Author: gene.tehansky

Skiff Building – Setting up the Molds and Installing Garboard Planks

In the last newsletter we talked about attaching the molds to the strongback and building some of the first components that help provide the structure for planking.  These parts include the inner stem and stem knee.  The stem on this boat has two parts, an inner and outer, split at the back rabbet, negating the need to carve a rabbet (see week 3 for rabbit carving details).  The longitudinal components installed at this point are the chine logs on each side and the apron down the center.  Both of these parts are milled from Sapele, an African hardwood.   Some of the bevels for these pieces are cut prior to installation based off the lofting and others are done once the pieces are on the boat.  The white oak transom, located at the stern, is made from a number of white oak planks glued together with splines.  The part is cut from a lofting pattern and installed at the correct height and angle.  It is attached to the longitudinal apron and chine logs.   The top or bottom of the transom, depending on your reference point (the boat is upside down) is left long to be trimmed later to allow for installation of an outboard engine. 

This boat is designed for lapstrake or clinker style planks where the top plank overlaps the one below.  The side planking material is 1/2” thick cedar, the boards we are using are about 12” wide.  The process to determine where all the planks will be located is called lining out.  Battens are strung along the molds representing the overlap of each plank, the purpose is to make sure the spacing of the planking is pleasing to the eye.  Next the garboard blank is “offered up” to the boat and clamped in place.  We used the chine logs and our reference marks from the lining out process to determine the shape.   Once the shape is is confirmed, the process involves offering the plank to the boat multiple times slowly trimming away material each time to get the shape exactly correct (skill and experience will expedite this process).  Once we are satisfied with the shape we add the gains in the bow, bevel along the length and the ship lap in the stern.  This joinery is characteristic in a lapstrake boat and is how the garboard plank interfaces with the next plank.  This will make more sense when the subsequent planks are attached.  We added a modern touch to our boat, sika flex, which is a flexible adhesive that will help reduce the potential for leaks.  The plank is attached to the stem, chine log and transom using bronze screws.  

Next Quarter

The school is structured into quarters where shop time in the first quarter focuses heavily on wood working.  Fall quarter is coming to an end and it is time to start discussing projects for the subsequent quarters.  I like the way this school is structured, in that they have so many different and interesting projects going on at the same time.  For 2022-23 there are 15 boats (including the skiffs we started this quarter) that will either be completed or started (some of which i have shown in previous newsletters).  Placement will be a lottery system where we choose our top 3 projects and then we are assigned based on workload and interest.  So many cool projects to choose from.  

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Lofting Part 2

In lofting part 1 we talked about lofting, how it is used in boat building and the development of the rabbet.  This week I am going to review two additional developments, mold reduction and transom rollout.

Molds are part of  the temporary structure used to define the shape of a boat’s hull.  The reductions are a drawing of the mold shape on the lofting floor.  The molds are made from the body plan stations and must account for the appropriate structural systems (planking, framing and longitudinals, longitudinals are any structure that runs the length of the boat).  In order to define the mold lines we need to understand how the lines were developed in the design.  In the case of the sixteen, the lines are to the outside of planking (other designs could be different, for example a lapstrake boat might be to the inside).  Another piece of information we need to understand is how the boat will be constructed in relation to planking, frames and longitudinals (PFL).  In the case of the sixteen the frames are bent outside of the longitudinals.  As a result the mold reductions in the sixteen need to account for the PFL thickness.  Depending on the boat design other build methods could be used. 

If you take a perpendicular slice of PFL at each station the length of the face of the slice will be more than the thickness of the material (think of cutting a delicious baguette at an angle).  I am going to walk through the tricks we learned to measure that angle, but the underlying concept will be difficult for me to explain in this context.  In general the measurement is a function of the distance between stations, right triangles and good old pythagorus.  The angle (bevel) could be different at each point along each station.  To determine the bevels we make a bevel stick from our master bevel board.  The markings on the stick are at a distance from 0 on the master board equal to 2 times the station spacing (see pic).  That bevel stick is placed in multiple places across three stations in the body plan to determine the bevels of the center station (for example a stick placed across 2, 3 and 4 would find the bevel at station 3.  For stations 1 and 7 we draw in new stations (yes we can have as many stations as we want) to get those bevels.  

