Restoring Reverie

: The Art of Restoring & Sailing a Classic Wooden Sailboat

Tag Archives: White Oak


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‘Tis The Season For Boat Work

Winter is here!  That means different things to different people.  For us, here at Camp Reverie,  it’s a busy time accentuated by the lengthening of each day. Today, we have sunset 9 minutes later than on the Dec. 21 solstice.   That means we’re packing up just a little bit later every day and getting more done with each passing week.

Winter has always been the time for boat work.  It was a time to take care of some of the large projects while the boat is out of the water and sailing is not a distraction. Endless projects  pile up during the warmer months that need to be addressed in the off-season. Projects, projects, projects; we sailors love our projects.

One of the reasons I look forward to winter is the fact that I can get outside and perform some of the heavy labor without heat and humidity getting in the way.  In the winter, you can always take off a layer if you’re too hot.  I haven’t been cold once this season. Keep it moving.

Thankfully,  we were able to take care of everything that needed to get done before the snow flew and have a formidable list to knock out before spring. Getting under the weather wire on the topsides project felt like a real victory as it left a clearer path to getting some other projects finished by spring.  There’s no hibernation going on here at Camp Reverie.  Well, maybe a little.

We can now get back to the removal of the deck and deck framing along with new sheer clamps and shelf, for good measure. Instead of hiding out from 90° F and 90% humidity, it’s lake effect rain showers,  lake effect snow showers and blistering cold winter gales.  I have had to shovel out a work area multiple times already and expect it to happen repeatedly over the winter.   Holland is in the Lake Michigan snow belt so we are no strangers to a stray flake or two.

One of this winter’s first projects was to measure out the  deck framing and sheer clamps to get a materials requirement for the new deck framing, sheer clamps and shelf.  I did that on a day when the wind was gusting up to 60 mph which shook and rattled poor Reverie.  It felt a bit surreal as I measured in the darkness with the aid of a shop light illuminating a small ring wherever I moved it.  With her interior removed, Reverie picks up vibrations from without and sounds sympathetic tones much like a stringed instrument.  On a good day, it’s pleasant and interesting.  In a gale, it’s a bit unsettling.

When the weather allows, I’ve been outside running rough lumber through the planer.  Last year, I picked up a nice 2″x 8″ x 12′ piece of white oak from Armstrong Millworks in Highland, Michigan. In late November, I paid a visit to L.L Johnson Lumber, in Charlotte, Michigan, where I picked out some nice 5/4″ x 12″ x 14′ southern yellow pine and some nice yellow birch for a furniture project.  The yellow pine will be used to replace the bad planks and , possibly, for the sheer clamps. Add to the mix about 100 board feet of rough red oak that was just sitting around and you have some work on your hands.

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There was 100 board feet of red oak and 50 board feet of  yellow birch on top of the boat wood.  No sense just moving it.  Let’s make it useful.

 

 

As soon as all the wood is processed, we can resume deck removal.  When I was on board measuring deck beams, I had a chance to look over the construction of the deck  framing and do not think the original builder of the hull and the builder of the deck/ interior are the same.  The hull is sturdy and overbuilt.  I am impressed by how well it has held together. The heavy frames with intermittent steam-bent frames is reminiscent of old work boat construction.

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Sturdy hull with lightly built deck framing and sheer clamp.  Part of the mystery.

Conversely, the interior and deck-beam construction leave something to be desired, in the way of craftsmanship.  The deck framing and interior won’t be copied from what was found.  Both the deck and the interior will be rebuilt as sturdily as the hull.  Instead of ash for the deck beams, there will be white oak.  The sheer clamp will either be of white oak or yellow pine with a shelf added to the sheer. More on that once the deck framing commences.

Winter shall proceed as such:  it’s outside whenever possible and lots to do inside when being inside’s a good thing.  Our front bathroom has become the varnish booth.  The fan works great for exhaust and we haven’t had any issues with fumes while I varnish up Reverie’s wooden blocks.

Stripping down the blocks and soaking them in hot oil was one of the first projects we did when we got the boat. The oil had over a year to dry so I gave them a sanding and have been dipping them in a can of spar varnish diluted with about 30% turpentine.  As I write, they have 5 coats on them.  They will get their sixth and final coat tomorrow and reassembled shortly after that.  All said and done, there will be close to 40 hours devoted to the block restoration project alone.

