work in progress, 1/6th 1890's navy steam launch built to navy plans

[tghsmith]

got a gift card from work for the holidays,, Lee Valley ended up with most of it,, added to my small functional plane collection (the others have been working great!!) magnifying desk lamp was on sale,, much better than expected,, Real glass!!! ball joint on top, allen wrench for mid joint is stored in the base....

 

[tghsmith]

last of the steam-bending,, ash that will be slates on the wrap around stern bench seating,, it will sit in the clamps until next week..

 

[tghsmith]

with a little bit of sadness, sawed the deck planking stock on my Byrnes table saw..(hopefully they will stay in production) installed some "shelfs" bow and aft for the deck planks to rest on,, (plans are for the decking and coaming to removable as one section,, the 100 year old+ heart pine actually steams well, main long planks cut and clamped in place.. this boat would of had whitish caulking between the planks,, did a test with add white pigment to Tite-bond III with great results, strong joints with white seams..

 

[Sealeveler]

Beautiful work. You have to give Slim a break, he's working way to many hours. Thanks for posting the process.

 

[tghsmith]

I promoted Slim to "Lord of the Clamps" but he found out it didn't come with a pay raise.. back to shop inspector.. used my home-built dremel router table to rough out the edge section of the wrap-around stern bench.. lots of rasping and sanding to finish it up, thankfully the rest of the seat parts are much less complex.. I think it passes Slim's approval..

 

[TableLegDrew]

Nice work! I look forward to more progress pictures.

 

[tghsmith]

one more steam bent ash part and it was time to put the rear bench together, rigged a jig board to hold things in place for the glue-up,, it still needs a bit more sanding and the brass hardware as the original..

 

[tghsmith]

a little bit of micro turning, stanchions that support the bench, one down five to go,, did a little dremel work on scraper edge to make a marking guide to speed up lay-out and hopefully get them looking the same..

 

[tghsmith]

took me 8 tries to get the needed 6 turnings that look close enough like each other..

 

[Pat M]

took me 8 tries to get the needed 6 turnings that look close enough like each other..

Great work, what type of wood do you use for such thin pieces?

 

[tghsmith]

as I'm trying to stay with the wood types spec'ed in the plans these were done in ash, (ash that came from northern Wisconsin) selected for the finest grain,, doing them in a finer hardwood (boxwood, apple, holly) may have been easier but they will do the job..

 

[tghsmith]

maybe. hopefully the last steam-bent part!!! the cross cockpit arched coaming cap rail.. planking is moving along at about three planks per section per day.. each plank has a slight taper so if things go well they will meet evenly at the center line..

 

[tghsmith]

just a quick update,, the deck planking should be done in a day or so,, work on the figures, the seaman line handler for the stern deck is getting cracker-jacked fairly well, the lady is getting close to painting..

 

[tghsmith]

the deck is planked, sanded and scraped,, those little planes helped greatly, fine tools..

 

[tghsmith]

coaming glued to the deck!!!! work stared on the planked floor sections, the stern floor gets an ash grating in the access hole (will have to rig a jig to make the parts on my small router table..

 

[tghsmith]

spent a bit of time with the Byrne's tools (table-saw and thickness sander) just how precise are they.. 1/2 inch wide by 1/8th inch thick tongue and groove ash and cherry for the interior staving..

 

[tghsmith]

finished the cross section of the seating bench,, the hole is for fitting a sailing mast and gets a brass ring+cover.. T & G staving boards are in place for the main bulkhead,, time spent making the stock is given back during installation!!! photo showing the deck lifts of for interior hull access..

 

[tghsmith]

the curve around the stern is slightly angled back where the slat boards go from the bench to the coaming.. rigged a taper jig on the table saw and prepped stock to get around this section,, it still has to be T&G'ed but hopefully things will work out when I get to the sides of the bench..

 

[smallboat]

Thanks for share all the detailed WIP posts.

For your tapered stock prep, is the TS blade tilted too? looking at the 2nd photo it looks like it might be.

Makes sense since you’re wrapping around a cone.

 

[tghsmith]

the Byrnes saw arbor does not tilt (its big, with big bearings so it will be rock solid and precise) I do have the tilting table if needed.. not dealing with to much of a radical cone, most likely will "adjust" each stave with the scale planes to get nice fits..