I'm Improving at Wood Joinery

[Captain Smollett]

Our little Optimist, s/v eclipse, had sustained bow corner damage accumulated from both previous and current owners.  A short section, only a few inches, had rotted and via collisions (with docks, generally) been knocked away.  

After chiseling out the damaged section:



The filler on the hull under the corner was from a PO's previous repair.  That needed some tending as well.

To repair this, my daughter liked the idea of using a piece of teak from Gaelic Sea's old sea hood frame, so I cut a piece off.  To fit, the piece had to be cut on a compound angle, but the problem was evident that the Opti bow curves just enough there that a straight piece of wood this short would not bend into place without splitting something (either the repair piece or something on the boat that it was being clamped to).

So, I decided to try my hand at steam bending.

I transferred the shape of the hull at the repair location to a piece of scrap plywood, and used that to make a mold to bend on the repair piece.  I simply laid the plywood template of the curve onto the edge of my mold piece and chiseled away until I got to a final sanding stage.  The two pieces fit pretty good for 'hand shaping.'

The plywood template and the pine mold piece:



The straight repair piece clamped to the mold showing how much bend is required.  It may not seem like much, but the teak just would not make that bend.



It took me a few tries to find a way to steam the repair piece; one attempt had the piece steamed (in the pressure cooker) and clamped directly to the mold piece, but all that did was bend the mold piece even though the teak was steamed!

So, I put a 1" thick mahogany scrap backing block on the mold and used that to clamp the (re-)steamed teak repair piece to it.  Left-to-right: mahogany backer, pine mold, teak repair piece.  Two big screw clamps were used as primary shapers and one additional c-clam was used to pull in the back corner (c-clam barely visible behind second screw clamp):



Pulling the teak off the mold after 'setting,' it did not seem bent but fit the hull quite well (MUCH better than before bending).   The piece was then epoxied in place using WEST thickened with silica; the surrounding plywood was also "sealed" with the epoxy mixture at this stage:



After curing, I shaped the piece with a combination of hand chiseling and a hand plane, and once I got 'close,' I went after it with a sander.

After final fairing and sanding to 180 grit and ready for paint, I was quite happy with the joint lines:

[Tim]

Nice work Captain! Settle back with a grog

[ntica]

well done, nice work!

[Captain Smollett]

Thanks for the comments. 

I want to emphasize that this kind of repair/quality (such as it is) was WAY out of my league a year ago.  I've learned a lot of practical woodworking in the last year.  This time last year, this would have taken me 5 tries for 1/2 the quality, and my frustration level would have been through the roof by try #3. 

This is why I posted it...not because I think it's 'great work,' but because it represents growth for me personally.

Some thoughts:

(1) Sharp tools are an absolute must.  We hear it and hear it and hear it.  If we don't live it, the quality decays noticeably.  In this case, a sharp chisel and a sharp hand plane made the job work as planned.

(2) Patience / work from what I call "the outside."  One of my biggest mistakes over the years (based in part from watching Norm of "The New Yankee Workshop" too much) is trying to cut too close to the line...get things 'too perfect' with the first cut.  I was usually wrong.  See comment about 5 tries.

(3) Templates, templates, templates....work on scrap/cheap wood first before laying cutting tool to expensive (either money wise or rarity wise) wood.

(4) "Activity breeds results."  Last year, I would not have gotten this because I probably would not have tried.  Saying "I can do it," with a healthy dose of "Perfection is the enemy of good enough" will get some kind of result every time.

Seen online taped to the side of a true master craftsman's band saw:

"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you are right."

[Oldrig]

Great work--and inspiring tips for novices like me.

I also spent too much time watching Norm (who lives the next town over, and is an avid boater--although the kind without sails, BTW). He makes it look so easy, with all those whiz-bang power tools. What he doesn't show is all the years of practice, practice, practice that got him where he is today.

Gotta remember sharp tools and, above all, try it out on templates. I never had the patience to do it that way, and ended up with lots of botched pieces.

Keep up the good work.

--Joe

[Captain Smollett]

What he doesn't show is all the years of practice, practice, practice that got him where he is today.

He also doesn't show his setups, which can be FAR more time consuming than the actual cutting/shaping I've found.

Another thing I've learned recently (again, the hard way) that Norm also does not show or talk about...the uber-importance of starting with a known shape.

While it did not matter for THIS project so much, what this means is square and flat wood.  I fought this problem for YEARS before it clicked...and the cobwebs from High School wood shop shook loose.

I even spent the $$ for a joiner for "proper" face planing for just this purpose.  My procedure:

(1) Rough cut piece, over size for what's needed by quite a large margin.

(2) Face plane on the jointer (also known, interestingly enough, as a "face planer" in some locales) until a true flat surface is obtained.  I get this by scribbling on the face with a piece of chalk, and when the chalk has been planed off, the face SHOULD be properly flat.

(3) Edge plane one edge using the face planed in (2) against the jointer fence.  Ditto the chalk scribbles to be sure the whole edge is properly milled.

(4) and (5) Mill the other face with a bench planer and rip the other edge on the table saw (a little strong if needed to use the jointer to take of 1/32nd or so to get rid of the saw marks).

This gets true pieces than can THEN be properly dimensioned for the project.  It makes a difference.  Really. 

Using wood as bought from the store has led me to many, many a failed project.  Doing my own milling to insure planer and parallel faces and edges has helped.

Norm doesn't show this.  Few seem to mention it.

I'm learning (and relearning) so much, but it feels good to be getting better results. 

[Oldrig]

While it did not matter for THIS project so much, what this means is square and flat wood.  ...
I even spent the $$ for a joiner for "proper" face planing for just this purpose. 

Thanks for the tip, John.

I've almost always worked with wood fresh from the store, and it never quite worked out. When my father-in-law passed away, more than 20 years ago, Lynne's brothers didn't want his tools, so we (I) took them. We sold off the lathe years ago.

I kept his belt-driven Craftsman table saw in the barn for two decades. Last year I cleaned it up, got it working--and promptly cut a finger-tip when a piece I was ripping flew back at me. (Being an old-school guy, my father-in-law removed all the safety stuff from the saw.)

Still sitting in the basement, unused, is a joiner/planer. I'll have to check it out.

--Joe

[CharlieJ]

Very nice posts John, and your post about the wood squaring, etc was right on. You CANNOT do good work starting from a crappy piece of wood.

In fact, just about 10 minutes ago, I straightened the edge of a board for a neighbor, using my longest jointer hand plane, so we could rip the OTHER edge straight, then use THAT edge against the fence, to rip to final width... Lot of effort, to get a board straight and flat on both edges, with parallel sides.

[claire.giulini]

Great Work!