Now that we have bevels along each station line we can move on to determining where the mold lines would be located.  The distance from the station line to the mold reduction is PFL (planking + frames + longitudinals).  The longitudinals have taper along the length of the boat so they can bend in place, as a result the thickness is different at each station (purposely not covering that math). To measure our baguette cut along all the station lines we make a clear mylar bevel board.  We mark a reference line on the board at 0 degrees that represents the PFL thickness.  We align the bevel line on the board at the appropriate bevel line on the lofting and mark the distance to our reference line (spoiler alert its going to be longer than what it was at 0 degrees, pic below).  Once you make your marks, a line is drawn using finish nails and a batten.  One other detail I am going to gloss over is making notches for the beam shelf (a longitudinal), the notches are represented in the pictures below.  The size of the shelf is obtained from the plans and the lines are drawn using similar methodology.

Once we have our mold reduction lines we can make some molds.  There are many different methods depending on builder preference and mold complexity.  The method we used involved transferring the reduced line to a piece of mylar then to some stock.   When transferring to stock you need to be mindful of the grain orientation of the futtocks (love this word).  In addition, to the mold line we also transferred the bevels (the bevel on the edge of the mold helps to define the shape of the hull) from the lofting and a few reference lines.  The rolling bevel on the futtocks is cut out on the band saw as a team. Where one person is driving and calling out bevels and the other is rotating the table to make the appropriate angles. This process makes one half of the mold which can be copied as a mirror image.  This assembly is temporarily attached to the floor where they are connected with gussets and a cross spall of appropriate strength.  

Roll out transom

Rolling out the transom, the flat (or not so flat) surface that forms the stern of a boat.  Not all boats have them, but this one does. On the sixteen, the transom is raked and curved as such there is no view in the lofting up to this point that could be used to transfer its shape to a piece of stock.  The development of rolling out the transom puts the shape in a plane where it can be transferred onto a solid blank of material.  The roll out includes the shape, thickness and any bevels that might be required.  We were given a detailed step by step instructions on how to generate these lines and translate them back and forth between various views to define the shape and thickness of the transom.  I went through the process and I have a picture of the result below.  I have more to learn on this process to be comfortable performing it without some guidance.  

Building a skiff

We started building a boat!  It is flat bottomed skiff, a 14’10” design from Atkin.  This is a work boat that could be set up with oars or a small outboard motor.  The flat bottom design provides stability that is desirable in a boat of this type.  We are a team of 9 plus our instructor working together to build a boat.  A different dynamic which is more fun for me, I always preferred my project classes. 

The lofting for the skiff is simpler than the sixteen’s and was completed quickly.  Once the lofting was done we could start building molds.  The nice thing about working as a team of 9 was that while mold construction was underway I was on another team working to make the strongback.  The strongback is a ladder type system made of sturdy lumber where the top is perfectly level.  We used some edge jointed 2x12s, laser level and shims (i love shims) to make that happen.  Other work that was happening simultaneously was building some of the first boat parts including the stem, transom, chine logs and apron.  We were able to get all of the molds mounted on the strong back, a fun milestone.  For the rest of the school this quarter we are almost 100% skiff mode.  I am looking forward to seeing her far we get before holiday break.  

https://www.woodenboat.com/boat-plans-kits/14-10-outboard-sprite

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Lofting Part 1

Lofting is drawing the lines of a boat full size and using those lines to develop molds and patterns.  The process helps ensure a boat is accurate in its layout and pleasing in appearance.    Drafting, discussed in week 5, is drawing the lines of a boat at scale.  The beginning steps of lofting and drafting are identical, however drafting covers only 30% of the necessary steps to loft a boat.  A drafting, similar to the one we completed of the “sixteen”, contains all the views to communicate the 3d shape of a boat (to the outside of planking) in a 2d format.  At the end of the day it is an exercise that helps prevent us from making a crappy boat!  The process of lofting can be applied to other craft that have fair lines, such as airplanes.

There are many methods of lofting, plenty of text to read and videos to watch.  Lofting is a great way to teach boatbuilding because its a set of steps that can be laid out in a methodical manner.  We aren’t learning to build boats by eye.  The boatbuilding method we are learning is called the Prothero method (it may also be considered the “west coast” as well but don’t quote me).  It was developed by Bob Prothero, one of the founders of the Northwest School of Woodenboat Building in 1981 (check out Wooden Boat #249 for an article with more detail on the Prothero method).  One of the key elements of this method is that it relies on an accurate lofting.   We spend our time up front, making sure everything works out before cutting one timber.  Pencil lead and 1/8” plywood is much cheaper than boat building materials.

