Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Starling Project - Part 10

CRAMPING - MY STYLE

There have been a number of little jobs to do before the "planking" or should that be "plywooding" ? begins. Here at the bow (above) I have glued and screwed some backing pieces so that when the new bottom plank butts up  against the forward bow piece there is a something to glue and screw to. I have used some 'G' cramps in conjunction with wooden packing blocks to hold it all in place while the glue dries.

Because there was already an existing backing block  glued on, my new block altered all the levels so I had to glue on a couple of short pieces of wood to level things up. The only pieces of wood I had available that were exactly the correct thickness were two old broken pieces of an imperial measurement 'yard' long rule. When cut to the correct lengths, they fitted perfectly.

Here the shapes of the new plywood planks have been transferred from the cardboard patterns that I created, onto the plywood. When the work is completed there will be very little left from three sheets of plywood.



2 comments:

Kate said...

I love that you used an old ruler to pad out the spaces. I have a great fondness for those old rulers. They were made of very good quality wood and in the eyes of a four year old were the perfect fishing pole. Along with cotton, a bent pin and a piece of bread which fell off mediately it got wet.
How did you get the pattern for those other pieces you need? Did you trace on newspaper first?

Alden Smith said...

I am encouraged that you testify to the quality of the wood, I was a bit worried that the ruler might be made of some old rubbishy pine,(which would have been ok well painted inside the hull away from any fresh water) but having taken a quick look I think you are correct about the quality.

When these old rulers were made they were making lots of things with native Kahikatea timber (millions of butter for export boxes were made with this native timber - a huge waste by todays conservation values) and I think this is what this old ruler is made of. A good friend of mine built a large yacht with Kahikatea and it's still going strong!

I used bread on a hook myself in the Avon river 900 years ago and successfully caught small herrings. Chesdale cheese worked just as well believe it or not.

To make the patterns I first bought from 'Warehouse Stationary'four large brown cardboard boxes for about $8. I then laid them on the hull, traced with a builders pencil and cut out with scissors. I was then left with a number of large patterns not unlike the paper patterns our mums used years ago to make dresses. These cardboard patterns were then laid onto the sheets of plywood and traced.

Its all a slow, absorbing, methodical labour of love really, which acts on the soul like good meditation practise.