Slackin'

I have been terrible at keeping up with this blog, sorry. I would say i'll do better but until i get going on another boat or big project i think the posts will be more like this one. Filling in for a few weeks lapse. Ill start with something i noticed on the way to work. It was a beautiful sunrise as i pedaled my way to the store until i noticed...

A large navy ship headed to their docks on Indian Island. We usually get supply ships in there but not ships bristling with guns, so that was fairly interesting.

Here is an update on Ben's class'es Lite Board and Batten McKenzie River Boat.

Garboards on and looking really really good. I cant wait to see it at the McKenzie river festival.

At the Community Boat Project the crew and i have been making progress on Epic. Despite the dark and damp she has been coming along very nicely.

Its going to be sweet to see her on the water. 

I also have been working on some things around the house. I started to practice some joinery which i haven't done in a while. Before i had any idea what i was making a book shelf started taking shape.

Furniture is fun to make when you start with absolutely no plan what so ever. This is nice because if it doesn't work out the way you want it to its tough to be disappointed. On the other hand if it works out OK, all the better.

My biggest decision on this little project was what to do with the front legs. Soon i realized that the joinery was so tight that the top shelf didn't need legs it could just cantilever off the back frame.

In the end i only had to cut one little leg. Nice eh? 

I also built some Lazy Susan's. Purple Heart and Paduke. I started by laying up the pieces. Then i  cut them out and finished them off. Interesting note, no sandpaper was used in the build. Cabinet scrapers and sharp tools.

Now that we have passed the longest night of the year i'm hoping that the sun will come out and help to burn off some of this dang fog.

Cheers.

Quite awesome.

To all the drift aficionados out there who have argued which end of the boat is the bow i ask you, what is Ben up to here?

 I got to say i'm jealous not to be building this boat myself but stoked to bend the oars when shes done.

A little late.

I apologize to everyone for not being more on top of this blog as  of late. So here of some photos of what i have been up to lately.

 Doing a little designing, i really want to build a squirt boat.

 A awesome sunset from the hill above our house. With the sun setting at 4:30pm we are deep into the dark times here on the peninsula.

 Two shots of the Dorgin a 1909 life boat that belongs to the Maritime Center. I was doing some paint and varnish work on her.

 Some shots of my new shaping stand. I wrapped it in old bike tires for padding.

 Two pics of the Epic, the Community Boat Projects latest sailing dory.

Of course flying with my dad.  It really is my favorite part of living out here.

And it was film festival time again.

It started with getting the shop organized. I really want to design another whitewater boat, like a canoe or kayak. So i was clearing stuff out and getting set up for that project when the NPFF folks called once again. New t-shirts and sticker designs. So i grabbed my sketch book and started putting pen to paper.

Meanwhile the fall here is being quite spectacular. If you look closely at the left horizon you can see a huge container ship!

 I got the IRH out of the shop so i can have some breathing room this fall and winter, she is super small but still takes up a lot of room.

As all this moving was going on i started to narrow down the sticker design. Attempt seven or eight got me here.

Close enough to start on the final design. Still needs a lot of work but i like it so far, i hope the organizers do to.

With the shop cleaned up i'm excited to see what fun things i can come up with this winter.

Stay tuned!

Serving you the perfect oar wrap!

"Oar wrapping sucks. There is no way around it." This was what i was told and came to understand the last time i had to wrap an oar. But wrapped oars can be $30 dollars more than an unwrapped shaft not to mention you cant have the factory wrap oars you make yourself or those antique sticks you have sitting in the garage.

I think that some rowers use leather instead of poly for the tradition. Most oars that i have seen leathered have tacks driven into the oar to hold the leather on. This creates a rot pocked and eventually will be the location for the failure of the oar. But if you want your boat to be a historical replica sometimes leather is the only way to go. If however you want to branch out into the realm of modern but extremely traditional let me introduce you to the serving mallet.

I was working on Powell replica Whitehalls when i stumbled on this chapter from The Marlinspike Salor By Hervey Garett Smith

 In my world of boat building (river boats) worming, parccling and serving just seemed a reminder of how bad ass big sailing ships are. Covering wire rope and thin line so that sailors can walk on them without hurting their feet.

A few days later it hit me, a serving mallet would be the easiest way to wrap an oar! No more back wrenching, blister inducing, bile creating nasty wrapping. This might even make wrapping oars fun!

So it was without delay that i whipped up this bad boy. The body and handle are 9" long. I chose Purple Heart for the handle and Ash for the body. I know this is a little fru fru but if you make one for yourself be sure to pick hard durable woods or the poly line will wear right through it.

The body is about 2" thick and hollowed out.

You can see the indents the oar wrapping put into the base of the mallet.

All right lets see how this is done. The first thing you need is some Poly. Unwind it from the factory bundle and wind it onto a dowel or skinny scrap lying around, you will see this a few pictures down.

Figure out how much of the oar you want covered and mark it onto the oar shaft.

***I have now done this three times and by no means have it perfected, if you build your own mallet and find better ways to do this i am all ears!***

Then used e-tape to hold the dead end of the line.

***(Here is where i would do things a bit differently if i had built theses oars. If you can rough up a 3" area where the wrap is to start, mix some epoxy add a little sand, coat the area. When varnishing the oar before wrapping don't varnish the roughed up area. This should give you excellent grip for the first couple of wraps.)***

Double back with several wraps ans tight as you can pull them by hand without the wrap spinning on the shaft. (The oar is firmly secured to sawhorses so it cannot spin.)

Add the Serving Mallet.

 This is where it gets fun. After i wrapped the tail in for a few inches i cut off the excess with a utility knife and continued wrapping.

It doesn't take long before your moving along like you know what your doing. So here is how i finally decided to finish off the wraps.

3 or 4" from the end i inserted a loop of poly as seen below and tightly wrapped it in. I secured the end with more e-tape, and fed the spool through the loop.

Now you need to get creative. The force needed to pull the loop through the wrap is astounding, i used a come-along. I have herd of people using sledges and mallets but i just used what i had on hand.

***This part of the process could defiantly be improved by someone**

Finally pull the end through cut it off and add your favorite stops.

Done.

Oh Wait! Here is a picture of a sea anemone and a bridge, enjoy.