At the time of this writing my teammate and I have not completed the lofting sequence.  So I am dividing up lofting into 2 parts (hopefully it will only be 2 parts). A cliffhanger!

To start we cleared the floors in the shop and stapled down 1/8” plywood and painted it white.  We are working in teams of two and our shop has 9 loftings going on simultaneously.  Each team develops their lofting within a 6 ft x 20 ft space.  Once the paint is dry we lay out our grid and start placing lines of the boat in the same sequence as the drafting exercise.  There are a few take aways for me that make this process unique.  The selection of batten is important for developing fair lines, in drafting we had one plastic spline that we used for all but the tightest curves.  In lofting you pick out battens (long pieces of wood at various cross sections) to draw your curves.  The larger the cross section the more fair a line but it may not be able to make all the curves.  Smaller cross sections can make the curves but may not generate a sufficiently fair line.  I was also introduced to the bundle batten, a number of thin wood strips, riveted together at one end.  The strips slide against each other allowing it to make tight curves. This batten was a necessity when laying out the stations in the body plan. The general rule is to use as stiff a batten as possible to make the curve.   I also gained a better understanding of the usefulness of the unique numbering system used in the table of offsets (table that identifies the points for many of the lines).  Each point is 3 numbers, 3-1-2 for example, which represents 3 feet, 1 inch and 2 eights of an inch.  Weird right?  Well when you are in a team working to plot points its easier to call out 3 numbers than some combination of empirical measurements.  I am not going to bring up the metric system … but I should.  The battens are all held in place when drawing the lines with finish nails.  You can’t just place the nail on the point because the batten will be in the wrong place and your line will be incorrect.  The nail has to be offset slightly in the correct direction, another skill to learn. 

Once the lines are drawn and proven out we are 30% complete.  Next we move into the developments.  These are the steps that generate the lines for patterns and molds.  The first development is the rabbet.  I talked about the rabbet in week 3 when I made a stem for an imaginary boat.  The rabbet is a groove that runs along the length of the backbone and accepts the planking.  The plan for the sixteen only provides the location of the rabbet line.  From the exterior of the boat the rabbet is where the planking and the backbone meet.  The planking is recessed into the backbone (check out carving the rabbet in week 3) and we need to understand angle and depth of the groove that accepts this planking. These locations are represented by the back rabbet and bearding lines. To further complicate the development this boat is designed with a split keel which means the backbone is split into 2 pieces, the keel and the apron, at the back rabbet. This method is easier for construction (the rabbet only needs to be carved at the stem) but requires more lines in the lofting.  Depending on the angle at which the planking meets the boat we need to use various geometric gymnastics to determine these additional lines.  There are a few different methods but the most challenging is when the planking meets the backbone at an oblique angle. In this boat that is when the back bone turns into the stem and transom.  To develop the lines we make multiple projected views where know dimensions can be used to find the necessary points. These points are translated back to the profile view and then the body plan (spoiler alert we use these lines to make the molds). Like I said gymnastics. 

The next developments are mold reduction and transom rollout and will be discussed in more detail in part 2.

Lofting is a mix of repetitive tasks, head scratching geometry and trouble shooting past errors.  I am starting to learn the relative importance of all the lines and points, some are more important than others.  It really is a chicken and the egg situation, if I had built a boat with traditional methods already this lofting would make more sense.  However, if I was building a boat having not lofted it I wouldn’t know the boat as well and I could make costly or time consuming mistakes.  I am trying to focus on process and not just pushing to get it done.  The better the lofting the better the boat.  But I want to build a boat!! 