“O God! methinks it were a happy life,
To be no better than a homely swain;
To sit upon a hill, as I do now,
To carve out dials quaintly, point by point,
Thereby to see the minutes how they run,
How many make the hour full complete;
How many hours bring about the day;
How many days will finish up the year;
How many years a mortal man may live.”
~William Shakespeare – King Henry Vl

Along with the varnishing, there is always a bit more organizing and sorting of everything from boat hardware, to tools, to wood, to lp records, to books and to all the other things that get piled around and in the way.  We are removing the clutter and making a streamlined restoration machine.  I will leave you with a shot of some fine, vintage power tools that got new cords and cleaning as part of the indoor winter work.

Happy 2017 from Julia and Roger!  Thanks for following our project.

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Tools that are as old as Reverie!  Quality never goes out of style.

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Into The Light

The new year is upon us and it’s finally starting to look like January here along the Lake Michigan shoreline.  We had an unseasonably warm December due to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.

   http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html

As avid cross country skiers, we were somewhat disappointed by the lack of snow.  As boat restorers, we took advantage of the mild weather to further the cause and get as much done on Reverie as possible before Winter set in.  Fortunately, we tempered these hours of work with some Grade-A, late season sailing aboard Prudence.  

Winter weather has now arrived and we got down near the single digits Fahrenheit last night.  Lake Effect snow has been quietly dusting us and the ground is now covered in white. Last week, we put a tarp over Prudence and brought her outboard in from the cold; time to replace that old water pump impeller I’ve been putting off all season.

Whenever there’s good news and bad news to be communicated, I prefer to have the bad news delivered first.  Candy coating something before the medicine does not help the medicine go down “in the most delightful way”.    Prepare yourself.  Gird your loins.  Here it comes.

If you have been following this blog, you have ascertained we are removing the entire deck of Reverie to get at the rotted deck beams and carlines.  I have no doubt in my mind that this decision was indeed, the best tack. It will also facilitate the replacement of broken frames.  The port-side tongue and groove decking has been carefully removed, labelled and toted off to storage. It proved to be a bit of a task seeing that many of the strips are in excess of twenty feet.  The port-side deck beams are now visible, as are the  areas aft near the cockpit and transom that get little ventilation.

The entire port-side sheer clamp is now visible and there is evident damage amidship.  The sheer clamp is a structural  member that runs stem to stern and serves to support the deck beams and provide resistance to the torsional twisting of the hull.  It is bolted along the inside of the hull at the frames and the deck beams are half-dovetailed into it.  It appears to be made of cypress wood; a good choice considering the need for a light, strong,  rot resistant wood.   I thought of white oak as an alternative for replacement yet was convinced otherwise after researching the weight difference between the two.  Had we gone with oak, there would be another 300 lbs. added to the sheer.

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The port-side sheer clamp showing evident signs of rot amidship.

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A closeup of the rot on the port-side sheer clamp.

Once the port-side deck was removed, it became time to prep the starboard-side deck for removal.  Julia began the monotonous chore of removing all the bungs from the toe rail in order to get at the 4 inch bronze screws holding it down every 6 inches.  While she did that, I worked on the deck hardware.  I removed the starboard winch, cleats, anchor chocks, spinnaker pole chocks and, with Julia’s help, the stanchion bases.

The stanchion bases are particularly hard to get at as they are fastened between the sheer clamp and the sheer plank.  Inside the cabin, it was a tight squeeze but in the cockpit, it seemed nigh impossible.  I had to lie on my back and reach through one of the cuddy holes in the cockpit with my arm fully extended all the while attempting to reach the nut I couldn’t see with a deep socket  and extension.  This maneuver was what I imagine it would be like wearing a blindfold while trying to steal a bag of chips from the top row of a vending machine by reaching up through the discharge bin.  While I attempted this feat of derring-do, Julia waited  patiently on the ladder ready to unscrew the fastener once I found the nut.

Lying on my back, in this twisted state, up became down and down became up.  I fished around here and there but could not find the nut to the stanchion base.  I rolled the socket wrench into the small of my hand hoping for some tactile reassurance that this wasn’t all a bad, painful dream and that I would eventually find the nut and bolt that were obviously eluding me.  I extended my forefinger here and there and suddenly, it felt as if I had stuck it clean through some wood!  “…all part of this bad dream”, I thought.  “Just relax.  Embrace the pain.  Find the bolt.”

