Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

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  • Tom Freeman
    Learning on the job
    • Feb 2010
    • 790

    #16
    Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

    And on Lew's point about Jensen Motorboat Company, I can't say enough positive things about our experience with them. We came into this project never having owned a boat, and they've been at our side every step of the way. In fact, I just had lunch with Peter Proctor yesterday and took the opportunity to pick his brain on some of the veneering work I'm doing. Not to say we never argued about a bill, but they always did right by us.
    She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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    • Lew Barrett
      Landlocked
      • Dec 2005
      • 30035

      #17
      Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

      Interiors are a bitch, that's just the way it is. I think working on interior finishes is the hardest part of the refinishing process.

      Jessica as everyone must know, is Tom's beautiful and forbearing wife. It's gotta be a kick to have a wife that not only likes boating, but works alongside you.

      Soystrip: I learned about it here from another person (can't remember who put me onto it) when I decided I didn't want to touch any more MEK than I had to in my life. Just passing the tip along....

      I like Peter Proctor a great deal. Who bought lunch?
      One of the most enduring qualities of an old wooden boat is the smell it imparts to your clothing.

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      • Tom Freeman
        Learning on the job
        • Feb 2010
        • 790

        #18
        Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

        Ha. I bought lunch, but borrowed his cordless drill because I forgot to put mine in the truck, and spent 15 minutes cutting plugs on his drill press. So I'm easy, but I'm not always cheap.
        Last edited by Tom Freeman; 02-26-2010, 01:48 PM.
        She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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        • pcford
          boatwright/film/video
          • Jul 2002
          • 9875

          #19
          Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

          Excellent and thoughtful restoration! Someone who is doing it right!!!

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          • Tom Freeman
            Learning on the job
            • Feb 2010
            • 790

            #20
            Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

            Originally posted by Lew Barrett
            Jessica as everyone must know, is Tom's beautiful and forbearing wife. It's gotta be a kick to have a wife that not only likes boating, but works alongside you.
            As I was moving these articles over to the public site today, and looking at all of the old pictures, I was reminded of this comment. While there is a certain appeal to having a boat as a private sanctuary where you can go drink some scotch in the winter, I know that I couldn't have done this project single-handed. As you can see from the pictures, Jessica has been on the boat about 90% of the time that I have. She is the perfectionist around the yard, which is both good and bad news. It's good news when you want to get the final masking just right, or get the last coat of paint perfect. It's bad news when you are rough sanding old finish with 80 grit, and aren't too focused on style points. In either case, this project is as much hers as mine.
            She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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            • Tom Freeman
              Learning on the job
              • Feb 2010
              • 790

              #21
              Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

              I made some progress tonight on refreshing the veneer on some interior cabinet doors. After sending the head door out to be "professionally" veneered and getting a sub-standard result, I decided to try a technique that a cabinet maker friend recommended.

              First I painted wood glue on both the doors and the veneer.




              Here is a "before" shot of the veneer on one of the doors as viewed through the dried wood glue.


              Once the glue dried on both pieces, I dry fit the veneer and then used an iron to seal it to the cabinet doors. Went on like butter on warm toast. I'm very pleased with both the process and the results.





              I'll try this on a couple of larger interior door panels later this week.
              She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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              • C. Ross
                Senior Member
                • May 2007
                • 14153

                #22
                Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                Nice. I've never seen that veneering technique, and will have to try it. Thanks.

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                • Soundman67
                  Blue Eagle 40' 1949
                  • Jan 2009
                  • 753

                  #23
                  Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                  thanks for finding a public forum for the pictures. looks like you had a lot of fun rebuilding that wonderful boat. very interesting veneering method but what kind of wood glue did you use? and are you saying that you melted the glue with an old clothes iron to bond the veneer on?

                  Doug
                  Freudian slips : when you say one thing but mean your mother.

                  Comment

                  • Tom Freeman
                    Learning on the job
                    • Feb 2010
                    • 790

                    #24
                    Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                    I'll take a look back at the specific glue and add that info when I get home tonight. It was one of the Elmers wood glues, I believe. For the small bits, I used a small sealing iron that I've used for years with heat shrink covering called Monokote on my RC airplane fleet. For the larger pieces, I'll use Jessica's clothes iron. So yes, once the glue dries, heat reactivates it and causes it to bond. To be sure, I didn't try it for the first time on my boat bits. I grabbed a small scrap from the bone pile and tried it there first. I left a bit of the veneer overhanging the edge of the scrap piece, so that I could grab it with pliers and try to rip it off. No way. So I then used it on my small doors. Try it in your shop and see if you like it.
                    She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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                    • Tom Freeman
                      Learning on the job
                      • Feb 2010
                      • 790

                      #25
                      Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                      Doug, here is the glue I'm using. You can see another door panel wetted out in the background.

