Dovetails

Not sure where to start with so much going on...let's start with Friday. In the morning we had a lecture and slideshow on Intro to Traditional Wood Boat Building Techniques with Jesse. Jesse is a pretty interesting guy as he has traveled to both Ireland and the Basque Country to study traditional boat building techniques. One boat that he studied was the San Juan which was built in 1563 in the Basque Country and sailed as far as Newfoundland. The San Juan was found in 1978 by a Canadian archaeological team and was so well preserved it is the best known example of a 16th century ship. What is quite remarkable is that the timbers used to build the San Juan were cut down almost 70 years earlier than when the boat was built! The boat builders of the Basque Country have a long tradition of relying on specialized farmers to grow trees into the various shapes and sizes needed in wooden boat construction: knees, planks, etc. The wood from these trees were usually (as seen in the San Juan) harvested for the next generations to use.

In the shop on Friday, I completed my spar section and it turned out pretty nice. I have to admit it was a fun project as I was able to move a lot of wood shavings using both my drawknife and bench plane. It was interesting that most students didn't have a drawknife as it was an optional tool on our list. I would definitely recommend getting one. Yes, sharpening it is a pain but well worth it. On the same subject of tools...my Veritas No. 4 bench plane was well worth the money. I have been avoiding using it as I did not want to mess it up somehow sharpening it. The reality was that it was sharp and worked right out of the box. Not sure if any other student can say that.

Monday morning we had a quick visit from Sean at Northwest Sails. Sean runs a sailmaking, rigging and canvas shop above one of the school's buildings. I believe in years past they offered a three-month course as well. This year, Sean is going to offer three week classes in Marlinspike Seamanship. You might ask, what is Marlinspike Seamanship? Well, it is the art that includes the tying of various knots, splicing, working with cable or wire rope with cable or wire rope, even making decorative ornaments from rope or line. Basically anything a sailor can make by himself to make his life on board more comfortable. Some of the items they will be making out of canvas are: a ditty bag, tool rolls, aprons, water bucket, etc.

I've probably failed to mention in an earlier post that the school has arranged for Wayne from Force 10 Sailmaking to run an eight-week course in sailmaking and rigging in the evenings. Wayne is also the Director of the Community Boat Project and quite a character. There are additional costs for these classes and I have chosen not to partake not for that reason but because I would like to focus my efforts on power boats only please!

In the afternoon we watched a video on dovetails called "Dovetail A Drawer" featuring Frank Klausz. Two things...Frank is some crazy German woodworker and he can cut a dovetail joint wicked fast. I'm not sure why the school chose to show this video as I am struggling with my dovetails. My first couple of attempts all failed because of my inability to follow instructions, concentrate and/or just stupid mistakes. If there is one thing I learned today it is...ALWAYS MARK YOUR WASTE. What that means is...cut the piece of wood that you are suppose to be cutting. Anyway, my third and fourth attempts I was able to mark, cut and chisel in the appropriate places; however, the end product was not too pretty. Tomorrow I am hoping to be able to focus and have at least one example of a proper dovetail joint.

For your entertainment pleasure there are two links to videos of Frank Klausz making dovetails:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrAAglKLPh8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-o4jryTkUc

Please watch this one. Frank is racing another a guy in making a dovetail (notice how after he finishes he kinda hovers over the other guy):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN9l4hQ19HE