My eyes were closed.  They were useless in this endeavor. All sensory input was being conveyed through an arm bent into positions it was never meant to be in yet, there it was: the sensation that I had my finger stuck clean through a piece of wood. I wriggled my forefinger around.   It was as if it was stuck through a hole in a sock; a 5/4 inch thick rotted sock.  I felt air on the other side.  Was my finger sticking through the sheer plank and the world outside?  “No”, Julia assured me.  “I can’t see your finger.”  Then, the truth set in.  I had stuck my finger through the rotten starboard-side sheer clamp!

I writhed about like a crocodile being swallowed by a python,  still unable to find the damn bolts. I began to see a shining light through my closed eyes.  I heard a voice beckoning me.  “Come to the light!”   I reached out, with my contorted arm, and touched the stanchion bolt I so desperately sought.  I focused, careful not to let this moment slip away.  I got the socket on the nut.  Julia unscrewed it from above.

Bolt number two was right next to a frame but now that my arm was a bent pipe cleaner, I got the socket onto it, as well.  The two other bolts to the stanchion base were screwed through the deck and into the sheer clamp.  The cause of the rot, perhaps?  They pulled out without even needing to be unscrewed.  The stanchion base was finally liberated from the covering board.  It then took several minutes to extract my now serpentine arm from the labyrinth while I relived the pain of a long-ago separated shoulder.  Why did I ever think rollerblading was a good idea?

The outcome of these travails are the issues with the starboard-side sheer clamp that will be come into focus as work progresses.  It was  reminder that there is more than meets the eye in our little project.  We’re certainly not out of the woods with these hidden issues.  “… two steps back.”  I’m glad we found this out before Winter set in.   It gives us time to plot out the next course of action. These sheer clamps must be addressed before the deck beam work can start.   I guess that big slab of white oak we have will have to wait a bit before it’s sawn into deck beams.  Time to start shopping for some nice cypress.

Now that we’ve had our medicine, I must say that it has been a delightful season.  El Niño might be wreaking havoc all over the world but he allowed us to get out on our Com-Pac 16, Prudence for some extra-fine Fall/Winter sailing.  One of the real highlights of the season was sailing on Christmas Day.  There had been a raging gale several days before Christmas with 22 foot waves on Lake Michigan.  That’s 22 foot December, Great Lakes waves which are steeper and heavier than ocean waves. While not 22 feet, there were still some big rollers that picked up in the 20 knot afternoon breeze. The waves were very uniform with an occasional series standing above the others.  It was consistent and certainly memorable.

The icy, steel blue water was beautiful and deadly as we beat  5 miles WNW onto the lake.  We were driving so hard, we kept the Port Sheldon pier off our stern with almost no leeway to the South.  Prudence yields a bit to the currents so this was a pleasant surprise.  We would be able to triangulate back to the pier.  Three legs and we’d be home.   We ended up gybing off on the second leg then rounding back NE as Prudence didn’t want to tack into the rollers that were beginning to stand up 5 miles offshore.  On leg three, we ran S along the Lake Michigan shoreline back to Port Sheldon. That leg ended way too soon.

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October on Lake Michigan

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November sailing- Holland, Michigan

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November sailing. Coming into Lake Macatwa from Lake Michigan.

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Christmas Day 2015. 5 miles out, 5 miles back with Julia’s daughter, Chloe. Fine sailing. -Port Sheldon, Michigan

Christmas Day - Lake Michigan

Christmas Day – Lake Michigan

It has, indeed, been a delightful year filled with hard work and dedication that shows in all we have accomplished  It has been a year of change and sacrifice balanced with the enjoyment of life’s small pleasures.  It helps to have someone like Julia who can see the forest through the trees.  She has been working tirelessly alongside me.  Even during the 60 hours it took me to strip the paint from the port topsides,  she was there at the end of the day with a couple of cold beers that we would drink at the Sunset Lounge, our two lawn chairs in the shade of Reverie.  Here’s to everyone having an eventful and  productive 2016.  Cheers!