                      She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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                      • Tom Freeman
                        Learning on the job
                        • Feb 2010
                        • 790

                        #26
                        Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                        Another day, another door. Can't be happier with this approach, but there are a couple of tips and tricks. Some will be obvious to shipwrights, maybe others not.
                        • Make a template or pattern from paper or other suitable material. Nothing on old boats is square/fair/flush. I did this based on lessons from the school of hard knocks, but it may not be so obvious to others. Tape the pattern down on your veneer and cut accordingly.
                        • Dry fit the veneer and shave edges as needed to get a perfect fit. Get comfortable with the dry fit, as you are probably going to have your faith challenged.
                        • Thin the glue with warm water by about 10-15% so that it brushes out better.
                        • Beware - the veneer will expand after it is wetted out. I noticed it a little on the small bits I did last night. It was quite noticeable on both door panels that I did tonight. Here is where your faith in your dry fit will be tested.
                        • Tack or tuck the edges, and iron from the longitudinal edges toward the center of the piece. The heat will shrink the veneer back to the dry fit size, but it's critical not to push wrinkles toward inside edges where they have no place to go. I didn't ruin a piece by making this mistake, but I came very close.
                        Otherwise the approach was dead-easy again. Still happy with the results on a larger surface.

                        Last edited by Tom Freeman; 03-12-2010, 02:29 AM. Reason: Spelling/typos
                        She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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                        • Soundman67
                          Blue Eagle 40' 1949
                          • Jan 2009
                          • 753

                          #27
                          Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                          Thats very cool. I would never have guessed that you could reactivate Elmers with heat. nice way to get the veneer in the door without getting glue all over the place.Looks like no problem with some places being thicker with glue either. I am going to have to try this when I am doing my Galley this summer.

                          Thanks for the info.

                          Doug
                          Freudian slips : when you say one thing but mean your mother.

                          Comment

                          • Tom Freeman
                            Learning on the job
                            • Feb 2010
                            • 790

                            #28
                            Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                            We thought that we'd be starting to stain the cabin formers by late today, but when we rubbed them with mineral spirits to test the quality of our sanding job, we could still see hints of white paint in some of the grain, and some hickeys that needed to be touched up with Famowood. So what was supposed to be a light day of staining turned into another 3 hours with sanding blocks and 80 grit working overhead. Days like this make me second guess my desire to varnish these bits. It's interesting that when my courage is flagging, Jessica picks up the charge and says "dammit - we've gotten this far, we are going to do this." It takes a village on some days.

                            She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

                            Comment

                            • Tom Freeman
                              Learning on the job
                              • Feb 2010
                              • 790

                              #29
                              Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                              I'm a sucker for a beautiful piece of wood. I grabbed this out of the bone pile at the boatyard over the summer and have finally gotten around to planing, shaping and sanding it into a new step. I like the look of it so much that I find myself looking for more prominent places to use it. I'm not sure what it is. Quite hard, and smells like hell when being worked with machines.

                              Last edited by Tom Freeman; 03-20-2010, 01:44 AM. Reason: spelling
                              She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

                              Comment

                              • Tom Freeman
                                Learning on the job
                                • Feb 2010
                                • 790

                                #30
                                Re: Restoration of a 1939 Richardson

                                Made a little more progress this weekend. We're getting ready to have new side and back curtains made for the boat. We are going to add an extra (removable) frame to creat more headroom for passengers on the aft bench seat. Prototyping the new layout here to get a sense of the lines of the boat.



                                I think this is actually going to improve the lines a bit. We are thinking about beige fabric with white zippers and red piping.




                                We also finally made some progress on the cabin interior that actually looks like progress. After about 3 weekends, we finally got the formers sanded to a point where they are ready for stain and varnish. Getting that old paint out of the oak grain was a real chore. In some cases we used dental tools.

                                Before stain:



                                After stain:

                                She requires of her owner a custodial obligation and responsibility that has absolutely nothing to do with financial return on investment or annual cost of maintaining and operating her.

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