Mast hoops..

[BillB]

I'm pretty sure I can build a jig and get the mast hoops made in a circle. After that could someone point me to a good source on Materials and Tecniques of putting copper rivets in them>
Thanks,
Bill

[Paul Griffin]

Try this: http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006424

I bent my hoops around a 4" PVC pipe.
If our host doesn't sell the rivets and roves, then woodenboat.org does.

[Mike Field]

Nothing much to add to Paul's link Bill, except to say (perhaps obviously) insert your nails from the inside and clench them on the outside.
.

[newf]

LeeValley sells rivets and roves,at a good price too.

[Mike DeHart]

Make your strips long enough that you get 2 to 2-1/2 turns around your form. Plane long tapers on each end so that you get three layers of wood with the thickness of two unplaned pieces in the overlap area. Steam 1 hour per inch of material thickness. Wear gloves when you handle hot wood (DAMHIKT!) Drill the holes for the rivets so they are just snug when driven through (from the inside.) Place the rove and set it with a hollow punch. Cut off the rivet so that you have a distance above the rove equal to the diameter of the rivit. Peen it over enough to hold, but don't mash it flat or you will fatigue the metal and weaken it. Sand a nice generous radius on all edges and oil or varnish to taste.

This is how I learned it at a boatbuilding class I took at Independence Seaport Museum in Philly. Being a metalhead, I already knew how to rivit.

[BillB]

Thanks much for the replies. It was just what I needed!

Bill

[Keith Wilson]

FWIW, Pert Lowell Co. in Newbury MA, who make lots and lots of mast hoops (also built my boat, a long time ago) do a few things that surprised me. They use red oak and boil it in a water-alcohol mixture (not exactly sure which alcohol, but it smelled like isopropanol) for about 10-15 minutes for the small size I saw them making. Works for them, I guess, and it might be easier than setting up a steambox.

[ 03-24-2003, 11:04 AM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[Paul]

A long past issue on wooden hoops by WB on Lowell listed the thickness and the length of the strip for different size mast hoops.

[BillB]

Great, Thanks much for all the info here...I sure wish I had a copy of that article. This is one of those times I REALLY wish I had a copy of those CD's they had published. Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge, hint, hint...Guess I'll have to order that issue, I don't see it in my small piles here. The steam box looks easy enough to set up, and if I build it big enough, i'm sure i'll find some other fun uses for it. I have never used the Rivets and roves method (just pop rivets) so that should be interesting (and useful)..
Thanks again for all the info folks, you have been real helpful...

Bill

[Art Read]

Just for "inspiration"... Some Pert Lowell hoops... (Ignore the big one with the parrels)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid52/p384119ede56ecec2054266aac0124658/fc9ca551.jpg

(Thanks again for that article, Paul! But at 12 bucks a pop, I decided to concentrate my efforts elsewhere... ;) )