Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

The big ends of the rails were set up with tennons that lock into end caps. These were hand cut due to the odd form of this joint.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Dovetail joints for the arch beam were also cut.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Here is one to the rough end caps for the rail ends.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Now the end caps have been glued onto the rails. The slight case of gaposys was later corrected with a bit of metric glaze. Amazing stuff!

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

The hatch rail is now fastened down and the first section of the drip molding is being fitted. It is important to work in progression with this job as the rail is constantly being extended and the corners fitted to it. I am left handed so I started on the after port end of the deck house to fit the molding. The Japanese pull saw you see is a special one I had made up for cutting dovetails and fitted joints. That is why it has the rocker in the blade. More on this next time.
Jay

[Phil Y]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

That's all pretty special stuff. So well thought out and executed.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Thanks Phil. It is just the way I learned from my mentors. More to come!
Jay

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Moving along here with a photo of the butt end of the actual drip molding. The drip slot was ripped on the table saw with a set of rip guide wheels to keep it in line. The biggest radius was shaped prior to ripping the plank. A tool that I use for special fitting of but joints was a gift from a friend. Called a Lion Trimmer, it
is an adjustable miter cutter that can fine trim molding butts to a hair thickness. The tool is actually designed for making picture frames. But I find it indispensable for fine tuning boat joinery.

https://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-G1690-Miter-Trimmer/dp/B006SJCEVA

Also picutured are the two radius bits that were used for forming the molding. Note how smooth the trimmer cut the butt on the molding.
Jay

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Here is the after end molding that fits into the hatch slide rail. I stopped the drip slot short for clearance.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Here are the corners being roughed out. After taking a radius form the deck house, a hole saw of the correct size was chosen. The hole gave a good gripping place to hold the blocks while routing the profile.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

The drip groves were cut in the corner blocks with a gouge before they were cut out for fitting to the coach roof.

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

I might add that having a second worker to help the job is really a good idea. My son Jamie was a pillar of patience as this tedious job was done! It saved both time and frustration to have him there to help! When the second person knows how the work is done and what is coming, having their hands in the right place without having to explain what is going on is the essence of making the work go smoothly! This is something I learned from working in the yards in my early years as an apprentice!

Making up a large bevel tool is a must for taking the pattern angles off of the corners is a necessity. Once the card stock patterns are made, they are traced on to the corner blank stock. Even a slight variation makes a difference! Having to make more than one for the same corner is part of the process. Feel blessed if it comes out right the first time! With the exception of the after end moldings all other corners are fitted first and the long connecting pieces are set in last. The fitting of the corners takes time as carbon paper must be fitted to the deck house corners first with two sided tape and the corner tapped against it with the heel of the hand. Then the resulting blue marks must be carefully shaved off.

A large burr bit in an air grinder works well.
A variety of cutters and a Dremmel grinder will work also, but is not as effective as an air grinder. Large ball or oval burrs are the best for this work. If you have a set of carving gouges they can help as well. I takes about three to four hours to obtain a good fit as a lot of tinkering is involved! Galvanized finish nails will hold the work in place until it is time to fit the screws. I used #8 square drives bronze screws and plugged over the holes. Here, a Yankee Screwdriver is a Godsend! No screws should be driven until the corners fit as they will need a lot of removal and fitting. It is best to pilot drill for the driving of the temporary nails as corners can crack. Next comes fitting the long sections to the corners with a tight fit and no gapping. The miter trimmer comes into play for shaving the corner ends vertically square. A short length of the molding, with its end cut dead square can be butted up to the corner whith carbon paper to show where to shave the corner butts.

The rails are now fitted between the corners. The trick of getting a tight fitting joint is in placing a wedge in the center of the molding rail to spring it slightly out from the side of the structure. This may only be a quarter of an inch. This shortens the fit at the corner block, allowing the Japanese pull saw to cut down the center of the joining of the corner and side rail. The corner is held by the nails and the side rail can be tacked just enough to hold it while sawing. There is one important trick that must be done here. A business card is slipped down the back of the two pieces over the canvas at the joint line. The cut is carefully made down the joint line working with light pressure. As can be seen, in the picture of the saw, the blade has a slight rocker shape fore and aft. This allows the saw to touch the business card first in the center, grab it and indicate that the cut is finished. This protects the canvas from being cut! The rail is then taken off and the remaing wood can be skimmed off with razor blade, block plane or chisle. The wedge is removed from the rail and pressing it into the deck house side will show if the cut is sufficient for the fit. If not, the process can be repeated until a satisfactory fit is obtained. More to come.
Jay

[St.J]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

Now the end caps have been glued onto the rails. The slight case of gaposys was later corrected with metric glaze. Amazing stuff!

Great thread, thanks Jay.
one question: what’s “metric glaze”?
thanks
St.John

[Jay Greer]

Re: Jay & Anne Greer's H28 Ketch "Bright Star"

I once knew a builder who had all manner of sizes of glaze and putty to cover and disguise his mistakes in craftsman ship. Squeaky had everything from one sixteenth inch up to six inch putty and glaze that he used often with great gusto! I prefer metric sizes for my own mistakes. It is much more accurate!

Jay aka Bird