Half Model

We built a half model of the sixteen.  Half hull models are used to show the lines of a boat in a three dimensional format.  Half models, along with being cool to look at, plan a ship’s design ensuring it meets the designers vision.  The process starts with identifying the waterlines in the profile view, to determine material thickness.  In our case they are the 3/4” in height which works well with dimensional lumber.  The half breadths of each water line are transferred to the stock using sail pins (a method we have used before).  Once the water lines are on the stock they are cut using the bandsaw.  The stations are used as reference lines to help align the lifts when gluing.  When the glue dries you cut the sheer and start working the hull to shape using progressively smaller tools (number 4 plane, block plane, then spoke shave).  I didn’t finish mine (because we cleared the floor for lofting) but its real close and you can get the idea.  If a designer was working on something new they might start with an existing design and modify it to obtain a different outcome.  

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Drafting

In my previous training and work I have always considered technical drawing or drafting to be a communication tool for a design. The interesting thing, and my main takeaway, about drafting in the boat building world is that the act of drafting is also a design tool.  I have written a lot of words about this topic for those like detail. For those that prefer a big picture assessment think of drafting as a way to communicate a boat’s design and a tool that works to make hull shape pleasing to the eye in all directions.

Now for the detail.

In the most basic sense, drafting in the context of boatbuilding is communicating a 3d object in 2d format.  Many boats have complex hull shapes that should be fair in all directions.  A fair line or surface is one that is free of any extraneous bumps or hollows.  The practice of drafting, then subsequently lofting, helps to generate lines of a boat that meet that criteria.  Taking the time to do this work up front will reduce the amount of fairing (the act of making something fair) once the hull is constructed.  

Drafting starts with the table of offsets, a collection of measurements, in a non typical format the describes the shape of the hull.  From a builders perspective, the table of offsets comes from the plans.  One possible way to develop these offsets is from a half hull model (which would be developed by modifying a current design or by eye).   Check out the video from of Halsey Herreshoff using cool old measurement tool to generate an offset table.  In modern times computer software can help develop the shape.  But here at boat school we are old school and are going to draft with pencil and paper.  Mainly because we will use the same process to loft our boats.  The process of lofting generates the hull shape in a 1:1 scale.  These lines are used to fabricate the molds and patterns needed to build a boat.

A lines drawing of a boat typically has 4 views, sheer (profile or side view), half breadth (plan or top view), body plan (cross sections from bow to stern also called mold stations), and diagonals (cross sections from the center line out approximately perpendicular to the planking).  In our drafting the first 3 views are displayed on top of one another.  They can also be separated, which is more pleasing to the eye, but more challenging to draft.  All of these views have the same references in different planes.  This creates an interrelation of lines from from one view to another.  The methodology we follow to generate these lines is to start from outermost part of the boat.  Once the points are plotted a small spline, is used to connect the dots forcing the line to be fair.  Then the lines that divide the boat in half are plotted then quarters and so on.  As one moves through the layout points that are taken from the table of offsets can only be used once.  If one needs to plot a point that has already been used they must measure it from another view.  A number of lines will be generated purely from measuring other views of the drawing.  This rule helps force everything to be fair in all directions. If a line can’t be drawn fair (can’t get the plastic spline to hit all the points) there may be an issue with a line in another view.  Once all the lines are drawn then a measurement prove out is done at each mold station and any corrections are made.  If you have a good set of plans drafting probably isn’t necessary but lofting might be to get all the molds and patterns.

Dovetails and Shoulder Boxes

When I started getting more serious about woodworking my friend Tom told me (he may deny this) that he had no desire to learn how to cut dovetails by hand.  So I decided, since I wanted dovetails in my woodworking that the Leigh dovetail jig was the thing for me.  Thats right, one of my first pricey woodworking purchases was a dovetail jig … what was I thinking??  So here I am 7 years later hand cutting dovetails for a grade.  After we cut a few sample joints we were let loose making a shoulder box.  I am not sure of the history of this particular shipwright box but I think this same design has been built by students for years.  I believe all of the boat building instructors are former students and I think they all still have their boxes.  The point of the box was to show that we could follow a plan and build to a design.  We also made “trays” or tiny boxes to live in the larger box.  The only design criteria for these was that they had to fit in the larger box.  I am featuring some of my classmates work, to show the variety.  Its fun to see the different designs and uses of scraps of boat building material we could scrounge from around the shop!