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Tung Oil and Turpentine

We are well into November and the weather has been good to Reverie’s restoration project.  The leaves were late to turn this year due to a warm Fall but they have now fallen  rapidly and carpet the earth in all shades of red, yellow and brown.  Still, the mild weather persists.   The birds aren’t quite so convinced of an eternal Autumn.  They know what’s about to happen and are acting accordingly.  We saw our first dark eyed junco the other day while working on Reverie; a sure sign of the change in seasons.  The shoreline of the Great Lakes is, well, a great place to watch migrating birds.  We were even  lucky enough to see 4 endangered whooping cranes the other day on a back road drive from Holland to Grand Rapids. Their size is impressive.

On a somber note, today is the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter, Edmund Fitzgerald. It vanished without a trace in a massive storm on Lake Superior and has since been found lying at the bottom of the lake broken in half by the mighty waves.  http://www.shipwreckmuseum.com/the-fateful-journey-62/

102 years ago, the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 sank 19 ships with over 250 lives  lost on the open waters of these inland seas.  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/news/131107_white.html#.VkH8LdKrTwc

Today, is nothing like those days.  It is calm and mild and I’m going off to work on Reverie for a while thankful for this weather as I solemnly recall those who lost their lives on the Great Lakes.

Yesterday, we passed a waypoint in the restoration project.  After 60 hours of scraping, sanding, and the cleaning of every single fastener hole on the port topside, I was able to apply a coat of tung oil and turpentine!  This was a process that took a lot longer than expected but we are pleased with the results.  The mixture, consisting of 50% tung oil and 50% turpentine, was heated to near boiling to facilitate its penetration into the thirsty yellow pine planking.  I could see it immediately expanding some of the surface cracks that had begun in the parts of the topside that had been without paint for an undetermined amount of time.  I worked this delightful smelling mixture into all the exposed fastener holes with a 3 inch chip brush.  You could see the hot oil and turpentine being sucked into the holes. It made all the time consuming work worth it.  There are certainly faster ways to strip the hull down and sand it but I would rather spend 2 or 3 or 4 times the amount of time to get it the way I wanted it and err on the side of safety.

The frames, which are basically the ribs of the skeleton, are laid out in a pattern of one very heavy white oak frame fastened with heavy galvanized nails and then two smaller frames fastened with copper rivets.   These smaller oak frames are steam bent and still fastened tight.   We will most likely add bronze screws to the heavy frames but that’s going to require some investigation of the existing nails.  For now, I’m guessing they have run their course in usefulness.  When white oak and steel get together, oak wins.  I removed the flat-head steel screws to the engine exhaust flange that was backed up with an oak block and there was barely any thread left.  The use of quality, hot dipped galvanized fasteners is a money saver and they served well for over 60 years but we’re going with silicon bronze.  The oil filling the fastener holes is a good thing.  It  expands the wood and seals it from the oxygen needed to create rot.

 The whole port topside consumed a little less than a half gallon of the tung oil/turpentine mixture.  The tung oil is 100% pure tung oil and costs about $70 dollars a gallon.  Tung oil cannot be allowed access to oxygen as this begins the curing process.  I poured off half the gallon of pure tung oil into a half gallon cider jug leaving no room for air and will save it for a later date.  That will keep for quite some time, as is.  I expected to use more of the 50/50 mixture but was happy to have used less, seeing we’re approaching $100 a gallon for this elixir, once the cost of the turpentine is factored in.  “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”  Last night, I had to scramble around for another half gallon container to put the rest of the 50/50 mixture in and came up with an empty half gallon bottle of Scotch in our recycling bin(now how did that happen?).   It was almost spot on one half gallon with a glass vitamin bottle to spare. Now I have to find some wood that needs treating today so as not to waste those precious fluids in the vitamin bottle.  That shouldn’t be difficult.   So, dear reader, I must be off and begin the next phase of the project which is to do the same thing to the forlorn  starboard side that now looks even more desperate compared to the freshly oiled port-side.  I will leave you with some pics of the progress.

Best Regards,

Roger

60 hours of scraping, sanding and oiling. Done!

60 hours of scraping, sanding and oiling. Done!

Reverie's lovely overhang. The one small plank is a former repair made of dissimilar wood and will most likely be replaced.

Reverie’s lovely overhang. The one small plank is a former repair made of dissimilar wood and will most likely be replaced.

