Making Spline Weights aka A Pod of Whales

[Jay Greer]

As promised, here is a bit of what was involved with making a set of spline weights that were needed for a special job for a person who is
putting a new deck on his boat that will be different from the one he was forced to remove due to failure of the subdeck to the ravages of rot. The new deck will be made of 7/8" Alaskan yellow cedar and traditionaly caulked. My normal weights are in Washington which made it necessary for me to cast up a second set. In an attempt to save time, I poured open mold castings which was a big mistake as the finishing of the weights took more time than it would have been had I made two piece molds that had sprues and vents which would have produced much cleaner results that would have required much less finish work. A pattern of the weights used by Herreshoff was made up
of Honduras Mahogany as it is easy to work and is hard enough to stand rough treatment. A resin casting was then made in a rubber mold that was made from the original pattern. This gave two molds for the pour making for a faster job. The molds were made of plaster of Paris that was poured into two seperate flasks. The molds were baked in a slow oven at 150 deg. This prevents residual moisture from causing a steam explosion during the pour.

[Jay Greer]

Lead was melted on a single burner propane stove. Not my choice for optimum heat efficiency! In truth more heat would have been better but, I was forced to work with minimum tools so work was more difficult to deal with for good reslults.

[Jay Greer]

The pour was difficult as there was not enough heat to keep the lead from setting up too soon!

[Jay Greer]

The weights came out at three pounds each, when finished. The are light enough to be easily handled but do hold both the wooden and acrylic splines in place.
I may need to do a bit more adjusting on the hooks if my drafting pencils do not clear them easily.
I hope this information is of some use to anyone who needs to have a set of their own weights.
Jay

[Jay Greer]

[Peerie Maa]

I would recommend a different design. Those ones have to be covered with something, usually many coats of paint, for safety reasons.
The sort that we used at work were a simpler trapezoidal lead cast, screwed to a base board of 1/4 inch hard wood, with a brass tip inlet to rest on the batten. The lead is encased in wood veneer. Nice on the hands and clean.

[Jay Greer]

Two coats of red metal primer were used to coat the lead and some Nitrostan red body filler was used to fill the worst voids. Epoxy and red micros were used to fill the shrink voids on the bottoms. Red spray can enamel was used for the two finish coats and green felt was applied to the bottoms with contact cement. Brass cup hooks were used for the hooks. I ground them to a point to increase holding power.
Jay

[Jay Greer]

There are ten weights in all. I trust they will suffice.
Jay

[PeterSibley]

Very nice Jay... it's about time I made some new ones myself .

[Jay Greer]

I would recommend a different design. Those ones have to be covered with something, usually many coats of paint, for safety reasons.
The sort that we used at work were a simpler trapezoidal lead cast, screwed to a base board of 1/4 inch hard wood, with a brass tip inlet to rest on the batten. The lead is encased in wood veneer. Nice on the hands and clean.

Certainly, I would go with what you are most comfortable with. My first set of weights are over forty years old, painted in the same way, as these and have yet to show any bare metal. I might add that LFH Herreshoff did not die of a lead related disease.

[Peerie Maa]

Certainly, I would go with what you are most comfortable with. My first set of weights are over forty years old, painted in the same way, as these and have yet to show any bare metal. I might add that LFH Herreshoff did not die of a lead related disease.

Horses for courses Jay.
We did have some painted ducks in the drawing offices, and although no one died of lead poisoning, there was not much paint left on some of them. If you have access to a saw and a plane, ours are easier to mould and not difficult to finish.

[Bob Cleek]

I think Jay's design serves better as a fist load in a fight than Nick's.

[Breakaway]

Thanks for sharing this.

Kevin

[Don Z.]

Paint is nice... as is Plasti-Dip...

[Jay Greer]

The paint was chosen for it's color which is close to the old Brittish Navy color, "Gun Deck Red". Rustoleum Colonial Red is as close as it gets without mixing it. Spray can stuff. I might add that I wore a mask and gloves at all times when working with the bare metal. Wet sanding was done in order to not spread lead dust which, was gathered in filter paper and disposed of at the local toxic waste dump. While the amount of lead was minimal I felt better about getting rid of it in this manner as I had a lot of other materials to get rid of at the same time.
Jay

[Ed Burnett]

The set I made are very much like yours Jay, but if I were to produce another I think I would make the heads narrower so they can be packed closer together on the inside of a tight curve.

Of course, these days I draw with mice rather than ducks or whales so I seldom have the pleasure of using them.

Ed.

[Jay Greer]

There is a description of a set that have close linking heads in the Common Sense of Yacht Design. I chose this shape because it concentrates the weight nearer the batten.
Jay

[Windsong]

How many man hours went into making them Jay? They look beautiful but as Ed said most are using the mouse to design...a dying art...sad but true. Good Luck.
Cheers
Lars

[Gary Davis]

How many ducks or whales should you have to loft a 22' yawl?

Thanks

[PeterSibley]

The set I made are very much like yours Jay, but if I were to produce another I think I would make the heads narrower so they can be packed closer together on the inside of a tight curve.

Of course, these days I draw with mice rather than ducks or whales so I seldom have the pleasure of using them.

Ed.

Precisely what I did yesterday, I looked at my old ones and realised that a taller narrower design would be far better so off to the bandsaw for a prototype . I like the result so now I'll make up a few split patterns and cast a dozen or so.

