Summer's End Projects

  Kieran and I worked on his sail boat model and finally the paint is dry and the boat is its stand. He designed all aspects of this project and did nearly all the work.  I was just a technical advisor in the back ground.

  K and I have made many boats in the workshop. This project is his most careful and most finally finished yet.  The boat is based on real dimensions and actually sails, the hull and dagger boat keep the boat on an even keel, with the sail up without any extra ballast. I am so impressed and pleased.

  While Kieran was shaping, sanding and waiting for paint to dry I was making a small picture frame.  I have a very talented sister in law and we wanted to frame one of her small paintings, an original painting deserves an original frame.

I began by making the frame stock on the router table.

  I always find the biggest challenge is clamping the mitre corners together while the glue dries.

put waxed paper down on the work surface so 

you don't glue your project down by accident.

   I am using my Kreg Klamp table, a bessey clamp and my lead gravity clamps. Bessey has clamps for all occasions, they're not cheap but are also a lifetime investment.  Don't buy cheap clamps, they will let you down at the most inconvenient time.  

   A while ago I started strengthening my picture frame's mitred corners but using a dowel to reinforce the joint.  I do that almost all the time now, it improves the joint and doesn't really show.

  Once the frame is sanded and varnished the dowel is not visible, In this case the wood, which was reclaimed has a couple of small flaws in it adding colour, wood can have character in our house so it is not a problem.

  With luck the weather will cool and working inside will be more pleasant soon.

cheers ianw

    

  

 

 

Laser Sailboat Model

 In the summer, while at camp Kieran learned how to sail using a Laser sailboat. During this visit he and I made a wooden model of his summer sail boat.

  K looked on line and got the basic dimensions of a Laser class dingy and so we set out to make a scale model.  The hull is quite shallow and so 1 inch bass wood was all that was needed to make the hull. 

  A combination of small planes, chisels and sanders were used to shape the hull. A wedged board held the bow of the boat while Kieran worked shaping the hull.  Interestingly the bottom of a Laser is flat.

  The cockpit was initially  cleared out by drill press using a forstner bit. I ground the tip off a 3/4 inch bit years ago so that I could get a flat bottom, and have used it many times. The the final shaping was done by hand with chisels. 

  

  Sanded, sealed and drying before paint. The mast and boom are to scale and on deck you can see the material that will be used for the dagger board and rudder.  All the wood is sealed with wood conditioner. Incidentally with the dagger board installed the model floats on a very even keel and is disinclined to tip over. 

  There remains several coat of high gloss white and a stand to show the boat to be made.

cheers ianw