Starboard topside looking forlorn and in need of help.

Starboard topside looking forlorn and in need of help.

Yikes!

Yikes!


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The Elephant in the Room

As the last week of August fades to memory, it’s time to reflect on what’s been done and plan for the cooler months ahead.  For many people, summer ends at Labor Day; the tug of the academic calendar is just too much for folks raised to abide by the “back to school” mentality.  They may not be in school or have children in school but the hand is writing on the wall.  We are bombarded by yet another consumer milestone.  “Buy, buy, buy”, the ads say.  When I’m out shopping, I feel like maybe I should pick up a fresh pack of crayons or maybe some paste.

Here in West Michigan, we see the last of the tourists “recreating profusely”; they’re squeezing that last bit of juice from the lemon before it’s time to get the kids off to school.  Then, it’s a little easier to breathe around here.  We don’t have to fight the crowds to get around and no longer have to plan our sailing time during the week.  It was so hot and humid for the first part of August, there was not much going on in the way of boat work.  I’m not partial to heat indexes in the lower 100’s and the fact that I’m using a heat gun only reinforces my prejudices.

Late July and some of August saw us dutifully removing the rest of the covering board and begin the process of removing the deck from Reverie.

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That went as well as it could and we are now able to see the extent of the rot to the port-side deck beams.  There weren’t really many surprises as I was expecting to find more rot than was visible from the interior.  After all, that is one of the main reasons we are completely removing the deck.   We got 3 rows of the tongue and groove decking off yet, something wasn’t quite right.  There was an elephant in the room and it wasn’t going away.

The warm weather did slow us down but it was the impending cold weather that made the elephant more apparent.  While focusing on the deck and executing the plan to remove it, time was ticking away.  After seeing what would need to be done with the deck beams, the seemingly innocuous topsides began to call out for help.  The paint was crazed and peeling.  There were bare spots from an attempt, made by the previous owner, to sand them.  I’m not sure how long ago the attempted sanding took place but the sections of exposed bare wood was showing signs of weathering that could lead to wholesale splitting of the lovely,  longleaf yellow pine that planks our fair vessel.  It was time to feed the elephant.

Completely stripping the multiple layers of topside paint was the only course of action seeing how the paint had split and cracked where it hadn’t already been sanded.  Reverie has been out of the water for years and the planking is a lot drier than a wooden boat’s should be.  Dry planks can stress the fasteners and shrink the dimensions enough to cause problems when it comes time to recaulk the seams.  If the seams are caulked when it’s dry, the expansion can cause undue stress and actually cause the fasteners to pull out.  Not good.

It’s going to take about 30 hours per side to strip the paint and a good 20 to do the sanding and oiling.  After the oil dries, the initial coat of primer goes on and Reverie will be much happier.  So, Julia gets about 100 hours of work time off while I    take one for the team since there’s no reason we should both be exposed to this mess.  She hasn’t stopped work altogether; she’s working on removing the multitude of bungs (wooden plugs that cover screw holes) from the cockpit coaming when I’m not making too much of a mess.

Wearing a respirator for 80 hours is not something I’m enjoying but it has to be done. I have the heat gun set just hot enough to lift the paint but not hot enough to burn it.  I’ve done some research on the release of lead and other toxic substances and am working at a lower temperature to avoid as much exposure to lead as I can.  I watched a video on youtube of this guy using a heat shrink gun and literally burning the paint off the topsides.  He said he can get a whole boat stripped in one day.  He wasn’t wearing a respirator.  I think I’ll err on the side of caution.

See you when it’s done.

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Off With the Deck?!

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Reverie’s beautiful lines are evident even with her hull looking this way.

 

Boat repair and restoration requires both optimism (This can be done.) and realism (This is a mess.).  Lately, it’s been a healthy dose of realism.  A lot of the early work on Reverie has been assessing the situation of the leaking deck by finding the damage and what caused it. Rainwater from deck leaks is the culprit, of course, and the damage is insidious at best.  This water coming down from the sky contains a rich collection of fungi and molds ready to set up shop on any food source.  A wooden boat left out in the elements, uncovered for several years, with a leaking deck is a great place for these tiny creatures to do their business.

