Skipper's Boat-Building Blog
Comment A poor workman blames his tools Oh I'm fed up now! I did a bit more on the building stock. It's extremely slow going because I can only manage about one hour in the evenings between finishing tea and my own, self-imposed,eight-o-clock noise curfew. I spent tonight's happy hour cutting the 'V' shape in one pair of the four stock beams. After marking out the shape I tried cutting it out with the circular saw. I know it can't be done! Well, I do now. I was trying to avoid using the jig-saw because it's really not very good. Getting the sole plate square is not easy and the securing screw also releases the blade ... rake ... um thing! I want my original jig-saw back! So, if the culprits are reading this let's have an amnesty. Bring back the jig-saw and the planner and we'll say no more. Oh! And the drill and the other drill … In fact gimme back my stuff! Once I'd realised I couldn't do the job with the circular saw, I got the jig-saw's sole plate set right after a fashion and made the cuts with it. As you can see, the final cut was still all over the place. You can even see the effect of the blade wandering in the overall photo. I thought it was a good idea to cut two forms together but the combined thickness makes the blade more likely to wander so, the forms are not identical and I've saved nothing. I'll cut the remaining two forms individually. It's bothering me because these forms must be important to the geometry of the hull so, I've got to get them right. Also, when I assemble them into the stock they've got to be accurately aligned with each-other and at the correct relative heights. And what happens if the stock twists & warps after I've finished it? Do I end up with a bent boat? Oh, calm down Geoff ... this is supposed to be fun! I managed to make the sides of the center section of the stock during yesterday's 'happy hour'. In the news today from the BBC: A manhunt is under way in western Germany for a convicted drug dealer who escaped by mailing himself out of jail. Index ----- Next