Someone had a question about spars

I had a question about spar making, specifically the process of going from 8 sides to 16 then subsequently 32 on a long spar such as a boom.  The process we were taught was to layout the end of the 8 sided piece by drawing, a circle then tangent lines create a series of small triangles.  Those lines are then connected along the length of the spar with a batten and material is removed as described previously.  This method works for a spar with the same diameter from one end to other or even one that has a taper.  The issue comes in what the diameter is larger in the center compared to the ends.  When this spar shape is desired you have to focus on maintaining equal sized facets on all sides.  The key is being methodical as material is removed.

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Spar gauge and spar making

According to oxford, a spar is a strong pole that is used as a mast or yard on a ship (its also the main longitudinal beam of an airplane wing). As you may have surmised a spar gauge is a tool that is used to make a spar.  The singular purpose of the gauge is to generate layout lines to create an 8 sided object from one with 4 sides.  The relationship between the shoulders of the gauge and the pins (or whatever makes a mark) is 7-10-7.  The beauty of this gauge is that, as long it fits over the piece it can be used for any sized material. The process to make a cylindrical object is as follows. First you use the gauge to make lines on the stock obeying the 7-10-7 ratio.  Those become your guidelines to remove the corners thus changing the cross section from a square to an equal sided octagon.  Once all sides are equal more lines are drawn to go from 8 to 16 sides (hexadecagon -looked this up for fun) then 16 to 32 (triacontakaidigon – even more fun).  Once you have 32 sides you are pretty close to a circle.  With this method I made a cartoon sized rolling pin.

Schedule

Since the largest of our beginning woodworking projects is in the works (it’s a shoulder tool box) as I write this I thought I would talk a bit about the how the schedule is structured at the boat school.  The wooden boat building program is a year and is divided up into quarters.  This first quarter is focused on woodworking skills, which have been documented here, I would say it’s a “crash course” in fine woodworking.  In addition, we will be taught and then practice drafting and lofting.  These exercises develop the lines of a boat, drafting is at scale and lofting is full size (example drafting below).  The final piece of the curriculum in the first quarter is building a small boat.  For shop activities, the students are divided into groups of 9 or 10 students per instructor (lectures are structured differently). I believe that our group will be making an Atkins designed flat bottomed skiff.  Some of the skiffs, of the same design, built by previous classes, are still at the school (video below).  After the first quarter the shop work will be focused on finishing the boats I have shown in previous “walk-arounds” and starting to build new boats for future classes to finish.

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Carving the Rabbet

I made a stem for a boat!  Well its an imaginary boat and my stem is pretty rough.  The stem is the forward most part of the backbone, it is a crucial part of the bow.  The purpose of this exercise was to practice carving the rabbet that goes in the stem (and the rest of the backbone).  The rabbet is a groove that follows the profile of the backbone and accepts the planking, it helps protect the planking and provides a sound method of attachment.  We laid out our stem from a mylar pattern with pins and battens (splines that allow you to draw a fair curve).  If this were for a real boat the pattern would have been developed with the lofting process, more on that later.  From this we could develop the rest of the necessary lines to carve the rabbet.  The challenge with this activity is that the shape follows that of the boat (it’s curved!) and would be difficult to do with power tools that  work better with straight lines and definitive angles (perhaps if you had a model of the shape you could carve with a CNC).

Making more Tools

We also made more tools this week, I can’t overemphasize how much I enjoy making something that I know will have a use for years to come.  We made a mallet with a hard maple head and a handle made of ash.  However, I learned an important lesson about working in a shared shop.  When cutting out my ash handle I didn’t check the band saw and discovered after I was done with my cuts that the handle was less than square.  One of the locking handles for the table was loose, lesson learned!  Since there were no more ash blanks my handle ended up being made out of an unknown wood, I think is yellow heart or Pan Amarello (if you can tell the wood species from the pictures let me know!).  The process for making the handle  blank is similar to that of making many non square objects (spoons, knife handles etc).  You sketch a profile on 2 sides, cut one, tape on the offcuts and cut the other.  This allows you to use a bandsaw to generate the blank.  The rest of the shaping is done with a spoke shave, card scraper and sandpaper.  The handle is attached to the head with a square mortise and tenon joint that includes wedges to ensure everything stays together.  I really like this mallet but I think it’s a little big for chisel work so I am thinking of making something smaller with my “crooked” ash handle (if time permits).  The second tool we made was a spar gauge, which we will use to make a small spar.  I will go into more detail on that tool and spars in the future.

