Commander 147

[Ariel 109]

Beautiful work!

I suspect a little Greene and Greene reference in the styling, the corbels and the carbon fiber ebony?

Ben

[Commander 147]

You know Ben I never gave it any thought about trying to make it look like a specific type of style. I just built something that looked good to me and accomplished the structural design also. But now that you mention it I can absolutely see what you are talking about which I guess proves that I am a fan of the arts and crafts style. Maybe I should add a few square pegs of ebony to the corbels to complete the look. :-)

[Commander 147]

So I spent some time this week after work roughing out the parts I needed for that. This gives me a better feel for where it will end up.

I carried the aft side of the cabinet all the way up and it will also serve as the anchoring point for the aft lower shroud chain plate.

But alas I need to fall back and do more glass work before I can go much further on this part. I just don't enjoy doing the glass work as much as the woodworking so I tend to put it off until I need to deal with it.

[ebb]

Jerry, As hard as I can look I see no 'roughing out'!!!
You must have switched pix, right?

What's that tool on the settee?
Sander, planer?
Miss my PorterCable SO much!
What are you using?

[Commander 147]

Ebb

That is an Elu belt sander that I have had for many years. It has been a work horse for a long time. The only thing I believe it could do better is dust collection. Most new tools do much better on dust collection but this thing just won't die so I keep using it. I think Black & Decker bought Elu out a long time ago now. I don't know about you Ebb but for me tools become an extension of my body after a while and when a really good one bites the dust it feels like you lost a hand or something.

[ebb]

Black&Decker also swallowed PorterCable.
My little onehanded belt sander died on me.
On the outside it was a beautiful well designed tool. Perfect dust collection.
Before Black&Decker bought the classy name, PorterCable tools never died.
Have to remember that a company that is known for lousey tools
Is always going to sell lousey tools. Even if they bought a peerage.
I will never buy PorterCable again.


I also develop close relationships with my tools.
The tool won't bite if I respect it, give it the attention it deserves.
Still nterested in next generation nice little belt sanders.
But an imitation, never. A good tool is eager and dependable, hardly ever lets you down.
Never had a decent relationship with Black&Decker.
Shoulda known.
NO BLACK & DECKER TOOLS ARE MADE IN THE U.S.

[Ariel 109]

Hard to have allegiances to any power tools companies today. Most of the effort these companies put into products today is directed at international sourcing and marketing their cordless battery powered tools, which are unsuitable for most of my work. I don't want to pay $400.00 for a cordless drill that's going to break or need new batteries in two years. I'll just keep dragging around extension cords.

On the plus side you can buy a pretty decent Milwaukee drill today for under $70.00, made in China of course.

The Ridge 6" random orbit sander they sell at the dreaded Home Depot is a nice tool. Buy one just before you have some giant sanding job to do and if it breaks and not too much times has passed since the purchase take it back to Home Depot and they'll give you a new one.

I like the 4.5 Dewalt angle grinder I just bought to replace my fifteen year old Metabo that finally bit the dust.

And I love my Festool saw that runs on a guide rail, wonderful machine, will change the way you work for the better.

The big Porter Cable 3.25 HP plunge router is still a great tool, best router for my type of work. I have three other brand routers that sit on a shelf collecting dust. But I agree that Porter Cable / Delta is a shell of what it once was.

People may want quality American made tools but I doubt they are willing to pay the price they need to sell for. Festool makes nice products in Germany but their plunge router sells for over $800.00!

[Commander 147]

I've had lots of things pulling me away from working on the boat recently but I have managed to get a bit more done.

First I tabbed in the top half of the main bulkheads on the aft side. Now I need to fair it out and then I can paint the bulkhead itself. This will allow me to install my sink cabinet and the mahogany trim on the edge of the bulkhead.

I glued up two layers of 3/4" MDF and layed out my glueing jig for the first piece of trim that will go on the edge of the main bulkheads. And last night glued it up and then this morning I popped it out of the jig. Now I need to clean it up, size it to the final size and then I can do the radius on the edges and the dado in the back that will allow the bulkhead to recess into it. The strips of mahogany had to be only 1/16" thick in order to take the bend without breaking.

[ebb]

Jerry,
Must have been a classic firedrill getting 100 veneers juiced and stacked! Really impressed!
No blood, sweat, or tears evident in your photos.

But I guessing your form is one sided so that clamps are put on directly against the work.
Must have been a lot of slipping and sliding getting that laminate together.

Stacking and clamping the whole stack never worked for me! Always had to to it a few layers at a time. Which didn't actually make it easier and took forever.

Thery're going to look great.
Did you use a quickset like Titebond or epoxy?

[Commander 147]

Ebb

For a glue up like this to go smoothly (which this one did) it's really important to be prepaired. Which means that no matter how many of these things you have done in the past doing a dry fit test clamp is very important. Amazing how many things you find are a problem while doing the dry fit test.

My jig is actually two sided. In the picture below I assembled the outside parts so you can see what I did. The outside parts were cut into 5 pieces to make gluing up easier.

