stage Cyclone Separator. After reading the reviews I decided it was worth 'risking' $22 on it. I ordered one.
It arrived today and, like a kid on Christmas morning, I ripped open the box and hooked it up. This thing flat out WORKS! The dust and bits vacuumed up fell into the 5-gal bucket, not the shop-vac. This will help prolong the life of the filter, to say nothing of how much easier it is to empty a 5-gal bucket than the shop-vac. Of course, the Dust Deputy might be twice as effective - but I'll never know because I'm pleased with this product and recommend it if you are using just a shop-vac for dust collection in your shop. (The usual disclaimers apply - I have no financial interest in this product. I am a happy customer.) Oh, and by the way, I installed another piece of planking today and the planking of Gardens is now past the half-way point.
I have sort of coveted fancy dust collection systems even while realizing a fancy system is more than I need or can justify. Over the years I've seen the Dust Duputy cyclone separator (a plastic fitting to install on a 5-gal bucket which serves to make a shop-vac a two-stage vacuum) but never went ahead with getting one. Recently, on various small boat internet forums, I have seen posts for making your own cyclone separator patterned after the Dust Deputy. Frankly, this sort of DIY projects are fascinating but often impractical for me. So, early this week I searched Amazon for the Dust Deputy by Oneida. Dust Deputy by Oneida. Okay, $40 and a little finagling to fit it to the top of a 5-gal bucket. I almost ordered one…
But... I spotted this:
It arrived today and, like a kid on Christmas morning, I ripped open the box and hooked it up. This thing flat out WORKS! The dust and bits vacuumed up fell into the 5-gal bucket, not the shop-vac. This will help prolong the life of the filter, to say nothing of how much easier it is to empty a 5-gal bucket than the shop-vac. Of course, the Dust Deputy might be twice as effective - but I'll never know because I'm pleased with this product and recommend it if you are using just a shop-vac for dust collection in your shop. (The usual disclaimers apply - I have no financial interest in this product. I am a happy customer.) Oh, and by the way, I installed another piece of planking today and the planking of Gardens is now past the half-way point.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Planks, Gains and Winter Projects
Each plank (or piece of plank) installed on Gardens improves my techniques: the planks fit better and there is much less struggle involved with installing them. Now, the struggle may be easing because these recent planks have less twist in them but I'd like to believe I am getting better at this. As it is, I am planning to complete the planking by November 14. Since I have a history of perpetual optimism, we'll se…
The gains are still an issue. Joel's nifty Gain Machine may be the solution for the next four of the six sets of gains (the garboards are on the boat and, so, those need to be cut in place). In the meantime, I am still experimenting with a Japanese pull saw and a large rasp.
Temperatures around here are dropping - the season's first dusting of snow fell Saturday morning. I will soon need to shift projects from the shop to the house. I've begun a list of projects I can work on in the house such as the sails (SailRite kits), rudder cheeks, tiller and other bits and pieces. The mast, boom and yard will have to wait until next spring as access to the basement precludes moving materials in or the finished spars out. I do not anticipate a lack of boat bits to work on when it is too cold in the shop.
The gains are still an issue. Joel's nifty Gain Machine may be the solution for the next four of the six sets of gains (the garboards are on the boat and, so, those need to be cut in place). In the meantime, I am still experimenting with a Japanese pull saw and a large rasp.
Temperatures around here are dropping - the season's first dusting of snow fell Saturday morning. I will soon need to shift projects from the shop to the house. I've begun a list of projects I can work on in the house such as the sails (SailRite kits), rudder cheeks, tiller and other bits and pieces. The mast, boom and yard will have to wait until next spring as access to the basement precludes moving materials in or the finished spars out. I do not anticipate a lack of boat bits to work on when it is too cold in the shop.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Cutting the Gains
Cutting the gains - to fair the planks into a smooth surface at the stem - has been one of those "how the heck am I going to do that?" concerns of mine since before deciding to build the Pathfinder. I mean, I admire those great looking lapstrake boats with their planks blending into such a fair and elegant surface at the bow. I just didn't understand how to do that. Oh sure, I read about, saw step by step photo instructions and watched videos - and I finally understood the mechanics of the process. I still wasn't sure I could do it.
Today, after working on the first set of gains (there are six sets), I'm still not sure I can do it. My rabbet plane didn't do what I saw done in photos - might be operator error, though. A block plane was actually more effective but not much. A 14" horse-hoof rasp was not very effective either. I tried the grinder but that is hit or miss - practice pieces weren't too bad but I don't like the results I got on the hull.
Now, despite not being pleased with my efforts, I did make progress and will continue working out a methodology that will work for me. This first gain needs more workbut that last gain ought to look pretty good.
Between the various attempts to cut the gains, I began the third plank. So, the first third of the third plank on the port side of the hull is in place. This was a "feel-good" installation as everything went well: grinding the bevels; marking off and cutting the piece; fitting only required a couple of very minor tweaks and the gluing.
Today, after working on the first set of gains (there are six sets), I'm still not sure I can do it. My rabbet plane didn't do what I saw done in photos - might be operator error, though. A block plane was actually more effective but not much. A 14" horse-hoof rasp was not very effective either. I tried the grinder but that is hit or miss - practice pieces weren't too bad but I don't like the results I got on the hull.
Now, despite not being pleased with my efforts, I did make progress and will continue working out a methodology that will work for me. This first gain needs more workbut that last gain ought to look pretty good.
Between the various attempts to cut the gains, I began the third plank. So, the first third of the third plank on the port side of the hull is in place. This was a "feel-good" installation as everything went well: grinding the bevels; marking off and cutting the piece; fitting only required a couple of very minor tweaks and the gluing.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Planking Continues...
After returning from my annual fall road trip (Baldwin and Munising, MI, Duluth, MN, Bayfield, WI and the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park on Michigan's UP), I have resumed work on Gardens.
Planking continues and my lessons continue as well. Wrestling the garboards into place had me convinced the rest of the planking would be much easier. Well, the second plank is not any easier to fit than the garboard. In fact, while using a 6' length of 2x3 to leverage a portion of the port-side second plank into place, I managed to crack a stringer. The stringer did not split through and a bit of thickened epoxy squirted into the crack seems to be an effective fix.
Cutting the gains at the bow is the next task/skill to master.
Planking continues and my lessons continue as well. Wrestling the garboards into place had me convinced the rest of the planking would be much easier. Well, the second plank is not any easier to fit than the garboard. In fact, while using a 6' length of 2x3 to leverage a portion of the port-side second plank into place, I managed to crack a stringer. The stringer did not split through and a bit of thickened epoxy squirted into the crack seems to be an effective fix.
Cutting the gains at the bow is the next task/skill to master.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)