We got a tarp over Reverie last December, the first day we saw her.  I knew that was the only way to slow down the rot that was beginning to consume her.  Rot needs moisture and the first step was to get that out of the equation.  The next step was to find the entry points where the green water was coming through and stop it.  That was pretty easy as there’s rot in all of the places where the rain water was leaking below.  As I was poking around in the tight confines of the forepeak, (Reverie was designed for sailing and not so much for below decks comfort), I found mushrooms had been growing in the corner joint of the fore hatch carline. They were dried and no longer actively growing but they were there.  I’m sure spores are everywhere!

The next work session involves the complete removal of the fore hatch and immediate treatment with sodium tetraborate (good ol’ borax).  We’re using borax to initially treat any spots that have begun to rot.  It has excellent anti-fungal properties and is safe to use.  It’s major downfall in marine use is that it’s water soluble and will leach out of wood that comes in contact with water.  The immediate goal is to kill what rot is  in the wood already and worry about long term treatment as the restoration progresses.

The real damage from all of this leaking water has been to the deck beams and it is obvious many of them need to be replaced.  Getting at the deck beams is the reason for removing the covering board (the strip of teak that provides an edge for the decking and runs the full length of the hull).  To get to the deck beam end requires removal of the jib tracks to get to the toe rail to get to the covering board. This all reminds me of the children’s song, I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. I just hope it doesn’t get to the point where I swallow the horse!

 

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A big section of toe rail comes off!

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Stanchion bases half screwed into the sheer clamp, half through covering board. I would like to see them 100% through bolted.

 

So, our work is exemplified in a children’s song.  So be it.  The initial tack was to get the covering board off which would provide access to the outer ends of the deck beams.  While the toe rail was fastened to the covering board with 4 inch long bronze screws, the covering board is fastened to the sheer clamp and beam ends with steel screws.  These screws are proving to be formidable opponents to extraction and it looks like they have a date with a date with a sawzall and metal cutting blade.  We’ll remove all screws that will come out willingly but the others will have to be cut.

One of the three king beams needs to be replaced.  The king beams provide support for the the mast amidship and can only be extracted by removing the top hull plank known as the sheer plank or sheer strake; unless the entire deck is removed.  Examining the sheer planks, as we worked on the toe rail removal, I began to seriously wish the sheer planks could stay right where they are.  Both port and starboard sides are in fine condition and removing them would mean ‘fixing something that ain’t broke’.  I began to seriously consider removing the deck altogether.

Removing the entire deck might seem extreme but the main issue Reverie faces is this leaking deck. The deck is Douglas Fir and appears in fine condition.  It is attached to the deck beams by a method called “secret nailing”.  Secret nailing is done much the way that wooden floors in houses are laid.  The tongue and groove strips are nailed diagonally through the tongue so the groove covers the nail.  Secret nails go into the beams and then additional nails are driven horizontally through each strip tying the strips together even more. A real advantage of this method is that it leaves a nice, clean deck free of bung holes that are all invitations for water entry.  The major disadvantage is that it is a real pain to repair.  I don’t relish the thought of ripping up this beautiful deck and having to shell out for more lumber.  One of the reasons we took on this project was the condition to the wood.  The only real wood I thought needed replacing was American White Oak, readily available and relatively cheap here in Michigan.  Nice, long, clear lengths of Douglas Fir isn’t going to be cheap.

Remove the sheer planks or remove the deck?   And the winner is: Remove the deck.  Loathing the thought of removing perfectly good planks that are screwed and riveted was what got me considering the deck option and, from there, it began to make more sense.  The damage to the deck beams that can be seen is most likely the tip of the iceberg.  I’m sure there’s plenty more rot in the beams that has yet to rear it’s head.  The mushrooms growing out to joint in the forehatch carline is a real red flag. With the entire deck removed, all of the tops of the beam can be assessed and a fresh coat of red lead primer can be applied.  I’m hoping we can disassemble the secret nailing and reuse the old deck but not banking on it.  Que sera, sera.   Off with the deck!

Cheers,

Roger


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Port-side Carline

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Old Man Winter is really giving it to us this week with daytime temps in the single digits and nighttime temps below zero. On our back road morning commute, the other day, the thermometer read -20 F.  We have now been monitoring that area of our commute and have been finding there’s this little stretch of micro climate where the temperature is usually a few degrees cooler than elsewhere.  Hmm…

I’m committed to splitting up a giant red oak for firewood tomorrow but we’ll have to see if the machine will start in this kind of weather.   The forecast calls for -17 F night tonight so, dreaming of boats is a good way to pass the time.  As cold and snowy as it is outside, I still have some off-site projects to accomplish.