For these glue ups to work long term there are only a few glues that will work. Epoxy is one, resorcinol is another and then the glue I used which was Weldwood plastic resin glue. What ever glue you use it has to set up in a crystal hard form which glues like Titebond do not do. And the plastic resin glue is very water resistant and easy to use.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...tic+Resin+Glue

I also used some small blocks to clamp the wood strips vertically so they would not slip out of alignment.

[ebb]

That's a great point there, that the glue used has to be crystaline structure
so that creep in laminations doesn't happen after set.
I wonder if the jury is still out on Titebond 3 - which doesn't seem to be a 'yellow' glue.
For someone else reading this, even 'structural' epoxy squeeze out can be a problem in this quite technical glue lam. Epoxy glue ups get starved joints with pressure clamping.

40 years ago our only cabinet and furniture glue was called 'brown' glue (creative, huh?) Or powder glue.
It doesn't leave a glue line on light colored woods.
The most masterful Weldwood glue-up I've ever seen were some varnished spruce masts and spars for a 48' schooner.... What's MORE exterior?
You had to search real close to see any seam at all! NO glue lines! High pressure clamping!
But NO purple resorcinol lines.

I'm assuming these not 'waterproof' beauties are still going strong after 3 decades.
You can't fudge this kind of gluing.
By all intents, if you wanted to, the A/C strongback could also be made with Weldwood and perfectly milled hardwood lumber.

In the hands of a master the master makes the rules. Or maybe to say the rules get broken.
Nice, look forward to your next move

[Ariel 109]

Very nice job Jerry, can't wait to see it installed!

Just reporting that the tiller I glued up with Titebond 3 last year is still holding tight together. Put a coat of Epifanes varnish on it and the coamings yesterday evening during one of the brief spring moments we've been allowed in the New York area this year, now we're back to cold and rainy.

Ben

[Commander 147]

Thanks Ben

Tonight was supposed to be the coolest night we are likely to see for the next 6 or 7 months and we are supposed to get down to 47 degrees before dawn. I just know it felt really good working out there tonight and I pushed it longer than I should have for a residential neighborhood. I quit working about 10:15 this evening and I have the piece almost ready to install. A few trim cuts on the ends to work myself into a perfect fit and some sanding and varnish and it will be ready to go in. I need to glue up the second one for the other side but now I have all the procedures and jigs built so that should go much quicker.

I'm guessing your tiller will probably hold together for a good long time. Especially if you keep her varnished. What you might notice after time is some of the laminations are very slightly offset from the laminations they are next to. Or possibly the glue lines becoming more prominent or even feel a slight ridge at the glue lines. It would be interesting to hear the results a couple years down the road.

How are the deck repairs going?

[Ariel 109]

Under all that varnish I think that tiller would stick together with only wheat paste. If I had to do it over again I'd have used epoxy. I've made a few scrap wood kitchen cutting boards using Titebond 3 and have notice some separation along the ends of the glue joints. But in defense of the glue I don't think I kept these boards clamped up a very long time.

The deck is about ready to paint, some more sanding and then I can prime. That old deck paint is tougher than concrete. And I've been thankfully busy with some interesting work projects, so I haven't been able to spend too much time working on Noesis. I should be sailing soon.

Ben

[ebb]

Kicking a dead horse is the expression, but for the record:

Titebond III passes ANSI/HPVA Type 1 Specs.
Type 1 testing involves using birch plywood-like laminations cut into 1" X 3" pieces
boiling them for 4 hours, then baking for 20 hrs at 145 degrees.
They are boiled again for 4 more hours, then cooled using running water.
The pieces are sheer tested while wet.
One assumes the wood will sheer but not at the gluelines.

Generally woodworkers don't trust PVA aliphatic resin glues, probably because they grew up with them and became prejudiced one way or another.

The test above looks pretty rigorous, right?
Still, there are some that say over time, years later, in damp conditions Titebond III will creep (or are they remembering Titebond II?) Where's the proof?

The ingredients are proprietary. but it is a 'plastic resin' glue. So is Weldwood a plastic resin glue. Both glues require in gluing up laminations that the veneers if ripped have the SAW MARKS removed. Woodworkers say to glue only freshly milled veneers.
So prep is all important. You have to use the glue according to their specs. (Then boil your work for 8 hours)

In curved laminations
each piece of the laminate has a side under compression and a side in tension. That's a lot of stress we ask any glue to overcome. And that is why thinner veneers are better than thicker iones.

Some insurance for a curved lamination using Titebond III might be in DRIVING some fastenings through the stack near the ends of the finished piece.
Hardwood dowels might be used at right angle to the lams - glued in with the same glue.
One or two at either end, say, of a tiller could look decorative and might keep the piece from wanting to move over time. Just an idea!
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ________________________
Titebond III is not toxic - you can work without gloves.
Franklin literature, while full of hype about Titebond III, NOWHERE mentions that the product can be used for curved laminations.