Rabbet

The mallet is finished! Finally. I will probably work on it a little more when I have some available time to enhance it's appearance. The good news is that it is functional and I used it quite extensively today in working on my rabbet.

Lecture this morning was on the Parts of a Wooden Boat given by Sean, the Lead Instructor for the school. Lot's of information. Some known but mostly things I have never heard of. Do you know what the following parts of a wooden boat are: a) Sampson post, b) Breast hook, c) Garboard and d) Chainplate? (see answers below)

Rabbet. For this project we are cutting a rabbet groove in a piece of fir that represents a fictional stem on a boat. The marking of the profile, rabbet and beading are done using nails and a piece of batten. The back rabbet is then laid out between the rabbet and beading. This represents the angle at which the planks on the boat will attach to the stem. To represent the planks, we used what is called a "fid" which is the same thickness as the planks. Using a chisel, material is removed from the rabbet, then down to the back rabbet and up to the bearding, allowing the "fid" to fit in at the correct angle. This process is time consuming and somewhat laborious. I'm not complaining since I'm standing at a bench with my "stem" clamped down. Usually this work is done on a boat in different areas and positions around the backbone...probably somewhere best reached from your back!

a) A strong vertical post used to support a ship's windlass and the heel of a ship's bowsprit.
b) A roughly triangular piece of wood fitted immediately aft of the stem and between the two inwales or sheer clamps usually in a wooden dinghy.
c) The strake immediately adjacent to the keel in a traditional wooden boat.
d) A strip of strong metal, often stainless steel, through-bolted to the topsides and a frame and protruding above deck level to take the load of a stay in a sailboat.