Thanks for the inspiration Jay .

[Jay Greer]

Spline weights are like clamps, one never seems to have enough! I only had enough spare lead in the shop to make ten. I really should have made twelve or fourteen! Maybe I'll do it some Tuesday next week!
Finishing took longer than making the molds and casting them up. Hence my note that, I should have made a closed mold that was vented and sprued. If I really wanted to wear a hair shirt, I suppose, I would also make a set with narrow interlocking heads such as Herreshoff designed. Incidently, when I was a guest in his home and had the run of the shop and drafting room, I noted the design of his own weights and copied those with the whale shape. In addition to keeping the weight near the batten, the shape of the tail allows them to be handled easily. Picking one or two up back to back by the tails is easy, secure and comfortable as well as is adjusting them for the alignment of the batten. I do have several battens that I made of spruce and one of plastic. Some are thick and stiff and several are just thin and bendy. Then there are those that are thin in the middle or at their ends. I found that the acrylic plastic one is pretty handy for most work. I often think it would be nice to make some up out of Lance Wood, but then I never seem to get around to it!
Jay

[Jay Greer]

A note on computer design from me is, if you are into, then go for it! Although I can work with computer design, for me, at my age, I am pretty much stuck and more comfortable with, hand and mind design and hand made work. There is a certain process that I go through that seems to allow me to be more creative when I am working my imagination, instincts and hands that does not occure when I work with newer electronic forms of design. I still carve half models. The whole process brings me very close to what I am doing and allows me to be free of impirical restaints.
So, I guess I must admit that I am a consumate artist.
Jay

[Reynard38]

When I was lofting my build, I picked-up a dozen of these on ebay. Turned out to be home-made, a combination of epoxy and lead shot, painted black. Looked good but brittle. two arrived with tails broken off. Then a woman I work with found a dozen "real ones" still in boxes in her basement after her husband passed. She gave them to me. Quality is much better. But now they're under my bench collecting dust. Expensive to mail but if anyone needs them, contact me.

I will be lofting a Harry Bryan Betty soon and I'm looking for a set.

[Jay Greer]

Commercially, the average cost is roughly thirty to forty dollars apeice, if you can find them. So if you can snag a set that is second hand, you are fortunate! The price is why I make my own. Another alternative to lead casting is to purchase powdered tungsten, making a shell of wood, brass or aluminum and encapsilating the powder in resin. Golf shops use it for weighting clubs. Tungsten is heavier than lead.
Jay

[scottmacc]

Just looking around online and came across these ducks:




http://www.boatsofwood.com/lofting%2...ting_ducks.htm

[PeterSibley]

Spline weights are like clamps, one never seems to have enough! I only had enough spare lead in the shop to make ten. I really should have made twelve or fourteen! Maybe I'll do it some Tuesday next week!
Finishing took longer than making the molds and casting them up. Hence my note that, I should have made a closed mold that was vented and sprued. If I really wanted to wear a hair shirt, I suppose, I would also make a set with narrow interlocking heads such as Herreshoff designed. Incidently, when I was a guest in his home and had the run of the shop and drafting room, I noted the design of his own weights and copied those with the whale shape. In addition to keeping the weight near the batten, the shape of the tail allows them to be handled easily. Picking one or two up back to back by the tails is easy, secure and comfortable as well as is adjusting them for the alignment of the batten. I do have several battens that I made of spruce and one of plastic. Some are thick and stiff and several are just thin and bendy. Then there are those that are thin in the middle or at their ends. I found that the acrylic plastic one is pretty handy for most work. I often think it would be nice to make some up out of Lance Wood, but then I never seem to get around to it!
Jay

I've been using acrylic for a while but the only very flexible thin one was a small length of acrylic i'd put through my thickness sander when I owned it. But last week I dropped by a plastic fabricator's for something else and grabbed some 1.5 mm polycarbonate from the scrap bin .

It's excellent and far more flexible than acrylic.

[Jay Greer]

Good to know! Does it have a memory?
Jay

[Reynard38]

A day too late. Guess I'll keep checking EBay.

[PeterSibley]

Good to know! Does it have a memory?
Jay

It doesn't seem to have as it's returning to straight quite well but time will tell. Well worth experimenting with .

[RFNK]

Precisely what I did yesterday, I looked at my old ones and realised that a taller narrower design would be far better so off to the bandsaw for a prototype . I like the result so now I'll make up a few split patterns and cast a dozen or so.

Thanks for the inspiration Jay .

Oh, I just happen to know someone who'll be lofting a dinghy in about 6 months. If you're casting a dozen, how about casting another dozen? Delivery to coincide with your boat inspection p'raps?

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Sounds like a good idea Rick but mine will be rather light desk / drafting models. Do you have an ideal weight or size for your job?

[RFNK]

No, I'll just make up battens to suit so it won't matter if they're a bit light. They'd have to be an improvement on the bricks, diving weights and tins of paint that I normally use for such tasks. I've used drafting ducks a few times and I think they'll be very suitable. I'm certainly not planning to build anything big! Ms T'd shoot me!
Rick

[PeterSibley]

Will do Rick , I'll keep you posted .

[RFNK]

Thanks Peter! Let me know the costs.

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Costs ???