Guest Lecturer

This week we for fortunate to have guest lecturer, Jim Tolpin, join us.  I follow Mr. Tolpin on the instagrams so I was looking forward to his discussion.  He has been an author for 15 years and has been working in finish carpentry and custom cabinetry for over 50 years.  I also heard he has built some boats.  He told us he has been spending recent years investigating the origins of what he was taught early in his career with respect to layout and building.  Attempting to answer the question why we as builders, makers, carpenters, woodworkers etc… are taught to do things in these certain ways.  Most of what he discussed can be traced back to ancient Greece and Egypt.  There is no way I can cover his lecture here much less the larger body of work that is available.  I will leave you with one takeaway and a few ways to find his content for yourself.  The takeaway for me was that if you start with a perfect circle you can get many of the necessary parameters for building and construction (symmetry, dimension, ratios, bisection, parallelism, “right” angle, square, triangle, planar, the list goes on). This is one small takeaway of a much larger discussion and there is more information if you are interested.  His latest book, Euclid’s door, has some really cool artwork.  His website is byhandandeye.com and he can be easily found on instagram.

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Free Tools

We had a surprise this week, many generous individuals donate old hand tools to the school.  The school then in turn gave them to the boat building students in a raffle fashion.  There was lots interesting stuff, from wood and metal planes, draw knives, chisels and screw drivers to name a few.  Many, if not all, of the tools required some love, but here at the school we are developing the skills to provide that attention.  There were enough donations that every students was able to get two tools.  I picked out a tiny block plane and really rusty mortising chisel.  The students were excited with many of them returning to their benches and starting the restoration process straight away.  If you are in the Olympic Peninsula and have old hand tools you should consider donating them to the school, you can rest assured they will go to a good home.

Boat in Progress

I was able to get another in process boat video this week.  This one is a lapstrake planked double ender.  Enjoy!

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Powertools

This week we were introduced to some of the powertools we will be using in boat construction.  These included, the drill press, bandsaw, jointer and planer.  The bandsaw is a work horse for boat construction because of its ability to cut bevels.  There is a special type of large format bandsaw, called a shipsaw, that is used in boat building. The difference between a typical bandsaw and a ship saw is how bevel cuts are made. For a typical bandsaw the table moves, but for a ship saw the wheels move, allowing a large timber to stay flat on the table. You can see the school’s ship saw below (its the big one!).  All of the small bandsaws at the school are modified with a handle and a readout for the table angle.  This allows for the cutting of a rolling bevel.  The cross section of a traditional boat plank is not square, and it changes along the entire length of the plank. Cutting a long plank required 4 operators, the cutter, the bevel stick mover, someone on in feed and someone on out feed.  If this doesn’t make sense I am sure I’ll talk more about it in the future (making planks is a big part of traditional boat building). 

Making Hand Tools

We made a few potential lifetime tools this week.  They included a few bevel gauges and a bevel board.  These are for reading angles as few things in boats are square.  The gauges are made from some teak from an unknown old boat which is pretty cool.  We cut the kerf for the blade with our Japanese saws (cutting a straight line was challenging for me and required many attempts), drilled the hole with a drill press and the the gauge is held together with a small piece of brass rod that is flattened to into a rivet.  To go along with that we also make bevel boards which is a piece of wood where angled lines are scribed.  The interesting thing is that we made them from a “master” shop bevel board.  It is common that each shop would have its own master board so all the shipwrights would agree on the angles.  We also started working on a cartoon sized mallet.  More to come on that next week.

Kyoto Joinery Video

We watched an old school video that has been showed at the school for many years (all of our instructors are boat school graduates and watched it when they were in school).  It’s a tradition.  Luckily its on YouTube so I can share it with you.  Some of my favorite takeaways and quotes.

“… if your tools are in good condition they’ll even cover up for a lack of skill.”

The wood is a living thing, so it’s cruel to the wood itself, if you make a mistake.”

A mortise and tenon joint with wedges in the tenon is know as a “hell joint” because “once it has entered, it won’t come out again.”

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Orientation

This school has both boat building and marine systems curriculum, both classes start at the same time.  This year the school has 39 boat building students and maybe 24 marine systems students.  We met Monday morning and did a meet and great of all the staff and students that will be on campus.  After which the boat building students were split up into 4 groups and went off with our respective instructors.  We were given a tour of campus which included some really cool tools like the planer below. 