One of the off-site projects I am pleased to have gotten done is cutting out the port-side cabin carline to replace the damaged rotting one.

 

Port-side carline removed with rotting deck beams

On wooden boats, carlines are fore and aft deck supports that frame openings, such as hatches and the coach roof of the cabin, that run parallel to the keel.  This carline had already been removed when we got the boat. Luckily, it was intact so I had a nice template for the new one to replace it.  White Oak is the wood used for the deck beams and carlines of Reverie.    A band saw would have been very handy to cut out this piece as the carline is about 5-1/2 feet long.  That means 11 feet of sawing through 1-1/2 inch white oak.   Not having a band saw at my immediate disposal didn’t deter me from getting this done.

 

Pilot holes for the cut.

Pilot holes for the cut.

 

I first tried using a saber saw thinking it would be a good tool to keep the blade perpendicular to the mark and, ultimately, less work shaping the carline to its final dimensions. I made it less than a foot before the saber saw blade yielded to the mighty white oak and snapped.  Had I been successful with that laborious method, it would have taken me forever to cut that eleven feet.

It was time for bigger guns and a bit more concentration.  I chose to go at it again with a Sawzall and the largest blade aptly named ‘The Ax’ .  This is a big blade made for demolition work and capable of cutting through not only wood but stray nails and the like; perfect for hard white oak.  That said, I started with a fresh blade and noticed it wasn’t cutting as well by the time I finished.

 

Sawzall with 'Axe' blade

Sawzall with ‘Ax’ blade

Concentration was key at this phase.  I wanted to keep the cut 1/8″ from the template lines so as not to spend an inordinate amount of time shaping the piece later.  It wasn’t fast but the cut went well and I was glad to have gotten that close when I finished shaping the outer curve of the carline with a draw knife and hand planes.

 

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Stanley Rabbet Plane set to bullnose position.

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Draw knife used bevel side up for convex cuts and bevel side down for concave cuts.

The draw knife was used to bring the piece evenly close to the final mark.  The rabbet plane set in the bull nose position worked admirably for the concave planing as did the wooden jack plane for the convex planing.  As I worked, I checked for square often. It varied by no more than a 32nd” off square. I marked those areas with a pencil so as not to plane the rest of the edge out of square.

Keeping the Sawzall visually perpendicular to the piece takes a bit of practice and I would recommend cutting 1/4″ or slightly more away from the template mark if you’re not confident in your sighting ability.  It might take a bit more time in the final shaping but it’s better than ruining a big, expensive chunk of oak.

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16″ Wooden Jack Plane

The wooden jack plane is one of my favorite tools.  I stuck the removable handle back on it for the photo but I use it without.  I find I have a lot more control with both hands cupping the body.   It has somehow survived these 100 plus years and gives me great joy when I use it.  It looks crude and simple compared to more modern steel body planes but its razor sharp, heavy blade doesn’t chatter and provides lovely curls of fragrant wood as it glides its way through a project.  It literally sings with sonorous notes that tell you it is perfectly adjusted.  I made our Arts and Crafts inspired oak and walnut bed relying heavily on this plane and I can still hear the notes as I planed away. It planes so smoothly, I’ve never bothered to sand or take a cabinet scraper to the bed. The old jack plane comes alive and the resonance in the wood is sheer delight to experience. It did sing a couple of times when I was working on the carline but it was quick work and I never really got it going.   It is a privilege to own and I hope it provides some other lucky woodworker(s) the joy is has for me when I am dead and gone.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Out with the old, in with the new.

 

 

Once the piece was square and within 1/16 ” to the template mark, I stopped and will do the last few passes when I’m back at the boat. When you shape a piece of wood like this, you are releasing it from its former state and it now has a definite purpose.  The carline was always there, latent in that slab of oak.  I feel that I did nothing more than free it to a higher purpose.  After all, it could very well have been cut into 16″ sections and split up into firewood to warm some chilly soul on this frigid Winter day.

Stay warm, my friends.

~Roger