Time to shape.

The Carpenters box sits under the bench, full of tools that were a builder’s pride. Hand saws, hand planes, chisels, files, levels and measuring tools to name a few. All in imperial measure of course. The unknown donor of the Carpenters box must have wanted the tools to go to somewhere so that they could be used and cherished. A good set of wheels put on the bottom of the box made it easy to move the box in and out from under the bench and the tools had their place in the shed.

The mould is made, the frames and ribs are bent to an approximate profile, now its time to put some shape into the ribs and keel as they are placed onto the mould.

The making of the frames and stem and stern pieces had the timber splintering under the huge bends put into the timber. “Oregon has a habit of doing this” I was told, “It’s not as closely grained as we’d like.“  But that’s what the two pack glues are about. They make laminating viable but still the timber complains.

Patience is a craft and the use of the old carpenters planes help shape the timber, bringing it alive under the stroke of an artisan, comfortable with the tools that our fathers used. The stem and stern are in place and the planking is about to begin, with the next series of questions about to fall into place.

The planking of the hull will commence shortly with the planks scarfed to assist in the build of the traditional clinker planking. They will begin by taking the first planks to the already installed keelson (or hog). They have been made up in full lengths so that the first planks will have to be fitted to the hog with a modicum of shaping.. critical.. yes because everything has to fit on the boat from here on and any mistakes will be magnified by the time the fifth or sixth plank has gone on.

Covid is a nasty beast and it had the scribe out of action for a while, learning that he wasn’t irreplaceable as the work kept on going and the images tell you of the progress so far.

Hopefully the boat will be at turnover stage shortly and the fitting out can commence.

Rick Steuart