Introduction to Wooden Boats

The schedule for boatbuilding is Monday – Friday with each day starting with lecture led by lead instructor, Sean Koomen.  So far, these sessions have focused on the nomenclature of wooden boats, some of which translates over to plastic boats.  I am taking this opportunity to work on my sketching skills.  Soon I hope to be able to free hand a fair line!  On our first day of lecture we were also required to stand and take an oath.  This oath was that, while a student in the boat school, we would not buy or accept a “free” wooden boat.  I am in wooden boat Mecca and there are many “projects”.  We are reading chapters from “Hand Tools” written by Aldren Watson.  The artwork is delightful.

Tools

From mid morning through the end of the day we are in the shop.  The course assumes you have no woodworking experience and everyone starts from the same point.  In addition, to a few textbooks we were required to supply certain tools.   Most of the required tools are of the hand tool variety (we don’t have to bring in our own cabinet saw!).  The school has a relationship with a local woodworking supply store where you can buy tools, but you can also bring your own.  I did a mix of some of my tools and some from Edensaw (there is a picture of what I purchased in last week’s post).  This week we focused on flattening and sharpening our chisels, hand plane and block plane.  There are many methods to sharpen edge tools, this school teaches the hollow grind method.  Also, we are not using any sharpening jigs to maintain the bevel angle.  The hollow grind method is all new to me so I am glad I purchased the recommend two cherries chisels as I would be pretty nervous about taking my pretty veritas chisels to a grinder!

Joinery

For the first week we focused on making a number of different joints in pine boards.  We are doing all the joinery with our Japanese hand saws, chisels, pencil, combo square and block plane.  We are working on our hand tool skills which include cutting to a line then finessing the wood to get an acceptable joint.  My first joints were at best “rough” but I feel like they are getting better.  Historically I have used hand tools to “finesse” my power tool work so it is really good for me to focus on my ability to make joints with only hand tools.  

Some more boats in progress videos

A traditionally built cat boat.  This is a commission build and the interns are currently working on finishing her.

A 24’ Carvel planked Troller might be named Diana Lee

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I am about to begin a year long program at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding.  I have been asked by a number of different people to document my experience, either because they have an interest in boats or because they don’t understand what “I am going to boat school” means.  I am also interested in keeping record for myself so I can see how my goals change over time.  My plan is to start out by writing commentary that best communicates my experiences.  This will not be instructional, conversely it will be my impressions of the experience and what I find interesting or thought provoking.  Currently, I hope the experience will further develop my skillset as a craftsman and I hope to become a professional (i reserve the right to that definition) boatbuilder or shipwright.  With the ultimate goal of being a mentor or teacher of this craft.  I fully expect these desires to change as I move through the program.

Cleanup day

Being the imposter overachiever that I am I volunteered to go into school for 2 days to help get things ready.  It was mostly clean up stuff but I did get to meet some of my classmates and instructors..  We sanded and painted all of the bench tops and we did other general cleanup around the shops.  The lower and older shop spaces are a version of my dream shop.  They have wooden floors, tall ceilings, tons of natural light, and they overlook the water (both buildings are pretty old).  Based on the map I believe the shops overlook Port Townsend bay.  The coolest part was that I was able to spy on all the boats that are in progress in the shops.  I will put some pictures below and post some of them on my Instagram stories. I don’t know much about them yet.

Nordic Folk Boat

Marsh Cat (Designed by Joel White)

Lobster Boat (i think someone called it a lobster boat?)

Another sweet carvel planked boat i know nothing about

McPherson Shop

Meeting people on the clean up days has made me work on my “Elevator Pitch” for the “why boat school” question.  I have always been interested in cars, boats, planes and trains.  I “did” the car thing for a number of years as a career.  Woodworking has always been a hobby and wooden boat building is the ideal way to bring these things together.  I have been talking about participating in a program like this for many years.

Tools

I got my tools that I ordered this week.  It was probably one of the easiest tool purchases.  I just showed up to Edensaw and they had a box of goodies with my name on it waiting for me.  Without using anything yet, my favorites were the Japanese slick and the “nickered” Lie Nielson block plane.

So that’s week zero, if you find this content useful or interesting I would love to hear about your thoughts.

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